Doing something well takes practice. Practice implies work. I could use more practice in various areas of my life such as learning musical instruments, rehearsing speeches, or writing stories. So what keeps me from practicing? To help answer why I seem to have a practicing roadblock, I decided to take a closer look at what practice is.
Practicing gives the muscles of our bodies a chance to learn a new skill. After repeating something several times the movements become more smooth and automatic. To make practicing more enjoyable we can experiment, come up with new ways of practicing, such as pounding a melody out on a piano or clapping a rhythm with our hands. Breaking (dissecting) a difficult passage (of music for example) up into smaller steps helps us have a better understanding of the passage as a whole. Our brains gain a better understanding of how something works (something ‘clicks’). If we do something once by accident we won’t be able to repeat it because we are not sure how we got there. We would have to try to figure out what happened. If we are lucky, we’ll be able solve the mystery. Hearing a more advanced player play helps us hear how something may be played more beautifully. Then we can try to create a similar sound. We can also experiment and see (hear) what sounds good to us. Since we are each our own individual, we can come up with our own style (uniqueness) . We can create works of art.
So enjoy practicing. Create and be yourself. Actualize the ability within you. Perhaps we weren’t created to be ‘perfect’, but we can work towards it. And remember, you can be perfect in someone’s eyes (even though it might be just your husband’s, grandchild’s, or pet’s).