Practice

The more you practice, the better. But in any case, practice more than you play.

Babe Didrikson Zaharias

Lindsey wanted to talk about practice because it’s true that

You earn your trophies at practice, but you pick them up at competition.

If you want to raise the bar for myself and do better work, you have to practice.

Some things we’re okay with practicing for–sports, plays, class. But sometimes once we’ve done something–maybe even done it well–we tend to think we don’t need to practice anymore

Easier to practice for an event with a finish line, than to practice for the life skill you may never actually finish.

Does practice really make perfect?

There’s no such thing as perfect.

Practice is done so you can get better than you are.

How do we practice for these nebulous life things?

Lindsey is practicing loving someone who is hard to love. In real life, that looks like doing certain things that speak to this person’s love language.

Kristi is practicing life–forming new habits and gaining discipline. She’s learned part of the point of practice is to start with the basics and then continue to revisit those.

Just as Lindsey teaches writing students that you have to learn the rules because you can only break them for effect.

What we really want to hear is it’s okay to practice–and maybe even necessary.

Admitting we need practice is admitting we need more than talent to succeed.

The key to good practice is knowing where you’ve started and where you want to go. And remember, what’s easy to moderate for someone else may not be easy or moderate for you.

If you don’t know where you’re going, you don’t know when you’ve gotten there.

Practice is where everything is truly formed. This requires time put in before you get to a performance stage. Sometimes you practice and then change what you’ve done but that’s not a waste of time or effort if this is getting you to the next step in your journey.

You’re going to come out of practice better than you went in. Sometimes practice brings more than achievenment:

• relationships
• connections
• other opportunities
• personal growth

Edit Your Life Challenge

Think of something you are practicing–small, big, or anywhere in between. Take a few minutes to journal or just ponder: What is the value of this season of practice?

Practice is merely saying I am not as good as I would like to be and I’m willing to do the work to get better.

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As always, find us @lindseypbrackett and @kristiannhunter on Instagram or Facebook. Follow @aroughdraftlife on Instagram or Facebook and join the community! Find out more about Lindsey’s and Kristi’s books on their websites, lindseypbrackett.com and kristiannhunter.com.

Now go, edit your life, and make tomorrow better than today!