Practice Makes Perfect

When I was young my mother used to say: Don't chew with your mouth open. I would ask why and she would reply: Because the way you act at home forms habits that you will take out into the world. So if you let yourself chew with your mouth open at home, when you are in public you will chew with your mouth open without even thinking about it. As a child I, of course, knew better than my mother and did not heed her advice. Now, as an adult, I catch myself chewing with my mouth open when I am not thinking about it. Turns out Mother was right again!

The point of this story is we all perform the way we practice. After years of practicing bad posture, it is harder to straighten up. If we do our homework halfheartedly we will take tests halfheartedly. If we have mean and hateful thoughts about people and things, someday those thoughts will slip out into words at the worst moment possible. 

Practicing a strong work ethic, good habits and positive thinking will lead us to perform strongly, healthily and kindly. What we surround ourselves with will become our world, our reality. Reflect on a typical day in your life. How much of your day makes you happy? How often do you deliberately try to better your own actions and thoughts? How many times do you make an effort to do something good for others? These are all things that will make your daily life better and bring more joy and inspiration into the lives of those around you.

During each game of SABAKIBALL, the leaders - coaches, referees, captains - have a chance to uplift the team with their positive words, their attention to detail and their concern for the players. From my experience, when my team works together we play better together. Even if our team ultimately loses the game, we come away with it learning what to change next time and encouraging each other to improve when we face the other team again. On the other side, when I see teams that are yelling at each other with destructive criticism and hurtful words, the already struggling team just gets worse throughout the game and feels frustrated and diminished leaving the field. Who wants to play a game like that? Who wants to live a life like that? Or be around people like that?

Each moment of each day you have a choice to make those moments good or bad for yourself and those around you. Your thoughts and actions become your habits. Your habits become your world. Your world becomes your reality. Practice the reality in which you want to live. Practice makes Perfect!