Living or Rehearsing…
Sometimes I feel like I’m spending my life just practicing:
I practice eating healthy.
I practice journaling
I practice the piano
I practice mobility exercises, and building movement skills
I practice coaching with other peers.
I practice speaking Spanish
Sometimes I feel like I am practicing but not doing the actual thing!
Actually savoring food.
Playing music for the enjoyment of it.
Being engaged in adventurous activities.
Actually coaching enough people to help them get unstuck from mental and physical ruts.
I want to enjoy, and live life to the fullest but I get worried when I feel like all the practice only simulates life - either in the gym, or home alone in my own mental laboratory.
That tension got me thinking about the two schools of thought in life:
The Just do it! approach,
and the Practice, Practice, Practice approach.
Just do it!
There’s a school of thought that just getting out there and doing what you love is all we need.
There’s a truth in here. For many things, we do them purely for the enjoyment of it and “getting better” isn’t all that important. So, why would we commit time to meticulously practicing something if we’d rather just do it for fun?
This method also works if you DO want to improve your abilities:
Engaging in what you love creates the positive reinforcement to do more of it.
The more you engage in an activity, chances are you will improve.
But there’s a catch: When we “just do it” we engage in the activity with our mental or physical hangups, our compensation patterns, and our imbalances and weaknesses.
Those could leave us susceptible to injury, frustration, or even burnout.
On the other hand there’s the practice, practice, practice approach:
Practice outside of the context of the activity helps us develop the skills, the mobility, the strength, and the knowledge so that we have mastery over our body and minds when we do engage in the activity.
This is crucial in higher stakes activities— like climbing a rock face, skiing a black diamond, a performance, or a business presentation.
So, if there’s risk or performance involved, practice is definitely our ally.
But that brings me back to all the other things that we simply do for our own pleasure or fulfillment…
I’m beginning to form an answer:
Whether it’s an art, craft, a game or a sport - it’s helpful to ask and get clear on:
What gives you the most satisfaction? — Just doing it? Or mastering it?
The question points to our values. For some things we may find great importance and satisfaction in becoming more competent and mastering an activity. And for some activities just being engaged in it is enough.
My “new practice” now is to periodically check in with myself and assess my activities:
If I’m feeling bogged down in the practicing, maybe I need to just get out there and do the “real thing” - get out of the gym, get into nature, play with others, create art for its own sake.
And If I’m not feeling good about the actual activity, I can ask: would improving my capabilities in some way make this activity more enjoyable?
When I remember why I am pursuing the activity, and what fulfills me most about it - the experience itself or mastery— then I can create more balance in the way I structure my days.
What do you do just for the experience?
What do you practice because you yearn to do it better?