In our life, we are so accustomed to taking shortcuts that we look for shortcuts everywhere, even in mastering an art. Sadly, there is only one way to reach there, and to our disappointment, it has no elevator. We all know about the saying, "Every master was once a beginner", and there is no doubt about that. No one has ever perfected an art form or a skill from day one. To master any form of art takes Patience, Perseverance and Practice. Yes, these are the 3 Golden Ps of mastering any skill and the importance of practise is not a new trend.

However, in life, we come across people who are simply gifted, but even for those gifted souls, practice is of utmost importance. You'll never find a truly gifted artist taking his art or craft for granted. On the contrary, they are always on the lookout of improving themselves and bettering their art. 

Importance of Practice 

In a world where people only celebrate successful artists, they rarely look at the hard work put in by the artist to get successful. No one is a born champion, you have to work for it, long for it, wait for it, earn it, and do all this with a patient heart, is when the lady luck smiles at you, and you become what the world calls a champion.

Do you see your cricketer not practicing days before a match just because he's famous? Do you think your favorite musician doesn't practice before a big show? Or A dancer skipping his practice before a competition? No, right?! That's because as practice rightly defined by Andrew Pouska is "the absorption, mastery, and maintenance of skills." and this is also how most people think about practice. The scope of improvement and mastery of your skill and its maintenance that comes after achieving mastery is only achieved through practice. Practicing your art or skill tells you a lot about your dedication towards that artform and the direction it is taking. You will be able to judge your art better only through practice. Practising is the only way you can make your desired skill, your best friend.

Benefits of Practice

1. Helps you Focus
Practice helps you with focusing better on your skills; it enables you to understand your art better and give you time to reflect upon your shortcomings to improve them with time. Not losing your focus is very important when you're trying to pick up a new skill. E.g., You want to learn dance or music and given the pandemic you're looking for online dance classes or online music courses for beginners. As a beginner, you can't master everything taught to you in an hour-long session, with practice, you'll understand the parts you need to work on and eventually improve.

2. Sets you up for automaticity
When you practice something religiously every day, you set yourself up for automaticity. Automaticity is the ability to do things without occupying the mind with the low-level details required, allowing it to become an automatic response pattern or habit. It is usually the result of learning, repetition, and practice.

3. Keeps you motivated
Cognitive gains from practice often bring about the motivation for more learning.

4. Acquire Expertise
It's a no-brainer that when you're motivated to learn more about your interest, you gain expertise in that given subject. This helps in distinguishing amateurs from experts in that subject.

Think of practice as maintenance of your skills, which will rust just like resting iron, if not done on time.