Some Things Don't Get Easier with Practice, They Get Easier When Your Nervous System Is Regulated

"Practice makes perfect." This idiom was a household staple for my family growing up. It applied to all the fun stuff like math, essay writing and ironing school shirts.

Luckily I can't remember it being associated with activities I really loved like skateboarding, playing guitar or riding my bike.

Perfection, an unattainably high level of performance, was held in high regard by parents and teachers in the 90s. The perfectionist mindset presumed there was a correct way to think and act, leaving little room for creativity or personal style.

The pressure to meet this extremely high, yet undefined level of perfection creates all sorts of anxiety in the young mind. What if I'm not good enough? What if I disappoint my parents?

All of this anxious striving only serves to stifle curiosity and creativity in the desperate quest to meet expectations, to be good.

Skateboarding in the 90s was still emerging, particularly street skateboarding with its emphasis on breaking the rules, finding new places to perform increasingly impressive tricks.

The point of skateboarding wasn't to just perform a perfect set routine, it was to push the limits of imagination and physicality through play, curiosity and experimentation.

When we operate from our playful nervous system state, a mix of ventral vagal and just enough sympathetic energy, we are more likely to keep going.

To get back up when we fall. We develop intrinsic motivation. We learn to love the process and let go of the results.

Where in your life could the game change if you moved from practice to play, from perfection to joy?