Practice

Putting in the work. Bit by bit, over days and weeks and months, we can get better at something. Problem is, we often don’t think about putting in the work until it really matters—and then it’s too late. There are so many things we’ve learned this way, though. When we were small, everything was like … Read more

[This is reposted from May, 2018–] So…practice. You may have noticed that some things are easier to plan to practice than to actually, you know, practice. “I’ve blocked out time on my calendar every day this week to practice my speech!” Easy. “I practiced my presentation every day this week!” Hard. About five weeks ago … Read more

Do you know how long a minute is? Three minutes? Five minutes? I don’t mean literally—I assume you know how many seconds will elapse in one minute. But when you’ve been asked to speak for minute, do you have a sense of how long that is? As someone who frequently times people speaking, formally and … Read more

The moments of recognition of failure are the practice. Sam Harris, a neuroscientist and teacher of meditation, shared that thought. It resonates with me because even though Harris was talking about meditation, he could be referring to any skill we hope to acquire. When your mind is wandering during meditation, you don’t know that your … Read more

If you could learn a physical skill by reading about it, you would already know how to do it. This seems obvious, right? We all know we can’t just read an article about how to fly a plane and then go be a commercial (or even private) pilot. No, we have to log a lot … Read more

How do I make my speech for everyone? You don’t. You can’t. First, you don’t know everyone in the audience. You may have a general idea of why they’re there, or what they would expect to receive from a talk with the same title as yours. But you don’t know what kind of morning they’ve … Read more

I heard a great phrase last week: “create an insider.” A leader at an organization was addressing a group of up-and-comers, and he exhorted them to “create insiders.” As he explained it, when you find yourself in a place where you already know people, where you have friends, it’s worth it to take time to … Read more

Many organizations ask various team members to report out at meetings. “On Monday, bring us up to speed on this project, you’ll have ten minutes in the agenda. Oh, and leave time for questions.” Y’all. If a presentation like this is on your to-do list, please do this one thing: time yourself. Grab a stopwatch … Read more

I know.  I do, too. But you know what I hate more? Getting to a place and feeling unprepared. Forgetting what I wanted to say. The clammy feel of my palms sweating as I realize I might not have re-checked my slides. I practice so I will feel great. I practice so I can forget … Read more

One reason to practice is to approximate the discomfort of the real thing. Doesn’t sound fun, does it? Athletes train in order to build their speed, skill, and strength, but also to get familiar with what it feels like to be deeply uncomfortable. Knowing that the 800 meter dash creates a specific sensation is valuable … Read more