The Book of Practice

Description

 

DID YOU KNOW?

Did you know that you can have a lifetime of achievement and fruitful purpose, aided by tools of thought, action and choice that are easy and fun to use?

It’s true.

Also, there is a place… a physical and mental space… where you can do your work,   whatever work you choose, efficiently and effectively in your own way and to your own ends. A place where you can – get this – bask in the glow of your own productivity.

Can you feel that glow? Would you like to feel it more?

You can, you know. All you need is to have a practice.

Having a practice simply means devoting time and energy to doing better something that you want to do well.

You can have a practice in any part of your life. Job or career, writing or art, professional pursuits, personal goals, spiritual quests, relationships… anything you can think of, anything that makes you say That! That’s what I want to do better, and more! That thing right there!

That’s where your practice – or one of your practices – may lie.

Think of something like that now. Present it to yourself and say, “There! I want to put my energy there.”

And just like that you are in practice. Just with the simple desire to try, you have begun the important journey of learning to do better the things that you want to do well.

 

THE STEPS OF PRACTICE

When you enter practice, you embark on a path. To advance your practice, you move along that path in steps.

1/ You have a path.
You put yourself in practice.
You set your sights on something and desire to advance.

2/ You are aware of your path.
You see yourself seeking growth.
You choose to pursue that growth.

3/ You take appropriate action.
You do work that increases your abilities.
Your practice is underway.

4/ You join community.
You encounter others who share your goals.
You make common cause with them.

5/ You advance.
You gain new skills, strengths and understanding.
You invest these gains back into your practice.

6/ You proceed down your path.
And your growth continues.
With every day you’re in practice, your growth continues.

So just follow these steps to put yourself in practice and keep yourself there. If you ever lose your way, or your momentum, just go back to the steps. They’re simple, reliable and repeatable: Set a target and try to hit it. Then another. Then another. Then just watch your practice bloom.

As you contemplate your practice, don’t bother wondering if you’re any good or getting any better – that comes later. For now, just think about having outcomes and then having more. When your outcomes start to pile up, that’s when your practice will acquire the self-sustaining energy that you want.

Let’s say you wanted a practice of standup comedy. You could do it in steps, these steps.

1/ Recognize that you want to do standup.
2/ Make the nearly inconsequential decision to “just try.”
3/ Find an open mike, swallow hard, and go up.
4/ Meet and engage with other standups at your level.
5/ Work on rising to a new level with new material and new stage skills.
6/ Feed all that good growth back into your practice and move on.

Let’s say you wanted a practice in anything else. What would those steps look like to you?

 

IS IT TOO LATE?

Some people think it’s too late to have a practice, too late to be on a path. They carry negative judgement about events in the past. They say, “I haven’t, therefore I can’t.”

Not to put too fine a point on it, those people are wrong.

It’s never too late to advance toward your goals, never too late to discover new strengths, acquire them, apply them, reap their rewards and then move on to new discoveries and new strengths. The only thing that might hold you back is the sense that I can’t… I mustn’t… I don’t deserve.

Would you like to leave those feelings behind? Just jump into practice – any practice. As soon as you see yourself in practice – striving toward goals that you deem worthy – those feelings will disappear. Active practice is a robust cure for negative self-image.

To be in practice is to be in self-evolution, but let’s face it, that phrase sounds scary. It can seem like it’s going to demand too much – total transformation totally now! But transformation isn’t something that we ever have to confront or embrace or even think about, really. Transformation happens automatically, just as a function of seeking to do better what we want to do well.

And it starts when you say these simple words: “My practice is my practice and my path is my path.”

Not too soon, not too late. Just your practice, just your path… just the place you stand now in order to move to where you want to go next.