W.o.W. - Perfect Practice
“Practice doesn’t make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect.”
Practice perfect. This is a good enough reminder alone for people getting in the gym and training but it can also carry over to other aspects of our lives as well.
The wisdom of perfect practice is that we are reinforcing the behaviours and actions that will ultimately make us successful. While Vince talked about this in reference to sport, we should remember this quote as we approach training and even our everyday life.
Olympic Lifting has always embraced the perfect practice maxim, yet sloppy form shows up all around us for strongman, powerlifters, and weekend warriors in the gym. Most often the athletes that treat their training with perfect practice end up making the best progress and going the farthest in their sport.
If you're feeling sluggish, don't go to the gym and lift haphazardly, get warmed up properly and do what you need to make the day a success.
Maybe you'll go lighter, but remember to practice your technique perfectly. This includes using power and explosiveness as if the weight was as heavy as your max and you needed to put everything you’ve got into it. If you can’t for whatever reason apply this type of mentality into your lifting for the day, maybe you need to switch things up and do some accessory lifts or just some cardio for the day.
Same thing applies to life in general.
When you go to work and you feel off, you'll have to find a way to get over that and do your work properly. Performing poorly is inexcusable not only because your work depends on you doing things the right way but also because poor performance will ingrain the wrong routine and technique in you. This may be more obvious in certain types of jobs that are physically demanding where performing poorly means you’re slowing down the process, or using your body improperly and putting yourself at risk of injuries, but it certainly does apply to any type of job.
Things like sitting, for instance, we know there is a proper way to sit to reinforce posture but if we are tired and slouch, this undoes any work you're putting in to working on posture and will negatively impact health as well as productivity.
The list can go on and on, so remind yourself regularly throughout the day about perfect practice and how you can apply it to improving many areas of your life.