A beautifully sparse and monochromatic landscape, somewhere near Edmonton.Yesterday evening when I was on the BART train on my way from the San Francisco airport to Berkeley, I overheard two enthusiastic gymnastics coaches in conversation. One was describing the importance of perseverance and drilling techniques with repetition, especially with the students in the competitive classes. He said that a skill needs to be practiced 1000 times before it's perfected, not counting the initial learning process. I thought that was interesting, because one of my pottery instructors said the same thing about learning to make mugs: In order to become skilled and proficient at it, it's necessary to make 1000 mugs after a student has learned the basic skills.
A thousand is a lot. And I'm looking forward to practicing in a studio in Berkeley starting soon. I also need to remember how this perseverance will serve me well in many parts of my life.
o
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