Practice until you never fail
Mostly, it is very easy to do the weekly brain dump that is my blog. Tonight, I feel rather empty. Strange. But it is the same pattern with my daily musical exercise. Some days are just totally off. The solution is fortunately extremely easy. Just do the task anyway. I am just too critical of myself and even if this will be my worst post so far, it will still be 1000X better than no piece at all. The unconditional importance of carrying on cannot be overstated. Besides, these worst days are the best and most important. They will ruthlessly reveal how good of a writer, or drummer or whatever you are. No-one cares what you can do on a good day. It is the bad day that counts. Don’t practice to win, if you want to become very good at something. Practice until you never fail instead.
The difference between winning and never failing is very large. I wouldn’t be surprised if it requires about 100X more practice hours to reach the never fail level. That’s why it is almost impossible to become a professional in a given domain if you do not love what you do and really want it. How else are you going to muster the energy needed to proceed on a bad day. Like today. I would infinitely rather just be in my bed right now. But just like a dog walk in pouring rain, I always feel better when I am done compared to before I started. That is certain. It is because by completing a good task, you become a slightly better human.
I had a powerful experience yesterday with my 2- and 4-year-old boys, each on an age-appropriate little bicycle. The little guy, Isak, rides the smallest model of balance bike and big brother Elis has learned how to pedal a bike for real. Isak is about one year earlier in the development when it comes to bikes. That has been clear from the start, and it is fascinating to witness the lightning-fast progress from not being able to move the bike forward at all to running with it, in a matter of weeks.
Where we live, we have a couple of hundred meters of sloped gravel road. The slope is at the perfect angle for bike practice. We walk together uphill which is a bit tedious, as always, but the return trip is a ton of fun because you can roll all the way home without going too fast. Last night, Elis did just that and lifted his legs and off he went. Isak often replicates the actions he sees in his big brother and this was no exception. He ran as fast as he could to catch up, but it was obviously impossible. When he saw his brother disappear beyond the trees he burst into tears: “I cannot lift my legs” with crocodile tears running down his cheeks. He had it all figured out in theory, but not yet in practice. I just kneeled with him and explained to him that it is nothing to worry about. We will keep going up this hill and rolling back home until it clicks into place for you. I promise that you will do this before long. It did the trick and the tears stopped and he ran off with the balance bike.
In front of the house and garage we have a part of the road and yard with tarmac. It is nowadays also a racetrack for the bikes. They boys go round and round. My wife noticed that Isak had picked up substantial speed on his bike from last time, so she came out to watch. I told her that I do not think it is impossible that the little guy will learn to lift his legs and roll before the end of this season. Within 30 seconds of me finishing the sentence, the legs went up like the landing gear on a plane and a crucial milestone was achieved. We all screamed in happiness and Isak was so happy that he could hardly stand. These kids never cease to amaze me, how much more able they are than what I think they are. They always seem to be one step ahead of where I think they are. And the progress is so fast.
This little post turned into a diary, and I think there is a red line here. The takeaway is the incremental improvement lesson. I firmly believe that it is physically impossible to fail with anything as long as you keep showing up. The bicycle milestone was just another (beyond cute) example of just that. You cannot un-learn how to ride a bike. Once you have it, the knowledge will stay forever. Thus, Isak practiced something until he never fails which is the literal definition of riding a bike. Oh, and a second advice is appropriate here. Balance bikes are awesome. They teach proper counter steering. Training wheels suck. With them you learn the opposite of counter steering and have to start all over when you remove them.