Practice

“How do you get to Carnegie Hall?” When I was a student at Juilliard and people would ask me this question, I always answered: “Take the N train to 57th Street.” It wasn’t the answer they expected. After we laughed, I’d follow up by saying “you know, anybody can play at Carnegie Hall? All you have to do is rent the space…”

The traditional answer to that question is of course “practice, practice, practice!” However there are insights to some deeper aspects of “Practice” that I’ve discovered and applied in most areas of my life, including personal, recreational, music, and work. Let’s look at a few of those insights and consider some practical applications when it comes to business.?

Practice Makes Permanent

Traditional wisdom states that practice makes perfect, but in reality only perfect practice makes perfect performance. In other words if you practice poorly, you can expect to perform poorly. So what does good practice look like? In music and in sports there are certain fundamental aspects that once they’re mastered, serve as the foundation of an amazing performance. As a singer, those things include, posture, breathing, phonation (making sound), and resonance (shaping the sound). In playing an instrument, those can include posture, scales, articulation, and ensemble/collaboration. We’ve all heard stories of famous athletes spending countless hours working on the fundamentals of their sport: dribbling, shooting, passing. In each case we run drills or exercises that reinforce the fundamental aspects of whatever we’re practicing. If we can practice well we can reasonably expect to develop a sense of mastery that will inform our performance when the time comes.

Your Teacher Can’t Practice for You

As a young musician, I grew up singing in a choir and discovering a natural ability to sing. I didn’t have my first real voice lesson until I was 17 just before I graduated from high school. I had already been accepted to a university music school and earned a scholarship based on my singing/audition. So I figured it might be a good time to take a lesson. I lived in Florida and was referred to Evelyn Klepinger who had retired as a vocal coach for the Metropolitan Opera. She was close to 5 feet tall, in her eighties, and lived in a meticulously decorated and maintained double wide mobile home. In the middle of her living room sat a grand piano. My first lesson started as a get to know you session but quickly moved into her seeing what I could or could not do. I vividly remember her leaning hard into me with her head lowered and both fists firmly planted against my stomach shouting, “Sing! Sing!”. That lesson lasted 2 hours and I was so exhausted that when I met up with friends afterwards at the driving range, I didn’t have the strength to swing a golf club. She gave me a book of exercises (Panofka’s 24 Vocalises) and a cassette tape recording of her playing the accompaniment to those exercises. I needed to learn and practice the first exercise before our next lesson. And there it was. Our time together was through, and now it was up to me. As I studied with other teachers in university and grad school, the same was true. My teacher could teach me how to practice, but couldn’t practice for me.

Teachers and Coaches Matter

None of us are born knowing everything we need to know. So much of our lives are shaped by the teachers we encounter. The most and best thing a teacher can do is teach you how to practice well. As a singer I had my first coaching in grad school and had no idea what to expect. I figured out my teacher helped me learn how to practice correctly producing sound and coaches helped me interpret the songs I had learned. I had some amazing coaching as a singer and loved the opportunity to practice what I learned in those sessions so that when it was time to perform, I wasn’t doing it for the first time in front of an audience. In a performance I was sharing the results of hours of lessons, coaching, and my own practice. Some of my favorite work has been coaching entrepreneurs and business owners. What I learned about teaching and coaching as a musician also applies in the business world. It’s about breaking down a challenge into addressable components and then practicing how to address those components in a way that leads to their desired outcome.?

Practice is What Makes Amazing Performance Possible

Practice is all about preparation. So when it’s game time or time to perform, if you’ve practiced/prepared well, you’ve got every likelihood of a great outcome. I’ve performed well prepared and also not well prepared. I promise you I much prefer being well prepared. (A recurring nightmare was being backstage getting ready to go on and perform a work that I don’t know well at all). That said, the benefits of practice are cumulative. Once the muscle memory is settled you can take on challenges with shorter notice or required prep time. Whenever I started a new role/job, I always set aside sufficient time to prepare for a performance (customer meeting, report to executives, or a presentation). As time went on and I practiced regularly, I could prepare much faster and eventually perform well with very little notice. Putting in the reps (repetitions) allows you and me to perform confidently when the time arrives.

Here are 3 things to consider when developing your own business “Practice.”

1. Consistency Leads to Mastery

In business, consistently applying and refining skills and strategies is essential for achieving mastery. This approach ensures that individuals and teams become proficient in their roles and can deliver high-quality results.

• Technique: Daily Practice and Routine Strategy: Establish daily routines that focus on core/basic business activities such as customer engagement, sales calls, or project management. For example, sales teams could dedicate a specific time each day for cold calling or client follow-ups. By consistently practicing these core activities, team members will develop expertise, streamline processes, and enhance overall performance.

2. Promotes Problem-Solving Skills

Regular practice often presents challenges that require innovative solutions. In business, developing problem-solving skills is crucial for overcoming obstacles, improving processes, and driving success.

• Technique: Problem-Solving Workshops
• Strategy: Organize regular workshops where team members can tackle real-world business challenges your team is facing in a collaborative setting. Use techniques like root cause analysis and brainstorming to identify and address issues. Encourage creative thinking and diverse perspectives to develop effective solutions. By practicing problem-solving in a structured environment, team members can improve their critical thinking skills and apply them to their own everyday business situations.

3. Sets a Strong Foundation

A strong foundation of skills and knowledge is essential for long-term business success. By consistently practicing and reinforcing foundational principles, businesses can build a solid base that supports growth and innovation.

• Technique: Find/be a Mentor. Pairing new or less experienced employees with seasoned mentors.
• Strategy: Establish a mentorship program where experienced employees guide and support newer team members. Mentors can share their knowledge, provide feedback, and help mentees navigate the complexities of their roles. This transfer of knowledge helps build a strong foundation for the mentees, ensuring they develop the skills and confidence needed to succeed. Additionally, it fosters a culture of learning and support within the organization. Personally/professionally, identify areas where if you could significantly improve your performance it would make a real difference and find/hire a coach to help you improve your performance in those areas. Remember, teachers and coaches matter.

#TruthBeTold As you develop your own practice and do so consistently, you'll find your professional life begins to open up as you develop confidence in the work you've put in to preparing for each performance. Here's a bonus tip I share with my kids and with clients I've coached: "If you practice anything for 20 minutes a day, every day, in 30 days you'll be markedly better at that thing than you are today." What practice can you begin or continue that would make a difference in your life and in the lives of others?