If It’s Worth Doing, It’s Worth Practicing

16 September 2022

By Linda Ferguson

One of the hardest ideas for me to communicate effectively is very simple. If it’s worth doing, it’s worth practicing.

People practice sports and instruments. They practice mindfulness. And they have professional practices. Maybe the last one is why people assume that once they are professionals who have practices, they won’t need to practice. And if professionals don’t need to practice the skill that defines their work, why would anyone else practice for the work they get paid to do?

People who practice are motivated by the desire to get better. While it may be hard to understand why NLP Canada Training runs free programs, it’s not hard to understand through the lens of practice. We know that it’s not enough to show up once. You need to practice if you want to own a skill, any skill.

I’ve been practicing for almost twenty years. Our free workshops are one of the ways I practice: I take a concept I’ve taught many times before and I teach it in a new way to see how I can get better results. I repeat the skill with repetition and feedback and over time, it becomes more flexible and more reliable. And then I practice some more.

Most people don’t grow their potential because they don’t practice. They’re busy. They hope that understanding will work its way into their behaviour. They hope that repetition is the same as practice. They hope that adding a new skill or insight will replace practicing the basics. They don’t practice because other people aren’t practicing.

If you’ve already done one of our workshops, you might not sign up the next time it’s offered. After all, you didn’t take high school courses more than once if you passed them the first time. Why are these workshops different?

They’re different because they’re not really courses. We call them workshops because they are opportunities to practice. And your practice gets better and more engaging, the more often you participate.

When my kids were learning instruments, I often heard the mantra: “Practice doesn’t make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect.” Mindless repetition is not enough. But mindful repetition with great coaching will make you better at anything. It will make you better at the skills of emotional intelligence, achievement and communication. It will make you better at the skills we develop in NLP.

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