Lesson 3 - Attitude and Practice

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Lesson 3 – “Practice Makes Perfect (or does it)”

So, how did you do with lesson 2?  Did you find that you needed to work on your negative attitude?  Or did you find that you are a generally positive person?

Lou Holtz, football coach and television football commentator said: “Virtually nothing is impossible in this world if you just put your mind to it and maintain a positive attitude.

So … put your mind to it and maintain a positive attitude.  This author adds – and WORK ON IT.

Sports analogy.  I coached high school basketball.  Prior to our first game, the team could have gathered in a classroom while I diagramed X’s and O’x and set up plays.  I could have lectured on the ‘give-and-go’; on playing the 1-3-1 defense; on setting screens; on passing to the open man.  The team would really understand the game of basketball – until they put on their jerseys and stepped on the court for our first game.  “Hey coach, what is this round thing?” (It’s a basketball).

What if you were really passionate about basketball?  What if you went to the school gym for four hours every weekday and six hours on Saturday and Sunday and put up three point shots?  What if a mentor or coach was there to help with your technique and to encourage you?  You would really become a great three point shooter!

There is an old adage “Practice makes perfect”.  That isn’t necessarily true though.  What if I practices three point shots for all of those hours by putting the ball between my legs and lofting it in a big arc towards the hoop?  I’d probably get really good at that top of shot.  Unfortunately during a real game, I probably wouldn’t get any opportunities to put up shots from between my legs.  The wrong kind of practice can make bad habits part of your style.

But, what if I – with a mentor or coach – practiced all those hours with running quickly to a spot on the floor, getting a pass and quickly turning towards the basketball and shooting?  My muscles would line up with my attitude and shooting would become natural. 

Malcolm Gladwell has suggested that one-thousand hours is the tipping point to success.  He talks of Bill Gates getting one-thousand plus hours on computing while in middle school and high school; the Beatles getting over a thousand hours playing for clubs in Germany (and thus getting to try out their song writing and new songs).  Becoming really competent takes time and dedication. 

Let’s say I want to be a better student.  So, tonight I’m going to study four hours.  I’m going to turn on the TV in my room (low volume), turn on my iTunes to my favorite songs, get some candy and soda, and read my textbooks – but allowing for checking my email, my Twitter, Instagram and Facebook pages frequently.  After four hours, I could say “Wow – I really nailed that – four hours of studying – WOOO”.  The reality is that I may have only half-an-hour of real studying and maybe not that much with the distractions.

Or, maybe I turn off the television, the iTunes, and the internet (with some exceptions), sit in a comfortable chair at my desk, open my textbook and read.  I have a highlighter to select topics, sentences and paragraphs that are important.  I have a notebook next to my book where I write down a synopsis of the concepts.  I close the book after sections and chapters and quiz myself – what was important?  What should I be learning from this reading?  How can I make this lesson and material ‘mine’?

I can use the internet and find related articles (your college library will have online access to thousands of journals, articles and more).  Use something like Dictionary.com and find definitions, use a thesaurus to find synonyms and antonyms to important terms.  Quiz yourself what is the definition of a term and what are three similar terms and what are three opposite terms?  In four hours, you will be really studying and not just going through the motions.   And … keep the concept of one-thousand hours in your brain – no real short cuts to success.

Yes, you need to practice, but you need to practice appropriately.

Assignment:

1)      Pick a topic you are passionate about.  Really study it for four hours.  Are you passionate about a favorite sports team?  Read about the team, each player, how each player got on the team, check the statistics for the team, what makes player X so good?  And maybe, play coach, how could I as a coach help player X get even better?

2)      What are you trying to learn?  Programming?  Get a book (second and third books); write the programs, understand the code.  Work the programs in the chapter, look at the answers at the back of the book.  Try some coding that is similar to what you have been doing.  Did it work? Why is this important?  What is the historical development of this programming language (or whatever you are learning).  Do every problem from every problem set in the textbook, go on line and get more problems.  Go to the library and get some other author’s calculus book and1h and apply it to a course.  Get passionate about what you are learning.  See yourself writing successful code Adjust your attitude – I can do this.

3)      Do practice on all you want to be; and all that you are passionate about.

4)      Reflect on how to study, how to practice learning and write a page about what you are learning about learning.

Quote: “For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them.”
― Aristotle