A buddy of mine recently bought himself a new Porsche. It’s right of passage for those of us chasing the loss of our youth and our hair. The ride is sweet, the deal was great, and my friend deserves every mile of pure pleasure and reduction in his net worth from those future dealer only repairs. But for now I say Bravo.
And it got me thinking.
Remember that first Tom Cruise movie that brought him to life? The one with that really hot woman who was the French version of Renee Zellweger and he was in high school and he comes sliding into camera in his tighty whities signing a Bob Segar song? What the hell was that movie? No, it wasn’t Fast Times at Ridgemont High…Risky Business, that’s it – Risky Business. And there was this one part in that movie – a car chase – and he and his weird buddy and the hot woman (who turns out to be an expensive hooker) are being chased by the villain and the villain is in this lame Cadillac and Cruise and the babe and the weirdo are in his dad’s Porsche. Of course they get away (of course they do) and then Cruise pulls over and says, “Porsche, there is no substitute.” It’s pretty funny to listen to Cruise when he’s 18. He sounds like Minnie Mouse. I think he’s about the same size now, the only difference is his manhood finally dropped.
And it got me thinking.
I’m an instructor. Course developer. Author. Presenter. Each week when I write this blog, I’m doing a small version of that part of me. I have 35 years of my life invested in helping people get better at what they do from realtors to businesspeople to ski racers. But there is one thing I simply cannot teach, no matter how smart I try to be, how hard I work, or how many a rabbit I pull out of my hat, and that is practice. I can’t teach practice. And yet practice is what you have to do. It’s what I have to do. Because practice is the only path to mastery. To borrow a cliché from a midget scientologist with great teeth, “there is no substitute”.
By a random act of serendipity, last Sunday I had a great reconnect call with a woman I met when I lived on the Gulf of Mexico about 8 years ago. She was there when my own journey with video began. As we chatted along, I was editing some old stuff I had shot back in the day when I lived in Texas. Total shit. I mean all of it. A complete embarrassment. No, I’m not going to show you.
And it got me thinking.
As I was looking at those old clips, I quickly realized that the bridge between then me and now me is that little magical word, “practice”. This week as I’ve been nose-down in the content creation for the new fall classes, I’ve been binging U2 in the background (Achtung Baby and the Joshua Tree mostly). As I think about the band’s tightness, Bono’s pipes, Edge’s riffs, the maturity of the lyrics, and how Larry and Adam are the real glue for the whole thing, Malcom Galdwell flashes across the screen of my mind. The “10,000 hours” principal. It’s the perfect cliché to remind all of us to…practice.
And it got me thinking.
We forget about practice. We get so deep into the business of being busy every day that we forget not just to take time for ourselves, but to take time to hone our skills to become our better future selves. It’s really important. Imperative actually. In the 90’s I knew this guy who was a professional football player. He summed it up this way, “We practice about 50 hours a week to play a one-hour game.” He was making about $750K a week in those days. It would seem practice = cash as well.
So I think you get my point, and you may even agree, but you might be wondering what. What do you practice? Well you’re in luck my Sunday friend. I’ve got you on this one. Here’s a short list of things you might consider practicing starting today. Pick one and start right now.
Making a cold call
Smiling
Sitting with proper posture
Smiling
Doing a proper push up
Doing a proper sit up
Writing a love letter
Writing a sales letter
Writing a breakup letter
Yoga
Smiling
Gratefulness
Balancing your checkbook
Excel spreadsheets
French kissing
Air guitar
Real guitar
Smiling
Salsa dancing
Shot framing a photo
Photo color correcting
Humility
Smiling
Closing a sale
Time value of money
Dealing with a jerk
Editing video
Telling your person you love him/her
Making the perfect breakfast
Singing
Speed reading
Celibacy
Sex
Smiling
Rapport
Making peace with your ex
Making peace with your parents
Making peace with yourself
That should get you started.
Good luck and have a good week.
Joe Still
2021.05.30
Cite
“If you don’t practice you don’t deserve to win.”
– Andre Agassi