Practicing What You Have Learned

Now that you have achieved your goal and acquired a new skill through careful practice, it is important to keep practicing! Today, we will look at the maintenance of skills through practicing in the final post of this series.

Use it or lose it! Even though you have acquired the new skill, regular maintenance practice is necessary. A skill developed will quickly decline in its ease of access if we fail to use it often. I spent the last three months away from the gym after working out on a fairly regularly basis for nearly nine months. Now that I have returned to the gym, I'm recovering lost ground. Since I wasn't consistently exercising my muscles, they are not at my disposal automatically in some of the ways that I had trained them to be. Fortunately, recovering a mastered task is not nearly as difficult as it was the first time around.

Fight complacency! Once we have achieved a new skill, it is easy to be satisfied and settle into an easy rhythm. I encourage you to continue striving for new levels of mastery. The more command we have over the skill, the more beneficial it is to us and the more easily we can call it up when needed. Whether or not you decide to further your skills in this area, recognize the value that has been added to your life and continue practicing -- furthering your current skill or pursuing a new dream. Never stop growing!

Perfection or Excellence? There is a huge difference between perfection and excellence. Perfection is an impossibility in our human condition; excellence can be achieved in every endeavor. Pursuing excellence encourages us to do the best job we can with our abilities. When our focus shifts to the pursuit of perfection, we begin to focus exclusively on what we cannot do. This negative focus can often lead to self-esteem issues, discouragement, and feelings of failure. Do the best you can in everything and reap the rewards of your efforts.

Celebrate success! Celebrations may be personal and private or they may be enormous parties with guests! Either option is valid; the important thing is that you honor yourself for your achievement. You worked hard through disciplined practice to achieve your goal. Celebrating encourages our spirits to pursue new things and achieve new heights.