Practices

Here we are, sliding into the end of 2020. I want to finish up this final month of the year with a conversation about practices.

Why practices? Why are they important?

I have a lot of practices that I do at different times, depending on where I am in my life, what muscles I’m needing to build and in what ways I’m committed to growing.

Over the course of the next couple of weeks, I am going to brainstorm with you, introduce some of these practices to you and help you see how to implement some of these micro-moves for really huge benefits.

As I was doing my morning practices and thinking about practices earlier today, I was remembering my high school days. I was a cheerleader in high school, and we went to state competition every year. I remember practicing for competition and being exhausted by the massive routine we were running through over and over. It had stunts, tumbling, jumps—the whole nine yards.

I remember asking our cheer coach, “Do we have to tumble? Do we have to do our passes?”

She would say, “Yes, you have to do them! You perform like you practice.”

There is something in that that stuck with me.

It’s similar with our life practices. We practice in those times when it’s relatively easy so that in those moments when shit hits the fan or the rubber needs to meet the road, we have developed the necessary muscles and capacities to weather that season in our life with a certain amount of grace and power.

Sometimes our practices are the only thing that keeps our head above the water when life is really hard. But sometimes it’s our practices and the capacities we’ve developed that enable us not to just survive but to thrive.

There are certain areas we move through in surprisingly healthy ways because we’ve taken the time in the easier seasons to develop these muscles.

It’s like going to the gym. If we want to be skilled in certain areas. We have to put in the work. We have to do the reps to build the muscles we need. 

When I talk about practices, I’m talking about specific clear actions you take on a consistent basis on behalf of a skill or an ability you want to develop.

It could be that you’re committed to being more patient with your kids, to be able to say no more often, to speak up at times when it feels a little risky, be more courageous in how you dress or express yourself.

Doesn’t matter - whatever skill or ability you want to develop, you’re going to have to practice it at some level. It’s very unlikely that you’re just going to walk into the game and start hitting home runs. You get the gist. 

To begin, before we start developing or reevaluating practices, let’s take a pause to look at where you’re currently strong and where you’re not as strong as you’d like to be. These are areas where you might want to develop some practices.

I invite you to do a simple journal prompt:

Here are the things I’m good at. Here are my strengths. These are the things I’ve practiced and I’ve got some real facility with.

Do a brain dump.

Then, take a moment to evaluate: where am I not so strong but would really like to be better? Meaning, on a scale from 1-10, you’re at least a 7 in my level of commitment to this thing or area.

I want to be better at ___.

Let’s start there.

Next week, we’ll look at other little things we need to do to add some practices into our life so that we can build new muscles.

See you then!