‘Practice’ may be the least sexy word in the world of health and fitness. However, practice is all about trusting the process.
Few gyms ever run an ad suggesting that practice is the secret to success…
…but, without question, it is.
A wise person once said, “You have to be willing to be bad at something to earn the right of being good at that same thing.
Fortunately, that’s a lesson I learned early on in my sports career. It’s also served me well in business and life.
I played baseball at a pretty high level…but like most people was awful at the beginning.
As a kid, it seemed like the ball was impossible to hit, never mind being able to throw and catch properly. Everything just seemed so complicated.
Despite this, I rarely recall being frustrated. Baseball was fun. I just enjoyed the process of practicing and kept plugging away. I vividly remember spending hours in the driveway, local park, and school soccer field practicing my throwing, catching, and hitting. Sometimes I did this with friends, but most of the time it was on my own.
The banging probably drove my parents crazy during the hours I spent throwing tennis balls at the squares on our garage door or hitting Wiffle balls in my backyard, but they were always supportive. As a bonus, Wiffleball hitting in the backyard also helped me get good at climbing and jumping fences!
Gradually, each of these skills improved and I found that within a few years I had improved a lot. I noticed that the other kids who didn’t practice as much weren’t improving as quickly. This sold me on the belief that if I just kept practicing, it would all work out.
Over a decade later I earned a university scholarship, got drafted by the New York Yankees, and traveled around North America playing at the international level (unfortunately not for the Yankees).
All of this success was built on a foundation of practice…and a passion for the process. It is about trusting the process.
Incremental improvement builds success.
Fitness is the exact same thing.
Whether you do strength, endurance, flexibility, power, or ideally some combination of these training styles, every set, rep, and workout is one small step towards being better.
Sure, there are some people who are naturals at things…but they’re fewer than we imagine.
The reality is that almost everyone who has achieved anything meaningful in sport, business, and life has practiced their craft over and over.
They’ve put in the hours and repetitions to earn their success.
That’s why I think it’s important to pursue things that excite and interest you rather than just punch the clock…so you’re eager to practice.
Find things you like to do, and practice getting better at them.
Read about them, study them, do them consistently, and you will begin to see success.
Even on vacation I read or study something because I love coming home feeling like I’m better than when I left.
So, if you’re looking for some magic bullet or secret and none of the supposed experts or gurus have shared with you yet…I propose that the answer is practice and trusting the process!
Embrace it and pretty much any success you want can be yours.
Do you need help figuring out how to properly practice? We got you covered. Contact us here and we can begin the process of finding out what you need to do in order to succeed. We look forward to hearing from you!
