Practice Makes Perfect

How many times have we heard that? Practice makes perfect. Practice? yes. Perfect? Not quite so sure. I'd revise it to say practice teaches our bodies and minds to know what to do so when we are in the midst of a competition we can be in the moment.

I played competitive tennis for many years. From the minute I walked onto the tennis court, I behaved as if I were in a match. Every warm-up, every drill, every friendly game with teammates was played with the same focus and attention to detail I wanted to have in a genuine tournament. I was creating the  body memory I would need to draw on no matter the circumstances I found myself in. I was teaching my mind to let go of distractions and come back to the present moment. I spent hours practicing a combination of drills so I was prepared for whatever the other player might throw at me. I would constantly mix things up rather than do the same thing over and over, because in a match the opposing player is going to keep mixing things up and I need to be ready to react. I even practiced what to do when my 'go to' shot became my 'went somewhere else' shot. I learned to laugh it off and find a workaround, keeping my mind in the game while my overhead was deserting me. Did all the practice make me a perfect tennis player? Of course not, but it did give me the confidence to play my best, to focus on the process of playing well and let the outcome take care of itself.

Preparing for our motorcycling competitions required similar practice. We rode multiple 24 hour rides, shorter day trips, and all 48 contiguous states in 8 days in preparation for the 2007 Iron Butt Rally. We practiced taking photos, putting everything away properly, double checking each move, and every obstacle we faced taught us something we could draw on later. Spending hours in the saddle, timing our gas stops, our food stops and our rest stops. Filling out paperwork with the same attention to detail on a weekend ride that we will need to have on day ten of an eleven day rally increased the chances of avoiding costly mistakes when we were tired or stressed. Becoming lazy because it's 'only a short ride' meant we might become lazy when the stakes were higher. The biggest lesson was routines matter. Routines trained our minds and bodies to know what we expected from them, how we wanted them to respond no matter what happened. Again, did all that practice make us perfect? Absolutely not, but we again had the confidence to keep going, to find a way through the toughest challenges and figure things out. We focused on planning and execution, and let the outcome take care of itself.

So the revision I would make is to practice, practice, practice...but to practice wisely and efficiently. I focus on building routines, building both body and mental memory so I can stay present in an actual competition. I also look for opportunities to train myself for the unexpected, to come up with a workaround on the fly and keep my head focused on where I am, what I am doing, and where I am going so I'm not derailed when things go wrong. Confidence comes not from simply telling myself I have the ability to do something, using positive self talk or focusing on a great outcome, but from actually doing something until I am confident I have the internal knowledge I need to handle whatever comes my way because I've trained for it, both physically and mentally.