Does Practice Make Perfect?

Does Practice Make Perfect?

- Dave Bright

THE IDEA THAT “practice makes perfect” is one that has stuck firmly in the common consciousness since versions of the phrase first appeared in the 16th century. Intuitively, the idea that you get better at something by practice and repetition makes sense, and it’s a useful broad guideline for your training.

Recently, there has been a rise in the popularity of Anders Ericsson’s 10,000-Hour Rule, which is an attempt to make the concept more accurate, and Bruce Lee (as usual, ahead of the curve) put forward the idea that you should fear the man who has “practised one kick 10,000 times.” However, practice can be done in many ways and can mean many different things to different people, and so to help us unpack what “practice” is, it’s worth looking through some variations on the phrase that have appeared over the years.

Perfect Practice Makes Perfect

Credited to football coach Vince Lombardi, the idea that perfection in practice will lead to perfection in performance is not totally without merit, but no definition is made of what perfect is. You could be looking to improve flow, timing, power, form, etc., and you must decide how you will structure your practice to meet your goals. And is your marker for perfect practice that you achieved perfection during that session or that you did a little better than last time? Simply striving for perfection with no further thought of the deliberate steps to get there or what perfection might be can lead to practice that is mindless and therefore hollow. This can lead to picking up bad habits and takes us to the next version of the saying.

Practice Makes Imperfect