Internals and externals

Most practice is out of context. The audience is missing. You’re not on a stage. There are no competitors. The points don’t count. You’re not making the one you’ll sell.

That’s not a flaw — it’s the design.

Practice is our quiet internal work. Honing our craft. Tuning the details. Refining our skills.

As my friend Angie Flynn-McIver has written: “The point of practicing is to let go of the irrelevant externals.”

We don’t need everything in place to practice. In fact, most things aren’t.

We don’t wait for the outside to be ready before we prepare the inside. Preparing the inside first is the point.