I’m sure we’ve all heard the saying
Practice makes perfect
I found myself thinking about this saying, and I started questioning whether practicing all things, really helps us to become perfect at it.
I would agree that for some things, yes we can practice and help train ourselves to become perfect . But for others, simply practicing isn’t enough to become perfect at it. For example
- A shopkeeper can become the best at running their store and be a great employer simply by doing the best they can and improving what they do, but does that make them the perfect shopkeeper?
- As we go through school/college/university, we are taught many things. Some of those things we may become perfect at, such as reading or arithmetic, but others which have external things which can affect how well we do, such as cooking (it can be affected by the quality of the ingredients, and our tools).
- An IT developer, can train/learn all there is to learn about a programming language, but unless they have other great skills, such as logical thinker, problem solver, analyst, and people skills, are they really a perfect IT developer?
- A professional sportsperson, can train many hours a days, every day, but they still will never always play their sport/game perfectly.
How about as a Christian? If we keep going to church, reading our bible and praying, do we become perfect?
I think for just about all those examples above, practice doesn’t make us perfect at it, but it does make us able to do that task/activity better. We as imperfect humans will never be perfect.
Practice doesn’t make perfect, it makes better!
The Distinct Dot 