May 19, 2011 at 7:15 am, by Carl

This is a very old adage that I heard often while growing up.  It usually was in context with athletics and I just assumed it was true.


Years later as a swimming coach, I realized that this was not true.  So, I changed it to help my athletes develop better.  Here’s how it goes:


Practice does NOT make perfect; practice makes habits.


So, you must work during practice to develop perfect habits.  Of course, no one develops perfect habits, but a good coach can and should be helping you in getting as close to perfect as possible.


See, what happens in practice is that we put in the work that simulates what the real game will be like.  We are training the body to do a variety of actions and to be able to do them without thinking about it.  That’s building muscle memory so that we can react as necessary.  So, practice then becomes that place where we must develop the perfect habits that we hope to perform during the competition.


Let me give you an example–in swimming, at the end of each race, especially swimming freestyle, there is a specific was to reach for the wall.  You must stretch a certain way and with a certain amount of energy.  If you saw the 2008 Olympics, this was on display in the incredible victory for Michael Phelps in the 100 yard butterfly race.  However, this finish comes at the end of the race when, obviously you are the most tired.  You are striving to get to the end, so you are also more focused on the overall goal than on the small concept of how to finish.  Here is where the practice comes in:  if you have spent the last 500 freestyle swims making a perfect stretch, focused on finishing well, then when the big race comes, you won’t have to try and remember to stretch.  Instead, you will just do it well in the moment of the race.



Life is just like this, with one big difference.  Every day is practice, so you need to approach every task with the focus of doing it well, building good habits that will sustain you in the actual contest.  And, that’s the one main difference—you never really know when the contest, the game, the race will actually take place.  Rarely are you given a “head’s up” that you are about to be tested.  Instead, you’ll just be there minding your own business and the next, you are deep into an issue that is the real test.  Perhaps your boss will give you a major assignment that could propel your opportunities in the business to a new level.  Maybe it will be a temptation offered by a classmate to cheat on an exam.  The test could be about your word, the promise that you’ve given to your wife.  The challenge could come when the doctor gives you the word that your child is ill with a rare disease.


At those moments, just like Phelps in that race or countless of my athletes in the midst of their big swim, you won’t have time to think about your next steps.  Or, if you do have to think about it, you may miss out, may be distracted in focusing on what should be a muscle memory thing.  At the moment of the test life gives you, you must be prepared due to countless hours of practice.


Practice does not make perfect; practice makes habits.  What kind of life habits are you building today?