Amateur Performers Practice One Way; Professionals Just The Opposite
Hey there, hero!
They say that the old sayings are the best.
And the one I’m sharing with you today is from the turn of the 20th century.
It is still powerful, and very very important to performers.
It has to do with how you operate, practice and get better.
Hope this helps!
David
Raw YouTube Captioning
well hey there hero it’s David H
Lawrence the 17th and in something
totally unrelated to the video I’m about
to do for you I have this waiting for me
when I’m done
oh yeah Popeyes sandwiches back I never
had it so I’m looking forward to it I’ll
let you know what I think if I have
something good to say about it
maybe I’ll mention it in an upcoming
video and if it’s a whole bunch of hype
and blather you probably won’t hear me
say anything about it but anyway the
reason I wanted to share something with
you today is I love anachronistic
sayings I love things from the old days
and the old days can be you know the
1980s 1990s it can go all the way back
to the 20th century the beginning of the
20th century 19th 18th century you know
it seems like wisdom gets better with
age right and the stuff that really
lasts is the stuff that makes sense no
matter where we are in history and one
of the things that I heard recently was
a saying that really struck me as useful
to performers because we often have
these limiting beliefs about ourselves
that we’re not good enough we’re not
good enough to be professional that to
be just ourselves our authentic selves
that’s not something that someone would
pay for right they if you’re gonna be a
professional and get a paycheck you have
to be better than what you normally are
and what you find out after a while is
your authentic self is your moneymaker
you know that’s that’s what’s gonna do
it but this phrase that I heard was
really interesting because it kind of
talks about the different shades between
an amateur somebody who’s playing at
something somebody who’s just getting
started and you know maybe they’re
interested maybe they’re not they’re
just you know they’re dabbling and
somebody who is a true professional
somebody who you can count on something
who’s got your back somebody who’s a
hero yeah and the phrase is amateurs
practice until they get it right
professionals practice until they can’t
get it wrong and when I heard that I’m
like wow that is so true because when
you think about it the whole phrase of I
got this I got your back I’ll take care
of you no worries no worries I got you I
got this I won’t get it wrong I can’t
get it wrong I know this too well to get
it wrong no sometimes the inevitable
happens the unpredictable happens and
you get it wrong but when you’re a
professional you know your craft so well
that even when things throw you a
curveball you still can’t get it wrong
and that’s really when for me I knew
that I was going to be able to make a
living as a performer as an actor as a
voice-over talent as a trainer a teacher
a coach when I got to know my subject
matter so well that it was really really
really unlikely that I would get it
wrong so think about that phrase and
tell me what you think where are you on
that spectrum and how does that strike
you maybe you still are an amateur and
that’s fine you’re still working towards
getting your systems down and your
practice down and your operational
skills down and your workflow down so
that you finally get it right and then
when you take it to the next level the
next level is when you start refining
what you’ve already refined when you
perfect what you’ve already perfected
and it becomes next to impossible for
you to get it wrong so amateurs practice
until they get it right professionals
practice until they can’t get it wrong
tell me what you think about that
comments below
I’d love to hear what you have to say is
this resonate with you if you’d like to
be on the list I’d love to have you on
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at Popeye’s smells so good I hope it’s
good I’m David age Lawrence the 17th I
thank you so much for watching and I
will talk to you tomorrow.
My wife (the piano teacher) says this frequently. Much better (more actionable) than “practice makes perfect”.
This resonates very much with me, because I’m all about the fundamentals. THIS is the Golden Ticket — that saying is absolutely true and I thank you for sharing it with everyone.
Good stuff. It reinforces the idea that I need to spend more time practicing until I can’t get it wrong. Come on me! Get practicing!
Love that!
I love this, David. I’m somehow reminded of a portion of my dear friend Stephen McKinley Henderson’s commencement address at Juilliard a few years back: “More than ever you must be freed by technique to discover and innovate, balancing precision and passion. Don’t get it right, get it true.”