WATCH: Mindful Practice Leads to Mastery

In this episode, I’ve been just spending a whole day skiing in the wonderful Méribel Valley. And, it’s reminded me a lot about the importance of practice when we’re learning. Because, I’m practising my skills but in many ways, I can see that I’m still really a novice skier. Even though I’ve been skiing for 15 years. I only do it one or two weeks per year and that means I’ve only accumulated about 900 hours of skiing in total. And, if we think about ‘Mastery’ as being ten thousand hours of ‘Mindful Practice’.

Mindful Practice

I’ve got a long way to go. And, it’s just really interesting how often we go on a training course or we learn the skill. And, we think, “Okay, now I can do it!”. But in fact, what we need to do is look and seek ‘Mastery’ by constantly practising.

Constantly Practicing

Constantly looking for little nuances. With skiing it’s little things like, “What am I doing with my big toe and how much pressure am I putting on my big toe?” or “Where are my knees and are they in front of my boots or above my boots?” or “How close are my knees together or how far apart are they?”. And, they’re wonderful little awareness points that can help me to become a better skier but only if I’m mindful.

Mindless

If I’m mindless about it and I’m just skiing willy-nilly then I could develop a lot of really bad habits. So, think about when you’re learning any skill and be it communication to doing one-to-ones to anything at all. Be mindful of doing it, practice mindfully rather than mindlessly.

One-to-One

Thinking about the quality of the questions, you’re asking. Or you could be asking about or exploring the quality of your listening and how effectively you’re listening to other people. And, noticing what they’re saying and what they’re not saying. And, what that might mean about their experience of the world or their performance or whatever it is that you’re discussing.

Learning

Remember that it’s all about practice, ‘Mindful Practice’. And, not just expecting that you’ll do something a couple of times and then master it. It takes a long time to master something.

And, therefore it needs a lot of mindful practice rather than mindless practice. So, with that in mind when it comes to Learning, Stay Curious!

With best regards,

David Klaasen

Talent4Performance help business leaders clarify complexity. We inspire people and drive continuous performance improvement, so they can convert thinking into action and results.

©David Klaasen – 2023