A human walks on a slack line with green converse.

CAUTION: Mind the Practice Gap!

“Winging it” can lead us to feel better than when we take the time to practice – and yet, we almost always do better when we practice.

Why?

When you wing it, you set the bar low.

When you practice, you set the bar high.

Because the bar is low when you wing it, it’s fairly easy to exceed your expectations.

quotes1Hey, I did pretty well, considering that I didn’t rehearse or practice.”

I did pretty well for winging it!”

Because you often set the bar higher when you practice, it’s fairly easy to perform slightly lower than your expectations.

quotes1Agh, I didn’t do as well as I had hoped or planned.” 

Hmm, I had wanted to do this particular thing, and I didn’t.”

What does this mean?

Although we might feel good that we “exceed expectations” when we wing it, we’re still performing well below our slightly discouraging lower-than-expectations practiced performance. In the short term, we’re happier, based on a skewed perception, but our actual performance may not be as high caliber as that of which we are capable.

On the other hand, when we practice or rehearse, our expectations of our own performance are set higher and, often, we come in lower than we’d hoped. We might even feel disappointed…

…Yet, we are performing at a significantly higher level.

It is almost guaranteed that when we practice we’ll do better than we ever will while “winging it.” Keep this image in mind – mind the gap!

We can start being happier with our performances, even if they are slightly below our expectations, and continue to set the bar higher each time we practice.

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Hilary Blair is a leadership keynote speaker based out of Denver, CO, and is the co-founder of ARTiculate: Real & Clear. She is also a highly regarded, actor, improviser, facilitator, voice-over artist, and voice expert coach. Contact us today to learn more.