Practice Makes Perfect

I really enjoyed this article about Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who is the odds-on favorite to win league MVP in his first full year at the helm.  Those amazing and improvisational throws he is now famous for, it turns out, are practiced, built up to, and meticulously prepared for.  

It reinforces for me that the more incredible the physical feat, the more and better practice was involved.  Or, said another way, any highlight worthy of SportsCenter, memed into popular conscience, or otherwise viewed by millions was actually forged by thousands of repetitions on a practice field far away from public scrutiny.  

Professional sports is but one manifestation of this principle, albeit a very prominent and extreme example.  Whatever great thing we might desire to do in our lives before countless adoring eyes, we must first do our diligent, private, and unremarkable preparations for.  

In the era of Instagram and of reality TV stardom, it can be tempting to think we can luck our way into fame and adulation, or that fame and adulation are a reliable marker for the substance of our mark on the world.  Not so.  There is no shortcut for the mundane, repetitive, and unglamorous preparation needed to do something amazing.  Let's put in that work.