Practice Does Not Make Perfect

Practice does not make perfect. Only perfect practice makes perfect. –Vince Lombardi

We’ve all heard the saying, “practice makes perfect.” But the reality is that practice in itself does not make perfect. Rather, as the saying goes, practice makes permanent.

If we do something repeatedly — regardless of what it is — in time we’re going to get good at doing it. But we’ll get good at doing it the way we practiced it. For instance, if we’re learning a scale on the guitar, or how to swing a golf club, simply putting time into practicing won’t automatically make our technique better — if anything, it will just make it that much harder to correct.

And just like we can experience this in sports or music, the same thing holds true in the way we live our lives — whether it be the way we work, or interact with others, or choose to respond to the events of the day.

Whatever we choose to do, it’s a form of practice, and it will only be that much easier to do it the same way next time. Which is why it’s important to pay attention to what we’re practicing. Because in time, whatever we practice will become permanent, but not necessarily perfect.