Be careful what we practice because we will get good at it.

Anything that we do repeatedly is our practice.  Brushing our teeth, checking our emails/Facebook, our daily jobs, eating, driving, exercising, having fun and the many other things that are obvious to the senses.  Not so obvious practices might be procrastination, how we respond to emotions, or our intention behind our actions. Perhaps we wake up each day and think "Welcome to the best day of my life", or perhaps we wake up and think "My job sucks!".  Anything that we do repeatedly, whether its every hour, or every day or every week, is our practice and the more we do the better we get at it and the more it shapes our lives.

What do we want to be good at?  Michael Jordan wanted to win championships so everyday he practiced free throws, dribbling, passing, and running - over and over again.  His mastery of the basics made him great.

First we should look at what we practice, and make sure that we want to good at it.  The next step is thinking about how we practice.  I check my emails all the time, and in this day and age I want to be a good emailer.  However, now that I think about it, checking my email continuously throughout the day seems inefficient, overwhelming and takes me away from other work that is important.  I must start to develop a practice that reduces the amount of email I get and allocate certain times each day for emails.  This practice will be difficult, but the more I do it, the better at it I will become and the more more productive overall I will be.

Our intention rules the roost.  By paying attention to our intention, and by practicing intentions that represent our priorities and who we want to be, then our actions will follow suit.

Practice will make us good at what we want to do and who we want to be.  Start with the basics!!!