This is part four of a four part series on the importance of practice.

Just because practice is simple, do not overlook its importance. Here are the four basic rules of practice:

You must practice to become better.
What you learn first is what you remember.
How you practice is how you will play.
You must have a simple practice plan.

Rule Number Four:

Plan Your Practice

When you train for your sport, do you train with a purpose or just to have fun? The question sounds like a quiz but the answer does matter. Actually, you should be training with a purpose and having fun.

If you stay engaged in the sport without both fun and practice you probably will not get better. I can guarantee you, if you are not having fun, you will not be training or engaged in the sport or activity very long.

Remember, practice, play and compete to have some fun and to improve your skills. Take the time to develop and follow a simple practice plan. Make sure you are improving and that you practice on a schedule.

The practice plan does not always have to be detailed. Break down the activity you wish to practice in to separate parts. Then schedule practice on each of these parts separately and with simple lessons.

For instance: In flight simulators, professional airline pilots place importance on and thus practice two things. They practice take-offs and landings.

Take the same approach as a pilot and practice the most important, most critical or most difficult aspects of your game or sport. If you play golf for example, practice your short, medium and long game. If you are a football wide receiver, practice the basics like running pass routes and catching the ball.

Do not forget to track and measure your progress. It is a waste of time to practice without a system in place to measure your progress. An easy way to insure you are getting better is to grade your performance during practice and to debrief or think about what you did correctly and incorrectly.

Complete a simple feedback loop such as: think, plan, brief, practice, debrief/correct, and then think, plan, brief, practice and correct again in a continuous loop. Follow this feedback loop and you will improve and refine your skills.

Practice is just like the other important aspects of your life. You must prioritize and schedule your practice in advance. This might mean to schedule a practice once a month or once a day, but the goal is to stay consistent in your training. Consistent practice insures two things: First, the repetitive action reinforces the action learned and second it ingrains good habits until the motion becomes subconscious.

I cannot make it any simpler than that. Take the time to develop an easy to follow, basic practice plan and follow it.

When you practice on a schedule, have a plan with measurable goals, you will become better at your game or sport and definitely have more fun. By the way, you have more fun when you are good or great at something.

On a side note about the video: I could find a lot of videos that had a practice lesson, but none of them fit the message nicely. Most videos were planning overkill and diluted the message. Like we preach “K.I.S.S.” Which stands for “Keep It Simple Stupid.”

Then, I happened to find a video of Allen Iverson “AI.” I’m not quite sure why he is talking about practice, (please read with sarcasm) but listen and watch him carefully.

For some reason, I don’t think the reporters are commenting on his great work ethic at practice. I’m not an NBA fanatic, but I don’t think AI or his teams have ever won a championship. At this moment, I think he is having trouble finding a team.

Oh yeah, also watch the second video. It’s a great sequel.

This guy is a Hall-of-Famer, can someone please tell me what is going on?