Yea that’s exactly how I said it. Perfect practice makes perfect.
I know you’ve heard the saying “practice makes perfect,” but does it really?
Great athletes preach this mantra to others to show them how they got to where they are in their life right now.
But read this quote of what NBA Legend Michael Jordan said:
“You can shoot eight hours a day, but if your technique is wrong, all you become is good at shooting the wrong way. Get the fundamentals down and the level of everything you do will rise.”
This quote in itself is a life lesson!
Let’s say that you strive to run a successful business online. You can watch videos on how to create a successful business and model what other successful business owners are doing, but if you don’t take action and grow around what you’ve learned, how can you create that successful online business?
You can’t.
Sure you’re going to make mistakes in the beginning, but that’s a part of the process!
After you learn from your mistakes, you can then start doing things in a more “perfect” manner.
You can do a quick Google search and find a plethora of people who succeed at what they do. We see the rewards they reap and the praise they receive. But what we don’t see is the hard focused work they put day in and day out while everyone slept to reach the point at which they are right now.
Many people never even consider the countless hours of practice and refinement that goes into what the public ultimately sees.
But the bottom line behind my statements is this…
Perfect Practice Makes Perfect
Now I know that we’re human beings, we tend to make mistakes and we aren’t perfect at doing things in a perfect manner.
But the key to a perfect practice is to strive for excellence.
Excellence is perfection at it’s core.
Perfection says “I want to be free from all of my flaws and never mess up.”
Excellence says “I’m going to work on doing this task in the best possible way, to the best of my ability, with the best information I have now until I become extremely good at it.”
And the excellent lifestyle is how we should approach our lives and our businesses!
I know that many people strive to be as “perfect” as they can be, shoot, I even did at one point in my life!
But no matter what we say, we’re human and we all make mistakes. That’s why I believe it’s better to strive for excellence rather than perfection.
So by now you’re probably wondering “how can I apply this into my life today?”
I believe there are four key habits that should be developed when striving for excellence in all that you do.
1. Identifying Core Skills
In any endeavor you approach, there are skills that matter and those that don’t matter to your main objective.
The skills that matter most are what I call “core skills”.
In my career as an Internet marketer, core skills include things like…
– Creating content: Articles, videos, and more to help my readers.
– Writing advertising copy: solo ads, banner ads and more.
– Writing headlines. Because headlines grab attention.
– Writing content rich and converting email messages.
– Creating or leveraging products that help people solve a problem.
– Creating the right offer so people will buy your products.
– Ensuring your customer service is world class.
If you work doing anything, think about your business and make a list of core skills that need to be mastered.
If you are stuck starting the list, look to leaders in your industry and make a list of their common characteristics.
Keep this list of core skills and practice them often.
2. Practice What Matters Most
The next step is the hard one. This step calls for sweat and for being uncomfortable. For doing what you don’t want to do when you don’t want to do it so that someday you can do anything you want, anytime you want to do it!
It’s called practice.
The only way to get to the top of our game, to be the best we can be, is to practice.
Research and study people who have wisdom in the skill that you want to master, and model what they do. Practice doing as they do. Only then will you be practicing with excellence in mind.
Sports and business biographies are full of people who became stars not because of God-given talent but because of excellent practice.
Look at top performers (in almost any arena) and you will see that hard work and dedication helped these people rise to the top much more often than the “naturalists.”
Of course taking natural talent and adding consistent yet excellent practice to it is what often creates peak performance, but not everyone is a naturalist.
Put time to practice your skill in your calendar.
If you literally schedule in time to practice the core skills you need to succeed in your chosen field, you will make time your ally.
And your time is powerful.
The bottom line is to this is simple, top performers practice excellence. They practice it on their way to the top and once they get to there, it’s how they stay over the top.
3. Get Feedback
When I first started my online business, I was what you’d call a solopreneur. I did everything by myself. And working in isolation is rarely ever a good thing.
Working alone skews our view of what we produce, our view of our own development and limits us to an internal dialogue that often sees faults more than progress.
This is why having a mentor matters so much!
If you have a relationship with an accomplished person in your field, you have a teacher, a guide, and a kind critic who can help you develop quickly.
But a mentor might not be the easiest thing to find. They cost money and that’s probably a resource that you don’t have handy at this present moment.
But we live in a time where the internet is at your disposal and by searching for the right things, you can definitely find the answers you’re looking for.
Just remember that being persistent is key. Persist until you find a person who will help guide you in the right direction of practice.
No matter what your field is, finding a more experienced soul to share your journey with will help you more than words can explain!
4. NEVER Stop Practicing
No matter how good you get, no matter how famous you become, no matter how much money you make, never forget what got you there!
Your excellent practice will get you to the top and keep you there!
It’s crazy how people want to make a change within their lives but simply won’t find the discipline to do what needs to be done to achieve peak performance.
So if you want to make a change, you must be…
– The one who will make the commitment to practice.
– The one who will schedule in time to practice excellence.
– The one who will show up to practice, even when it’s hard.
– The one who will continue practicing even after your skills grow.
– And the one who will help those who are attracted to you by mentoring those who are where you once were.
I believe that if you do these 4 things in your chosen field, you will make a positive impact on thousands of lives! Including your own.
You will not only go to the top but over the top.
And over the top is where your success is guaranteed!
If this post resonated with you, I’d like to hear your response in the comments below!
