Perfection

We've all heard that practice makes perfect. In fact, this is totally untrue. We naturally improve at whatever we do often, even if that just means we become very good at sitting in front of the TV. We are always practicing, even when we don't think we are. Practice doesn't make perfect. Only perfect practice makes perfect.

Is your practice perfect?

The last tip dealt with accuracy. If you practice accuracy, you can expect to become more accurate with each practice. But what happens if you practice an inaccurate technique? You get very good at doing it wrong.

Everyone has experience with unintentionally developing bad habits that are hard to break. We all have them. These come as a result of practicing poorly. We may not have thought we were practicing a bad habit, but every time we repeat something, we get better at reproducing that result - we are practicing it. Bad practice makes us bad.

The way to turn this around and put it to proactive use is to be aware of what you are practicing. Pay attention to the things you do during training. Is your practice perfect? Are you executing each movement as accurately as you can? Are you focused on improving? Or are you simply moving to keep up with the instructor's count?

Don't keep repeating bad technique. If you're not going to practice to the best of your ability, stop. Rest. Drilling sloppy technique will do nothing but instill tons of bad habits and make it incredibly difficult for you to change your ways later.

As one of my old band members used to say "half-assed practice makes you look like a total ass on stage." If you practice with poor form, be prepared to look bad when you perform. If you really want to be good at this Taido stuff, make an effort to make as much of your practice as perfect as possible.