The Importance of Practice
Every pro was once an amateur
Every expert was once a beginner
How did the amateur become the pro?
How did the beginner become the expert?
How did the amateur improve?
How did the expert improve?
How did they attain the level of mastery and professionalism they now enjoy?
The answer is simple…
PRACTICE.
There is no limit to growth. There is no level at which you become “too good to practice.” There’s always another level.
You will never reach a point where you’re “complete.” You will always have to find ways to push your barriers, expand your comfort zone, and grow as a human being.
This is something you must accept.
We are either growing or dying.
There is a difference between Professionals and Amateurs. It doesn’t matter what you are trying to become better at… if you only do the work when you’re motivated, then you’ll never be consistent enough to become a professional.
The ability to show up everyday, stick to the schedule, and do the work — especially when you don’t feel like it — is so valuable that it is literally all you need to become better 99% of the time.
The Pain of Being A Pro:
Approaching your goals — whatever they are — with the attitude of a professional isn’t easy.
In fact, being a pro is painful.
The simple fact of the matter is that most of the time we are inconsistent.
We have goals that we would like to achieve and dreams that we would like to fulfill, but we only work towards them occasionally; when we feel inspired or motivated or when life allows us to do so.
It’s just easier that way.
I can guarantee that if you set a schedule for any task and start sticking to it, there will be days when you feel like quitting.
Professionals stick to the schedule while amateurs let life get in the way.
Professionals know what is important to them and work towards it with purpose, amateurs get pulled off course by the urgencies of life.
Question?
Are You Living an Urgent Life or an Important Life?
There are moments throughout our lives where we catch a glimpse of what we are capable of, a flicker of what we are destined to be.
It could be a burst of inspiration for that book we always wanted to write.
Or the yearning to finally lose the extra weight.
Or the feeling of dissatisfaction with where we are in life.
These are important desires and they call to us all the time.
But right before we answer their call, the urgency of life tends to get in the way.
Your phone rings.
Your car is low on gas.
Your boss drops a tight deadline on you.
And so we delay our dreams one more day for the sake of putting out another fire.
How do we get past all this?
How do we start living the life that’s important to us instead of just responding to the everyday emergencies?
Think about this: you’re going to spend the next year doing something.
Too often that something is responding to what is urgent instead of pursuing what is important.
Too often the need to make money (urgent) wins out over the desire to build something we’re proud of (important).
Too often the urge to find a way to lose twenty pounds in six weeks (urgent) wins out over becoming the type of person who doesn’t miss workouts (important).
Too often the craving to be noticed or appreciated (urgent) wins out over the ability to be present and satisfied (important).
Sure, we all need money.
And yes, there are times when the world requires us to put important things on hold so that we can get the rest of our crazy lives under control.
Handling responsibilities is part of life.
But how long will you delay what’s important to you just so that you can handle the next urgent thing in front of you?
How long will you put off what you’re capable of doing just to maintain what you’re currently doing?
Will you wait a year? Five years? Your whole life?
Too often we live our lives based on what is urgent for us and not what is important to us.
It’s dangerously easy to spend years constantly chasing the next urgent thing and never setting aside time to do what we know we should.
So What Next?
How to Become a Pro:
Going about your work like a pro isn’t easy, but it’s also not as complicated or difficult as you might think. There are three steps.
1. Decide what you want to be good at.
Purpose is everything. If you know what you want, then getting it is much easier.
2. Set a schedule for your actions.
Once you know what you want, set a schedule for actually doing it.
3. Stick to your schedule for one week.
Then for the next week and do this one week at a time.
Stop thinking about how hard it will be to follow a schedule for a month or a year. Just follow it for this week. For the next 7 days, don’t let distractions get in the way.
Consider this quote about deliberate practice…
Consider the activity of two basketball players practicing free throws for one hour. Player A shoots 200 practice shots, Player B shoots 50. The Player B retrieves his own shots, dribbles leisurely and takes several breaks to talk to friends. Player A has a colleague who retrieves the ball after each attempt. The colleague keeps a record of shots made. If the shot is missed the colleague records whether the miss was short, long, left or right and the shooter reviews the results after every 10 minutes of practice. To characterize their hour of practice as equal would hardly be accurate. Assuming this is typical of their practice routine and they are equally skilled at the start, which would you predict would be the better shooter after only 100 hours of practice?
—Aubrey Daniels
How can you practice like a pro?
Track Numbers analyzer for 1 week
See 25 expireds for 1 week
See 25 previews for 1 week
Learn scripts
Role play…hot market script, center of influence and past client script
Today matters….
Just do the practice for this week then next Monday we will talk about it
Make today count and remember…
Mastery Follows Consistency
Have a great week!
