A writer friend of mine says, “Thinking about writing is not writing. Only writing is writing.” The same goes for practice. No matter how much you think about practicing, talk about practicing, plan for practicing, only practicing is practicing. And there is no substitute for practice to make us better at whatever it is that we do.
I’ve always found it odd that doctors call what they do “practicing” medicine. The last thing I want to be while lying on an operating table is an experiment. Experiments can go wrong. But, I get it.
When I was a software engineer, reading about writing software was useful. But, not as useful as actually sitting down at the keyboard and writing code. With each line typed, my skills and abilities improved.
As a ventriloquist, I spend many, many hours practicing. Some in front of a mirror, some while driving in my car, some while walking down the street. Sometimes it’s fun, sometimes it’s a real drag.
I can always tell when I haven’t been practicing enough. And I suspect you can, too. You walk into that meeting and the prep work you should have done somehow didn’t make your personal priority list. You feel unprepared. Anxious. You spent so much time adding flourishes and adjusting color schemes in your PowerPoint slides that you somehow never found the time to stand up and practice talking through the presentation. So as you stand to give your presentation the great flop sweat hits you hard.
I don’t know about you, but I don’t like feeling anxious or unprepared. That is why I practice. Because practice causes exactly the opposite feeling. One of confidence, self-assurance, and fun.
You may not be trying to get to Carnegie Hall, but the answer to the question of “How do you get to …” is still the same. Practice.