Perfection is aiming at the highest level of perfection or excellence, while practice is repeated execution for skill or competence. Practice is a path towards excellence. Perfection has it is place, and gives you something to strive for, gives you a sense of purpose, clarity.
The trouble happens when it becomes the way of life, how you do things automatically. When it is turned on constantly, without checking to see if what you are doing at that moment is worthy of those higher standards, and becomes embedded into your identity.
Aiming for perfection, for the sake of perfection, can become addictive when it becomes the only focus of what you are doing, and it may affect the motivation you have behind your work. Are you creating solely to reach perfection, or to express an unlimited amount of self-expression and passion in your work?. Perfectionists feel other people are not okay with them if they are not seen trying their hardest at what they are doing, which leads to them giving 110% effort in all that they do.
I now say, practice makes progress, since I have found that to be a lot more flexible and tolerant. As a perfectionist myself, I know the perils of his delusionary trap. The practices that produce improvement, to me, are those that are done from a place of lower criticism, that promote exploration while enjoying the process as it is.
Progress is about taking those little progressive steps forward. Oftentimes, aiming for perfection allows those tiny steps forward to be discounted as unimportant, any tiny victory rendered meaningless. Recognizing the value in these smaller steps and wins helps you build your confidence and creates a sense of confidence in your abilities.
With practice, experiments are given space to flourish, becoming an integral part of the process. That is what creativity is about, mixing things to make something new.
This is where the magic happens. Practice makes you better at what you do, with real-world experience. It is with the help of these small acts that you will be able to sharpen your craft. It helps you to discover more effective ways to do things, leading to more flow, and easier flow.
To achieve work done, we have to engage with it. That book is not going to be written, that exhibition is not going to happen, or the gig is not going to be booked, if you are not showing up and practicing. Getting into a creative habit of doing work on a regular basis stops you just daydreaming, helps you conquer fear, and makes you go, Wow, I did this!.
People often feel they need confidence before they can do anything, and getting that confidence is that spark that they need. However, confidence builds as you perform these little actions and begin achieving little successes. All of these things contribute to increasing your belief in your talents and your belief that things are going to turn out well for you. Practice and improvement comes first, and confidence grows from there. Too often, athletes go into training looking for a time when they are going to be “strong enough” or “fast enough”.
Unless you are training for a particular competition, consider approaching fitness as a uniquely personal means to express yourself physically. Adding 50 pounds to your back squat, shaving two minutes from your 5K time, or increasing flexibility enough that you can touch your toes for the first time are great goals. But if you view “success” as just the day when you reach that goal, you are missing all of the little, progressive gains that you are making along the way.
Instead of striving for perfection in your health and fitness efforts, aim to improve. The “practice makes perfect” mantra sets too many people up to fail. “Practice makes progress,” by contrast, is a philosophy that encourages and recognizes improvement of all kinds. As with so many things in life, fitness should be seen as a marathon, not a sprint.
If you are looking for help setting goals, please do let me know. Finding what excites you, and then creating a roadmap on how you will get there, is a truly enjoyable process.
Now, let us acknowledge and realize the true value of practice in a persons life. Practice makes you perfect is in fact an incorrect notion. It can never make you perfect, it can only make you better, meaning that it makes you better than where you are now.
Also, a lot of people feel they have to continue practicing until they have everything perfected, whatever it is that they are doing. But the truth is, actually starting practicing is when you have got things right. A true winner follows that up by making sure they do not ever screw up at anything they do.
Last week, we read about the importance of practice. Now, let us learn about the true meaning of practice in the life of human beings.
Practice makes you perfect is in fact an incorrect notion. It can never make you perfect, it can only make you better, meaning that it makes you better than where you are now.
Also, a lot of people feel they have to continue practicing until they have everything perfected, whatever it is that they are doing. But the truth is, actually starting practicing is when you have got things right. A true winner follows that up by making sure they do not ever screw up at anything they do. Once you know that you are getting better at what you are doing, you know you are not only producing the most results, but your mind has the freedom of knowing there are fewer obstacles.
At some point, you will know you have no more obstacles due to the discipline that you are maintaining in practice. Most importantly, once you know you are the best in what you do; you will have a sense of self-worth to yourself, meaning that you will not feel disturbed about others opinions about you. You will not just know that you are the best at what you are doing, you will ensure you are practicing being the best at what you are doing. The magical sense of honoring yourself, of being unfazed by others opinions, is achieved by the powerful discipline called practice.
