staci_stallings@hotmail.com

Very few of us can pick up a complex task and ace it the first time we
try it. Take typing. In all the years I taught it, I never had a single
student sit down at the keyboard and type 60-70 words a minute their
first time.

Not long ago a writing friend of mine asked me to explain how I learned
to write. I told her, "I wrote." To which she replied, "Well, yeah, but
I mean how did you LEARN to write." Again I said, "I wrote." Journals,
poems, short stories, articles, news stories, feature stories, novels.
If it involved putting words together on paper, I did it.

It sounds simple but terribly time consuming. Wouldn't it be so much
easier if there was just a formula you could give someone? Anyone new at
anything wants to be able to do it like a pro the first time out. We
all want to be able to play the guitar like Keith Urban or basketball
like Lebron James.  But the reality is that even Keith Urban didn't play
that way the first time he picked up a guitar. Same with Mr. James.
Sure, they had some innate talent, but what they had more than that was
enough desire to do it well, that they were willing to do what is in
everybody's grasp-practice.

The first time I learned this rule, I was in fifth grade. The girls in
my hometown were famous statewide because they made it to and won the
State Championships regularly in basketball. So, we all got to learn
basketball whether we wanted to or not. Now, fortunately I was from a very
small school, so our coach in the fifth grade was the same coach who
steered the high school teams to these State Championships. I will
forever be grateful for what I learned from him. In short, I learned the
value of practice.

We didn't start by shooting at the goal. No, we started by learning
where to put our hands on the basketball and where to put our feet on the
floor. We "shot" with no ball at least a few hundred times at the
beginning of each practice session. Then we practiced shooting an actual
basketball into the air. Then we shot to each other. And when I say
practice, I mean just that. Thousands of times set your hands, set your feet,
down, up, follow through the air-to your partner who then went through
the same procedure.

In the high school ranks, the girls on the team were required to make
2,000 free throws before the season began. At the time it seemed
excessive. Now I understand. When you stand on that line and make 2,000 free
throws and then make countless more during practices, by the time you
step on that line with a gym-full of people yelling at you and the game
on the line, your body knows what to do automatically.

Ask any good pianist, typist, cook, designer, soccer player... Ask
anyone who is at the top of any game how they got there, and you will hear
one refrain over and over even if it only echoes in their statements: 
They practiced. They came before everyone else, they concentrated on
learning to do each step not just right but perfect while the actual
practice was going, and they stayed after regular practice to work more.
Top students spend hours reading and studying. Their success is no
mystery. They practiced.

And the lesson transfers so easily to every area of our lives. Want to
be more patient?  Practice patience in the small situations so you'll
be ready in the big situations. Want to be a better friend? Practice it.
Want your kids to say "Please" and "Thank you"? Then they must practice
it.

That's the key. It may take 2,000 times, but if the desire is there,
proficiency will follow. I can't play basketball to save my life (too
afraid of the other players on the court), but I can shoot the most
beautiful set-shot and the most beautiful jump shot you've ever seen. Why? 

Because I practiced.

Copyright 2005 by Staci Stallings

Looking for more inspiration?  Visit Staci's website www.stacistallings.com  You'll feel better for the experience!