“Practice does not make perfect. Only perfect practice makes perfect.”― Vince Lombardi

Practice isn't just repetition.We all know the old saying "Practice makes perfect", unfortunately that saying does not provide us with any insight on how to practice, or what the best type of practice involves.

It's true that repetition alone will certainly make you more efficient at a given procedure, however it will only take you so far. At some point the gains you see from repetition alone will quickly begin to taper off. To truly maximize the time you spend practicing your going to need to redefine the term practice. To that end I'd like to propose the following definition of practice.

Practice: repetition with creative variation based on research, followed by evaluation.

Let's break this new definition down. We can see there is still repetition, however now we've introduced creative variation in with it. This creative variance is important, because rather than just repeating you are now evolving your skills in addition to honing them.

The next part of the equation is research. In the context of practice research means finding the authorities on the subject you are trying to master then studying, and stealing, their practice methods. There is no sense is trying to reinvent the wheel when it comes to what and how you practice, so steal from the masters and save yourself some time.

The final addition to my new definition is evaluation (that's a lot of "tions"). This means that everytime you try a new practice technique you need to measure its impact on your performance. Some techniques may feel like a step backwards at first so make sure you put enough time in before moving on, remember even Tiger threw out his swing. That said, not all techniques will work for you, so use the ones that do and throw out the rest.

While the wording of my definition may be my own, the concept is certainly not new. Infact, you might notice it bears a striking resemblance to the scientific method, albiet simplified, which is ok, unless you're, you know, practicing rocket science or something.

I hope this new definition of practice gives you something to think about (and act on) the next time you find yourself getting frustrated with a lack of practice progress.
Next up in this series will be "Patience Beats Talent".

Some bonus material to Google:* K. Anders Ericsson* Moonwalking with Einstein by Joshua Foer* Spaced repetition for memorization.

Feel free to continue and add to this conversation with me over email ichabodcole@gmail.com.