I am a professional shoe lacer and number pinner....

Or at least I should be.  I mean, think about how many times in my life I've laced up my shoes.  And I've been to more than my fair share of races, so think of how many numbers I've pinned.  And since race walkers have front and back numbers I've pinned twice as many as the average single-numbered athlete! 

So why is it I still sometimes tie my shoes too tight and pin my numbers crooked?

Seriously, kids learn to tie their shoes around age five or six, right?  Let's even say seven.  That's 30 years of shoe lacing experience I have.  And being an athlete I wear sneakers a lot.  I can't think of the last time I wore dress shoes.  Let's say I learned to tie my shoes at the age of 7, just for easier math.  And let's say I have to tie my shoes an average of twice a day.  That would be almost 22,000 times I've tied my shoes. 

The author Malcolm Gladwell made popular in his book Outliers the theory/concept that 10,000 hours of practice will make you a master.  While I haven't tied my shoes for 10,000 hours, surely 22,000 ties (actually 44,000 since I have two feet, duh...) should be awfully close. 

So I ask again, why is it I still sometimes tie my shoes too tight and pin my numbers crooked?

Dictionary.com defines practice as:
1.  habitual or customary performance; operation:

2. habit; custom:

3.  repeated performance or systematic exercise for the purpose of acquiring skill or proficiency:

 

It is the third definition that concerns us here.  Repeated performance or systematic exercise for the purpose of acquiring skill or proficiency.  I'm pretty sure I remember, all those eons ago, when I first started to tie my shoes that I had to really concentrate on it.  I had to think about how my fingers looped and where the laces went.   I had to make sure that the tongue in my shoe was straight and not bunched up.   After a while it became habit and I didn't have to think about it anymore.  Now I can tie my shoes without looking.  So how much of those 44,000 times did I really "practice" correctly and properly lacing my shoes? 

 

One of my favorite quotes is: 

"Practice does not make perfect. Only perfect practice makes perfect."

Vince Lombardi

 

How true!  So in simple terms I am not a professional at lacing my sneakers because I don't perfectly practice.  And never mind when I'm pinning my number, half the time I'm not thinking about where I pin it, I'm thinking about my upcoming race or talking to people.  It's only when I pin my number the night before, in the privacy of my room, that I actually focus on it and my number looks straight, even, and nice!

 

When I was teaching music I used to stress that the first few times played through music were the most important.  It was then that if you made a mistake that the mistake wanted to become permanent.  Really focusing on what you were doing and thinking about every note, nuance, phrase, and dynamic were super important.   Basically I was trying to get them to practice it perfect!

 

Think about your race walking.  How often do you go out and just do your workout?  You've been doing it for years, so you've got the technique down, right?  You go out and do your speed session and push, you do your long walk and get your miles in.  I just got off the phone with a reporter and one of the things I said to her as she questioned me about the technique of race walking was that I think there's always something that can be improved in a race walker's technique.  There's always something that can be tweaked, polished, or worked on.  How exciting is that?  There's always a way you can get better!  There's always improvement to be made!  In theory you could never reach your potential because there's always something more you could be doing!  Yet how often do we really focus on our technique? 

I urge you today to not just do things, but to mindfully practice them.  Practice perfect practice!  Think about your laces as you tie them.  Focus on your technique as you're going for your workout.  Be aware of the jobs and chores you're doing.  If you are used to mindfully practicing the little "unimportant" things then it'll be even easier to perfectly practice the important things!