We’ve all heard the advice that practice makes perfect.  But how many of us actually do that? Practice I mean. I’d be willing to bet that very few of us work hard at what we love. In a previous post I mentioned that we are all too often held in the grasp of a no growth mentality.  That it’s not change we fear, but failure.

Practice is part of that.

Many of us don’t practice because we figure “why bother?”  That type of mentality says, it’s not the practice that matters it’s luck, or natural skill or some other random variable.  While those things are important, they don’t replace practice.

Just look at the NFL or the NBA.

Usually the top athletes are the ones known for spending hours in the gym.  Especially when everyone else has gone home.  That’s dedication.

One of the best pieces of advice I ever got was from reading an e-book by Chris Guillebeau, author of the blog, The Art of Nonconformity.  In that book he said that as a writer his minimum goal is to write 1000 words per day.   If he doesn’t hit that number he doesn’t feel like it was a good day.

That got me thinking – I fancy myself a writer, what should my writing patterns look like?

Frankly they weren’t up to snuff. I might write 500 words every other day.  But a thousand a day? Nowhere close. Since then I decided to make changes.  If I wanted to improve as a writer I needed to practice.  And practice meant writing more.  Now I make sure to write close to that thousand word mark. I don’t always get there.   And I’m okay with that.  It’s not the number I care about, it’s the attitude.  But between Meaning to Work and a blog I write around living a life of faith, along with several other writing projects, I come very close to that number every day.  That’s a huge improvement.   That’s something measurable.

And you know what? It has helped.   My writing has improved.  My productivity has improved.  And unexpectedly, my confidence in my writing ability has improved.

Practice may never make perfect. But it makes things a lot better.

photo provided by flickr user laffy4k