How to Practice Anything to Mastery with 3 Simple Phases

We've all heard the saying, "practice makes perfect".

It's been drilled into our minds a million and one times as kids.

I admire the greater lesson that was being taught.

You need to practice.

But while that saying has led us to value the skill of practicing, it has also hurt our chances of truly being good at it.

Perfect is just not real in the world that we live in.

Any saying, quote, or lesson that encourages us to be perfect is in actuality just wishful thinking.

As humans we should just get rid of the word perfect altogether.

When it comes to practicing we often practice, and practice, and practice without ever reaching anything near perfect.

And that's discouraging.

Practice really makes permanent.

Or if we're really being technical it makes consistent.

And that's as perfect as we're gonna get in an ever evolving world.

But it's too late to go back teach the millions of kids that they should continue to practice even if they never reach the "perfect" they were promised.

So instead I'll lay out the most optimal strategy to practicing literally anything that will lead to the consistent results we all want to see.

This goes for fitness, relationships, financial success, school grades and everything in between.

There's nothing you can't succeed at practicing if know the roadmap of truly productive practice.

The roadmap of productive practice happens in three phases.

Phase one is pleasure.

First and foremost, when you choose to practice something, let go of all the goals.

Let them go.

They will not serve you when you first start.

You will not get six pack abs overnight.

You will not become the top developer at your Fortune 500 company overnight.

And you surely won't be the perfect girlfriend, that can handle any problems that come your way, overnight.

The journey to true mastery with any skill is a long road.

You better buckle in.

What you should be focused on in those first few hours, weeks, or months is simple...

Pleasure.

Find the joy in whatever it is you're practicing.

You don't have to tell kids to go "practice" playing Roblox, or Call of Duty, or Minecraft.

They get up and do it because they find lots of pleasure doing it.

And every second they spend jumping, building, or shooting, is them actually practicing that game.

Practice can be pleasurable.

Practice should be pleasurable.

Pleasurable practice is the biggest factor in your continued success learning anything.

The second phase is exploration.

Once you've fallen in love doing your practice, it's time to expand your horizons.

You can shoot the same three point shot only so many times before you're no longer learning.

Even if all you want to learn is how to shoot a basketball, you have to know and believe there's more to learn.

Someone in the world is shooting a basketball better than you. And it's your job to find them.

You have to get out there and see what's possible.

Search your skill on Youtube and see what techniques you've never thought to try.

Find online forums for people that love shooting basketballs just like you.

Go to a different part of the world where they shoot in the weirdest way possible, but it works.

You have to open your mind to what you don't know and soak up as much as possible.

You already love practicing your craft, the only thing that can hold you back now is information.

Or the lack of it.

And finally there's phase three.

Phase three is all about the details.

This is where the good become great.

You take everything you've learned and discovered to make the tiny adjustments.

You start to get really precise with every little detail.

This is the hard work that no one wants to do.

It's super boring, tedious, and extremely slow.

But this is exactly what separates the hobbyists from the professionals.

You may only grow one or two percent in years of work in phase three.

But it will compound over time.

That's the roadmap to productive practice.

And anyone can do it with any skill they want to practice.

Find the pleasure, explore the possibilities, and then get precise.

And remember practice doesn't make perfect, it makes p...

In progress,

Tim