Practice Makes Permanent

I really don't like the phrase "practice makes perfect", mostly because it's not true. If you do the wrong thing over and over and over again, especially if you don't realize it's the wrong thing, then you're just going to get really good at doing the wrong thing.

I've often heard people modify the phrase to "perfect practice makes perfect", which is a pretty good way to do it. The saying I came up with some years back was, "you do exactly what you train to do." Tonight, a friend of mine said it in a new way that I liked.

Practice makes permanent. This saying works greatly in so many ways. First of all, it doesn't talk about perfection in any way. I like that because it can be a benefit or a hindrance, depending on the quality of practice. More importantly, it doesn't even judge things as good or bad. It explains that what we do repeatedly becomes what we continue to do.

I know I have written about this concept before, but I bring it up tonight because I have a new phrase for it. And sometimes, saying something in a new or different way is what we need for it to reach us and really click in our minds.