It Takes Practice!

All we do in life takes practice. You may have heard that Malcolm Gladwell explored the fact that it takes at least 10,000 hours practicing a craft; and he gave examples of famous musicians, professionals in IT, sports and others; for someone to really become a master of it. It makes sense, and he presents the research and examples in his book Outliers: The Story of Success. He also talked about it in this video.

I wanted to take it a step further, and share with you two quick examples that came up for me, and got me thinking about how it takes constant and daily practice, and commitment to shift old habits and master new behaviors as well. The two examples are about how I became a person with patience, and how I learned to remember people’s names.

The other day I read something someone wrote about me and it said: “she is the most patient person I know.” Ha! I’m patient?! Seriously, I would never ever have described myself as patient. Ask my elementary school friends, or my older siblings, or even some of the first employees I ever hired and trained as a young adult, and they will laugh of that statement. I was not patient growing up, and got in much trouble for it. Maybe that’s why I worked on it, why I shifted and changed. I can tell you with full honesty that I was never going for becoming the most patient person someone ever met, the main goal was to avoid getting in trouble. I guess the motivation no longer matters, since I indeed became patient and it’s not too bad after all. I had to practice breathing, calming myself down, meditating, and practicing to respond instead of react to how people were interacting with me, and I'm sure it took many years to completely shift. Now, if I lose it every now and then, it’s just a relapse, it will pass, trust me, it always does, and please cut me some slack if I ever lose it with you – things might be totally off that day.

Before I started teaching ten years ago, I was terrible with names. I once read (I don’t remember where) that it was possible to change thought patterns and to be able to remember names. I decided and committed to doing it myself. I started telling myself that from that day on I would be good with remembering people’s names. I developed strategies to do so. Usually, my adult training courses had up to 20 students in it, and I always surprised a few of them when by the second class I already knew their names. One summer I was co-teaching a business plan course and 36 students were attending it. It took me three classes to learn everyone’s names but I eventually did. When I started teaching undergraduate courses a couple of years ago, I made a point to learn the students names the first class, after all, part of their grade comes from attendance and participation. I created a strategy for remembering their names, and every semester I work on it, I work on it, and I work on it. By the end of the first class I know the names of most students, but the ones who arrive late – they kind of mess up the system I created to remember. The students are not used to their professors remembering their names right away, and sometimes they ask me how I do it, and I say, with work and intention.

In both situations, I made a decision to shift, to improve, to behave a different way, and to practice the behavior. Neither patience nor my ability to remember names happened easily, or overnight, though. It took constant commitment, adjustments, new strategies, and a lot of breathing and even tears at times.

I have also been working on shifting other habits that I developed throughout the years, that helped me to feel safe, and that no longer serve me, and I’m still working on shifting them – it takes practice!

All the effort and commitment was, is and will be worthwhile. It is humbling to be known as patient, and it is wonderful to see how great the students feel when they realize I know their names. It might seem small, but for those impacted, it is not.

Is it safe to say that it took practice to become the person you are today? I’m pretty sure it is. All parts of who you are, knowingly or not, took practice. It may have taken even more practice to change as well.

What is it that you keep telling yourself you are not, or that you can’t do, or that you will never shift A, B, or C about yourself? With intention, effort, determination, dedication, your own system, countless attempts to make it happen, and a support system in place, you can do it. Look back in your own life, what are the things that you shifted either to avoid getting in trouble like I once did, or to create something new in your life? Like practicing self-love, if you feel like it is time to change certain habits and behaviors, trust yourself and commit to shifting them.

Yes, with all these realizations, I’m starting to ask myself - what else can I shift? Let the fun begin.

Namaste,

Elisa

PS. If you need support in shifting old habits, so that you can start your business, pursue a creative career, and make money doing what you love, contact me to schedule a Skype or phone call to see if working with me would help you get there.