Practice makes practice
Storytelling stuff worth sharing
Thank you to all who voted in the poll to decide the cover art of my new, soon-to-premiere podcast.
It was a barn burner that came down to a difference of ONE VOTE. Never let ‘em tell you your vote doesn’t matter!
Drum roll, please.
The winner is…
Cover B!
The teaser/trailer will drop on Monday. That’s right, next Monday! And that teaser will give you all the info on the show and what to expect.
Episode 1 will drop on March 31, and then 100 Plays will alternate Mondays with your regularly scheduled Page&Stage Podcast.
Thank you again for voting, and stay tuned! It’s gonna be a fun and revealing journey together.
Storytelling tip o’ the week
A couple weeks back I wrote about various ways to jump start your writing. These jump starts were all in service of building a writing practice, which is a topic I get asked about a lot.
Before I get into practical tips, a few thoughts on practice itself.
First, note how “practical” and “practice” share a root. They both come from the Greek praktikos, which means fit for action.
Words are so cool.
So, when I say practice, I mean it every way.
I mean acquiring proficiency in your thing.
I mean maintaining proficiency in your thing.
I mean mastering your thing.
And I mean the carrying out of your thing. Doing the actual work.
Heck, if you’re a doctor, you have a medical practice. Attorney? Law practice.
Here’s the thing. A mile is always a mile. The time in which you run a mile may change, but the mile does not. How the mile feels to you as you run it may change, but the mile does not.
When you practice, it doesn’t get easier. You just get better. Practice forges talent into skill, and skill into expertise.
Sounds like practice makes perfect, right?
Occasionally, that is true. But far more often, the truth is this:
Practice... makes practice.
I confess to stealing this idea from my beloved partner Rebecca, who is a wonderful yogi and skillful yoga teacher. I apply it to writing, to theatre, to improvisation, to cooking, to running, to loving her day by day.
Practice makes practice.
In yoga, your body is your body. No more, no less. And each day, your body is what your body is. Not the same as yesterday, different from tomorrow.
So while you may get into your flow, do a sun salutation and breathe into your poses, you must grapple with this fact: your body will never again be exactly what it is right now.
Comparison is the thief of joy, and joy is right damn now.
Likewise, you cannot compare yourself to the yogi on the mat beside you. Different heights. Longer or shorter legs. Bigger or smaller feet. Thicker or thinner torso. Your pyramid pose, side plank, and triangle will differ from your neighbor’s. But you can both be right.
Poses are not absolutes. They are guides.
This means your tree pose, humble warrior, or crow will only ever be “perfect” for the splittiest of split seconds. And even when you nail it, as you continue to breathe, you’ll find yourself going deeper. And deeeeeeper. Just when you think it can’t get any more balanced or exquisite, you’ll exhale and discover another quarter inch of flexibility, another ounce of strength.
Tomorrow? That same pose may prove elusive. Or you’ll have gone for a run and have a tight hammy and have to avoid that pose altogether and focus on something else.
Practice is about progress, not perfection. Perfect is only ever a temporary state, and usually catches you by surprise.
So if your practice does make perfect, take that moment to feel your joy and say your huzzah. Then continue your practice. Because there’s no end point. It’s a process.
Legendary cellist Pablo Casals was asked why he continued to practice at age 90: “Because I think I’m making progress.”
Practice makes practice.
As for the nitty-gritty of practice, here are a couple tips in addition to the jump starts from a couple weeks back.
First, you must prioritize practice. You can’t “find time” for it. You must carve out the time. Hold that time sacrosanct. There’s no shortcut here. Daily practice.
Practice is habit magnified by focus, so—best you can—maintain that time at a consistent time.
If this is new to you, start small. Even just 15 minutes a day, but at the same time each day. As your fitness builds, and your lifestyle adjusts, grow that sacred time. Carve out more. Continute to prioritize, and you’ll instinctively begin to re-budget your time.
Because it is a budget. You don’t find time. You spend it.
Keep asking yourself… what do you want to spend your time on? What is your time worth? It is, after all, your most precious resource.
Practice also requires space. Spend some focused time on creating a consistent location for practicing your thing, whatever your thing is.
There are a mere handful of requirements for a writing space: something to write with, something to write on, enough light to see by.
Beyond those few necessities, make the space yours. Make it YOU.
Personally, I’m big on totems (I’ll dive deeper on those in a future newsletter). But however you set up your space, make it inviting and comfortable and provocative and conducive to inspiration stopping by on its never-ending quest to find people engaged in practice.
I have also found it extremely helpful to take a few moments to breathe before starting. Back to my beloved Rebecca, in yoga this is called “setting an intention.”
It could be as simple as taking five deep breaths. Repeating a mantra or meaningful phrase. Rubbing a worry stone with your fingers. Allowing your mind to clear. Allowing your focus to sharpen, like when you’re taking an eye test and the optometrist flips the little windows asking you “which looks better, one or two?”
So how do you build a practice? It’s simple, but not easy.
Time. Space. Focus.
Rinse and repeat.
Practice makes practice.
Meet Cedric Hameed
The incredible spoken word artist and newly published poet Cedric Hameed will be appearing at the Senior Friendship Center on Thursday, March 20, at 5pm.
The event is free and you can register by clicking the purple button.
The Page&Stage Podcast
A reminder to check out the most recent Page&Stage Podcast episode.
Yes, Sheree works at The Ohio State University, but even if you’re not a Buckeyes fan, there’s so much cool stuff in our convo.
In this episode of the Page&Stage Podcast, I interview Sheree Greco, the Production Manager and Stage Management Advisor at The Ohio State University. Sheree shares her journey from working in television production on popular shows like CSI and Modern Family to her current role in academia. She emphasizes the importance of emotional intelligence and people skills in stage management, likening it to an art form that blends logistics and empathy. Sheree also discusses her teaching approach, focusing on training undergraduate students to manage the complexities of theater production with confidence and compassion.
Thanks as always for reading, and have a great weekend!
Jason “Time Carver” Cannon