Practice

I acknowledge that I’m not that good at football. Despite having an older brother that actually played for the NFL and three sons who all love football, I’m not good at it.

You should see me throw a spiral. Spoiler alert: it’s not a spiral. When I try to catch a ball, I usually jam a finger.

Know why?

Because I do not try to be good at football. I spend ZERO hours a day practicing football. Without practice, I can’t learn and without learning, I can’t excel.

Know what I am good at? Watching football. We watch football every Sunday, so I’ve had some practice at this point. I listen to my husband and sons discussing players and plays. I know my positions; I know when something is an incredibly play and I know (most) penalties. I practice watching football, so it turns out, I’m good at watching football.

This is an easy and nonthreatening example of “practice what you want to be good at”.

When you sit back and look at your life, notice how the things you’re good at are also the things you’ve done the most. With every action, we build neural pathways that make the action easier the next time we do it. Over time, we build these pathways into habits. But habits are tomorrow’s topic.