Hey there ,

This week, my daughter (who is 9) said 'Mom, perfect practice makes perfect.'

She had heard it from a camp counselor this week.

And I get what he was trying to say.

What he was telling her was essentially a combination of 'sloppy practice isn't going to help', and 'try your best.'

It was super well-intended.

But.

There are a few issues here for me (and all of us humans).

First, perfect isn't a thing.

NOTHING is perfect. Ever. It's not a practical goal, and it's not what I want to set myself (of my 9 year old) up to expect.

It's okay to try to be your best, for sure.

But the idea of perfect, in so many ways, does more harm than good.

It's what prevents us from trying...and failing... on our way to (also not perfect) success.

Second, practice, by nature, isn't meant to be the pursuit of perfection.

As a teacher this is something I saw in math classrooms time and time again.

You've probably seen it to.

It's the kid who wouldn't start because they wanted to be perfect right out of the gate.

It's the kid who put PERFECT ahead of PRACTICE.

Which is a problem, because PRACTICE is how we learn.

PRACTICE is the path to success.

So, I talked to my daughter about exactly this.

I'm all for not-sloppy practice and wasted effort.

And I'm also all for trying your best.

But I also KNOW that through PERFECTION into the mix is a mistake, because success is NOT made of perfect practice.

It's made of plain old messy, ugly, practice.

And a whole bunch of other stuff that we may not love but can't succeed without.

If we pursue perfection, we MISS out.

If we pursue perfection, we skip the mess.

And the MESS is where the MAGIC happens.

As we come to the close of the first week in August, ask yourself:

How did you embrace the MESS this week?

How did you PRACTICE, FAIL, RISK, and ADJUST?

How did you create MAGIC?

And how did you succeed as a result?

I can't wait to hear your stories.

xo,

Sara

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