Practice is the act of rehearsing a behavior over and over, or engaging in an activity again and again, for the purpose of improving or mastering it, as in the phrase ‘practice makes perfect‘. It is a method of learning and of acquiring experience. – Wikipedia
I believe you have already heard this phrase before. I have.
When I was small, there was a famous brand for these notebooks that we used in school, it was called Sinar Dunia, and this phrase was printed at the bottom of every page of the book. I remembered I read it almost every time I opened my book. Yet, the meaning never dawned on me until one day…
Back then, I was in Junior High. We were asked to give a speech on any topic that interest us. I was terrified as public speaking was never my strong point. I failed miserably. But one of my close friend really awed me. She managed to capture my full attention and also the rest of the audience. I still remembered her speech. That’s how powerful her presentation at the time. It was about her dream.
Years after that, when she was sleeping over, the speech suddenly mentioned in our conversation. She told me the secret of her awesome speech. Can you guess what it was? Yes, it was ‘practice makes perfect’! It was like an AHA moment for me. That’s how enlightened I was.
Turned out, she practiced every day before the D-day. Her mom even thought she was crazy when she spoke by herself in front of her mirror. When I was only hoping for miracle and dreamed about giving an awesome speech without any effort on my side, she was practicing! That’s when the meaning of the phrase really dawned on me.
Truly you can be good at anything, if only you practice. That is the only secret.
Yet, I would like to add one more quote from George Fisher;
‘When you aim for perfection, you discover it’s a moving target.’
So practice to be better, not perfect.
This story is the first moment when I start realising the truth of the phrase that usually we heard. There is always truth in them. Since a child, I always fancy about quotes and powerful words, I have been collecting them without reason. I just like it. Now, I can see how along the way they have inspired my life. I hope they will also inspire your life too 