You have all heard the old saying, "Practice Makes Perfect". It has been around for years. The problem is that it is totally wrong. If you keep practicing doing something the wrong way, like my golf swing for example, the result will be far from perfect. Repeatedly doing something the wrong way makes it permanent, not perfect.

Scientific studies prove that training improves performance and changes the brain. Training on the right way to do something and then practicing that proper method or technique is one of the best ways to enhance your skills and raise your production in all areas of your life. People tend to view training as a cost, both in time and money, and too many are unwilling to pay the price. In reality, training is an investment and the payback in increased sales, improved productivity, reduction in stress, etc. is always higher than any perceived cost. Training doesn't cost, it pays.

Once you have learned the proper way to do something, then you can begin to practice it over and over. Having learned the proper technique or skill, practice helps you to learn to do it naturally, to make it your own. Aristotle said, "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit." Practice is the path between learning a new skill and becoming excellent at it and making it a habit.

You won't reach excellence without training and education to learn the proper methods, practices, techniques or thought patterns. As Vince Lombardi said, "Practice does not make perfect. Only perfect practice makes perfect."