Practice makes Permanent

July 10th, 2007 · Add Comments

There is an old joke about someone wandering lost in New York City, carrying a violin case. He approaches a stranger and asks “Excuse me, but how do I get to Carnegie Hall?”

The reply:- “Practice! Practice! Practice!”

They don’t write them like that anymore! But as I have touched on in previous confidence building blogs, practice is a key factor in building confidence.

As part of my training for my big swim, I’ve been reading a really good book “Total Immersion” by Terry Laughlin. I won’t go into the merits of training by reading a book now, but Terry comes up with a great quote:-

Practice merely makes permanent what you happen to be practicing. Good or bad.

Whilst his concern is people getting into bad habits by practicing poor swimming techniques, this holds true for everything. So, if you are practicing some of the confidence exercises that have been discussed, do ensure you get them right!