Have you heard the study done about how long it takes to learn a new skill? Though some research says it takes 10,000 hours to master something, certain experts disagree. For instance, Josh Kaufman, author of The First 20 Hours: How to Learn Anything... Fast!, says you can become fairly proficient in something after, you guessed it, 20 hours. When you think about it, twenty hours seems a lot more realistic than ten thousand! It only takes learning something for an hour a day for almost 3 weeks to reach the goal. If you really wanted to be a go-getter, 2 hours a day would be even better.

As exciting as it sounds, the implications can be scary. Why? Well, when you learn something, you have created a pattern that will likely become part of your daily, weekly, or even yearly routine. This can be exciting if they are productive habits, but what happens if you keep repeating bad practices. Unfortunately, those problems become engrained patterns. Engrained patterns become addictive which makes it harder to change. Whatever you spend the most time on is practice and creates patterns.

Maybe knowing this makes you a little bit more nervous or careful. After all, you have heard, “Practice makes perfect”, right? Hate to break it to you, but nothing is perfect. If you have ever done anything perfectly, we would love to hear it. You will never be perfect, but you will be lightyears ahead of not practicing. Think of it like failure that moves you forward. It is a chance to learn and correct. You don’t want your first practice session to be in front of a prospective client. Sure, some people can wing it, but the odds aren’t in your favor.

Just because failure can move you forward, it doesn’t mean you should waste your time and be careless. Careless practice is just as bad as not practicing at all. You repeat what you have learned. If you learned to cut corners when you're practicing, you're simply training yourself to cut corners when it really counts. Harsh but true. Make your time count and take it seriously.

Practice normally isn’t fun unless you are doing something that you really enjoy. Even then, the monotony can get very boring. However, boring is better than being broke, when it comes to sales and business. Set yourself up for success ON the field by how you practice OFF the field.