How Practice Affects Performance (A Lesson From My High School Mini Adventures)

Remember high school?

The teenage drama, secret crush, and, of course, the school clubs. Ahhh, I loved them all!

Especially the extracurricular activities where I learned one of the valuable lessons that changed the way I practice my craft.

From elementary until high school, I joined choir groups and represented our schools in choral competitions — we won twice. I also took part in several school plays with good turnouts (I starred in two of them *humble brag*). And I wasn’t a graceful dancer but I tried joining a group dance competition too. We won third place that time.

The little secret to these small successes?

The art of taking our routines and rehearsals seriously.

In every dry run, our mentors would always scold us when we’re slacking, “Are you gonna stand like that on stage? Is that how you’re gonna pronounce the words in front of an audience? Is that how you’re gonna move when the spotlights are on?”

Because what we get used to is what we’ll do.

How we practice is how we perform.