Good and evil both increase at compound interest. That is why the little decisions you and I make every day are of such infinite importance. The smallest good act today is the capture of a strategic point from which, a few months later, you may be able to go on to victories you never dreamed of. An apparently trivial indulgence in lust or anger today is the loss of a ridge or railway line or bridgehead from which the enemy may launch an attack otherwise impossible.
C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
Little notes of true wisdom sometimes come from the most unexpected places. I don’t know about you, but the phrase “Practice makes perfect” has been floating around the periphery of my life for as long as I can remember. It’s one of those mottos I just sort of accepted and nodded along to without ever really giving it much thought. Made enough sense to be passable, I suppose.
Me being me, there’s a lot of time during the day I have something on to listen to that’ll help me progress toward some goal or another. Media reviews to help tailor my writing, FGC content to be a more competitive gamer, etc. Well, that latter one got me recently. People were discussing practice and how to best use your time since it’s the most limited resource we have, and a heard a new version of that iconic phrase. Practice makes permanent. This was brought up in relation to people that spend the bulk of their training time on things that are niche cases or on responses that are not optimal, making that time less effective than it should be. Practice can work us toward perfecting something, sure, but in order for that to happen you have to make sure you’re practicing the right thing. Practicing the wrong thing just leads to the difficult process of unlearning.
This all led me down a bit of a rabbit hole. Being the goal-oriented person I am, I spend a decent amount of time making sure I’ve got my checklist of things to handle over the day/week/month/year/lifetime. Good. Great. Fine. All necessary for me as I’m wanting to keep along a certain path in life. That said, a lot of talk has gone on in this site about goals and habits, and it seems to me this is all various ways to cover the same idea. Practice, habits, compound interest; these are all really the same thing – ways to make common the routine of advancing. Toward what? Well, that’s the thing. Toward whatever we’re doing. Having the goal is great, but if I’m not recognizing and gearing enough time toward it, then I’m building that habit, that compound interest, toward something less vital.
What are the most important things to me? Serving my faith, being a father and husband that provides for the needs of my family, and, lastly, being a published author. Yes, some leisure time fits in there, but it’s vital that I make sure each of those three things are handled daily. Vital that they are identified, practiced, and built into habits so that each day builds on the one before and, ultimately, I’ve achieved things that make this life all worth it in the end. One step at a time, building that path toward the end.
Thank you all for being a part of this perpetual journey. I pray – and believe – it’ll all come to be worth it in the end. And I’m getting there. Slowly, but surely, I’m getting there. In more ways than one, the interest is building. Can’t wait to share some of these new things with you all.
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