You’ve all heard the saying right?  “Practice makes perfect.”  For all my basketball fans out there, don’t tell Allen Iverson that.  In just under 2.5 minutes of that video, he says the word practice 24.5 times.  I counted a half because he said “prac” but didn’t finish the with the “tice.”  I totally get it AI, you don’t like practice and I know exactly how you feel.  In fact, I hated practice so much in high school I quit the baseball team my freshmen year because I was a pitcher yet still had to practice, sorry Dad for disappointing you.

I recently read an article on how one small change in attitude can help us make it easier to stick with a fitness routine.  I wanted to take it a step further and apply it to all aspects of our lives.  What if we all shifted the way we approached things with the attitude that we’re just practicing?  I’m practicing to be a better employee, a better friend, a better boyfriend/girlfriend, a better son/mother/father, etc.  I never thought about things in this way because it seemed a little too easy to make excuses if things aren’t perfect or didn’t go your way.  Maybe this is why there is so much stress and pressure in the world, because we want to do things perfectly and once we make a mistake we quit or beat ourselves up for it.  For example, once you get that promotion or job you were working so hard to get finally happens, what is your attitude?  For me, it’s usually a brief moment of excitement for getting the job done but then I go back to trying to prove myself only with added pressure and stress.  What if instead of trying to tackle the new job/position with a sense of “I need to prove they made the right decision,” what if we shifted our attitude to “this is another chance for me to start over and practice something I’ve never done before.”  With the first attitude of having to prove yourself, I think it leads to unnecessary pressure of trying to do the job perfectly, without making a mistake which everyone knows is impossible – we’re human, we all make mistakes.  On the other hand, if we went into the job/position with attitude of “great, this is another chance for me to practice at something I know I’m going to mess up on,” it takes the pressure off to be perfect.

Here’s a list of what I’m practicing in my life right now.

Gratitude – just because Thanksgiving is a few months removed doesn’t mean we should stop giving thanks for the little things on a daily basis.  My mom taught me the 2 most important words you’ll ever learn are “please” and “thank you”  I could not agree more with this as I feel like a lot of people don’t realize how a small “thank you” after can make a HUGE difference.  For me, I’m practicing going up to each instructor after class (classpass rules!) and at the very least saying thank you for their time and guidance.

Smile, looking up when walking and saying hi to strangers – I’ve been trying to be more mindful of smiling and laughing more often because it just makes me happy.  This one is tough for me because I’m not used to it at all.  I’m also practicing looking up when walking down the street as I tend to keep my gaze down.  This helps me practice the last thing which is to smile, say hi and/or good morning to people on the street.  Obviously, this is a case by case situation depending on the body language of the other person but my goal is to either smile or say hi (extra credit) to 80% of the people I come across on the street.  I’ve been practicing this lately and have been pleasantly surprised on how friendly people actually are.

Swim, Bike, Run – doing my first half ironman at the beginning of April (1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 run) so this has pretty much taken up almost all of my free time outside of work.  I don’t really have a background in any of the disciplines although I have completed a marathon about 13 years ago.  I’ll be practicing each discipline, hoping to improve in all 3 and finish under my goal time that is yet to be determined.

Yoga/Meditation – continuing to push my body and mind to get uncomfortable both on my mat and in my head.  I’m continuing to improve on my handstand practice although it’s taken a backseat to triathlon training lately.  I still need to get into a regular routine slowing down my mind/thoughts and getting still every day, even if it’s for a few minutes.

Letting go of the past, not worrying about the future – this is something that I continue to work on and struggle with.  I think it’ll be something that will always be a part of who I am and something I just need to make sure is under control.  I’m going to practice not letting my past affect my future/present and just be present, just be.

These are the main things in my life right now that I’m consciously trying to work on and practice.  What are some of the things you are practicing in your life?  Hopefully shifting your attitude to “I am practicing (fill in the blank)” will shift your perspective because as much as someone has it together, no one has it all figured out in this thing called life.

QOTP: “It’s important to celebrate your failures as much as your success.  If you celebrate your failures really well, and if you get to the motto and say, ‘Wow, I failed, I tried, I was wrong, I learned something,’ then you realize you have no fear, and when your fear goes away, you can move the world.”  –Sebastian Thrun