I haven’t missed a workout since August of 2013. From August of 2013 until March of 2019, I started every day at the gym, yoga studio, boutique fitness class, or with an outdoor or home-based workout.
Despite daily practice, I never really felt stronger. I wasn’t progressively increasing my weights. In pilates classes, when the teacher said “this should be burning your [insert any muscle]” I often didn’t feel it.
I was practicing every day, but I wasn’t improving. I wasn’t making progress.
I’ve built my life around practice. But the idea that practice leads to progress is incomplete. Practice on its own just reinforces what you do.
In March 2019, I learned why I wasn’t making progress despite consistent daily practice.
I met a physical therapist who pointed out that my body has all sorts of compensation patterns, or habits. Many of these patterns had been entrenched for years. They were the result of old injuries, trauma that was stuck in my body, a hyper-vigilant nervous system, and maladaptive responses to pain.
Every time I moved my body, I reinforced those habits.
I had been walking 10,000 steps a day, but reinforcing poor walking mechanics.
Now I work with a trainer and film myself so he can give me feedback even when he’s not with me.
“Practice” without more rarely leads to improvement or learning. It merely reinforces habitual tendencies.
Here are 5 elements necessary for effective practice:
(1) A Clear Intention for Your Practice
Going into your practice session, it’s important to get clear on your intention.
- What specific skill are you practicing?
- What is your outcome for this practice session?
Let’s say you’re going to the gym to do a weight-lifting session. Not all practice sessions have the same intention.
One session may be dedicated to focusing on form and technique, which you might do with a lighter load. Another might be dedicated to lifting as heavy as possible, which often comes with a sacrifice to form. Yet another session might be focused on endurance — doing a high volume of lifts, which will require lighter weights.
This principle applies to any skill you want to practice, whether it’s a workout or writing, filming videos or creating art, learning to play an instrument or making sales calls.
Setting a clear intention for your practice helps you stay focused on your outcome.
(2) A Space That Fits the Specific Practice
It may seem obvious, but it often gets overlooked:
You need a dedicated space for your practice, and a space that is fitting for what you intend to practice.
Sometimes the space required is obvious and very specific. If you want to improve your swimming, you’ll need a pool. If you want to practice cooking, you’ll need access to a kitchen.
Other practices may have more flexibility in terms of their space requirements. But you may need a certain type of environment in which to practice.
For example, you can turn almost any space into a writing space. But what are the conditions that you require for writing?
(3) A Safe Space for Practice
The space you dedicate for your practice must feel safe to you. Safe is a subjective measure, based on your nervous system.
You might feel safe practicing around people — but perhaps only specific people where you feel safe to fail without incurring judgment.
Maybe you need certainty that you won’t be interrupted for a period of time.
Perhaps you need one-on-one support as you practice.
What you need to feel safe in your practice may differ depending on the skill you’re learning.
(4) The Right Tools for Practice
Another obvious element that often goes overlooked. Depending on what you’re practicing, you likely need certain minimum tools.
If you want to improve at lifting weights, you’re going to need some weights.
If you want to improve your writing, you’ll need at least a pencil or pen and paper.
If you want to improve at basketball you’ll need a ball and a hoop.
You don’t necessarily need the highest quality tools; you need the minimum viable “tools of the trade” for whatever you are practicing.
(5) Feedback on Your Practice
Without feedback, practice isn’t a learning exercise or a path to progress.
The intention you set for your practice session plays a big role in determining what type of feedback will be most useful.
It’s also important for the feedback to be effective.
For example, in the context of weight lifting, feedback on your form is less relevant if you’re going for your max load than if your intention was to focus on technique.
If you want to improve your writing, feedback in terms of “likes” is not going to be very informative; you’ll want to hire an editor.
This is why starting with your intention is so crucial.
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