Practice makes perfect.  Growing up, we’ve all heard that phrase at least once.

Let’s define practice as small, focused, deliberate daily actions that are rooted in a well-reasoned plan based on a long-term perspective and influenced by your closely-held values.

I’ve found that partaking of incremental, consistent, concentrated “short burst” practice sessions can have an exponentially-positive impact.  Often, in less time than we think.

Remember that affirmation penned by Emile Coue?  “Day by day in every way I’m getting better and better.”  I think this is what he was talking about.  Daily incremental actions.

Here are just a few reasons why committing to a regular, focused rehearsal plan can be so valuable (when compared with alternatives like “cramming”):

• Small up front time requirements
• It’s relatively easy
• Breaks between sessions are positive and enhanced

Let’s use the practice of studying as an example to expand on this.

Reflecting on my college days I can see now that studying something for a set period of time (even ten minutes) consistently every morning while having a coffee or tea (over the course of a full semester) is so much better than cramming all weekend before a big test.

Ten minutes is always easy to find.  Once that ten minutes of daily studying becomes a habit, momentum is generated and it’s actually quite pleasant.  Throughout the semester the day to day growth in learning becomes evident and can be used as a point of reference.  This sense of productivity is satisfying.

Additionally, the breaks between study sessions provide numerous opportunities to step back and assess things like the approach being used, whether it should be changed, if the study time allocated should be increased, if the right things are being given proper focus, and many chances to find out what those “right things” are.  The input from professors and classmates as well as our own daily learnings help narrow this focus gradually with great efficacy, and over time we’re able to gauge where we are in terms of our grasp of the topic.  I’ve found that this “marinating” effect, for lack of a better word, can be a big win.

Now, let’s look at the alternate path – That of “cramming.”

Cramming is a burden.  It often happens over a long weekend – one that could just as well be spent relaxing and enjoying time with friends and family.  This fact, coupled with the notion that we’re playing “catch up” while cramming can immediately put us in a stressful, and less than resourceful state.  By contrast, it seems easiest to learn when we’re in a happy and engaged state.

We can only absorb so much new information in one sitting.  When deeply mired in an all weekend cramming session we’ll unfortunately notice diminishing returns more often than we’d like.  This will lead to a lot of wasted time.  Also, we’ll lose the opportunity to reassess, and organically refine our focus on the topic at hand.  We won’t have a firm grasp on the extent of our knowledge base, and we will have less opportunity to engage with our professor in an influential manner.  It’s a downward spiral.

As we can see from above, daily incremental actions / practice (studying in this instance) can be so much better than the alternative.

What has been your experience with practice?  Do you have a different view?  What are some other ideas that you’d like to add?

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