I traveled to Cambridge, MA for the Thanksgiving holiday.  My sister and her family as well as several friends live in this frigid tundra of a place.  Brrrr.

As my regular readers know I adore my niece and nephew.  Conversations with my nephew Larson are particularly interesting and original.  He is twelve and I love his perspective on what he learns from adults.

This time he told me about a mantra his teachers promote at school:

Instead of Practice Makes Perfect  . . . They emphasize Practice Makes Progress.

Now I love anything that is anti-perfectionism.  I think perfectionism is like suburban life, we think it is a great idea until we get all caught up in it.  

But Larson was dissatisfied with this modification.  He thinks the word progress is too wishy-washy.

So my nephew, in the true spirit of adaptation and experimentation, proposes that it should read . . .

Practice Makes Better 

What becomes better?  The act of practicing itself . . .

• Makes for better and more meaningful familial and intimate relationships.
• Makes for better, more spirited, and more vibrant workplaces.
• Makes for better, more creative friendships.
• Makes for a better understanding of ourselves and our world.

But how?

The better emerges from the effort regardless of outcome.  It’s about living our lives as if we are engaged in one grand science project.  Remember those experiments we had to do in seventh grade?  Maybe it was building the volcano that could erupt, or having to package an egg in such a way that it could survive a 100-foot drop.

Regardless, we had to think first, try out ideas second, and perhaps a third or fourth time.  Then, we took that deep breath and said, “I am ready, it’s ready, let’s see how it goes.”

How exhilarating!

This practice makes better ethic reminds me of my first real “normal person” job after college.  Not too normal because I worked at a tech start-up.  I was put in charge of testing our signature product.  It was a software package designed for hotels that made processing credit cards transactions easier and cheaper.

I was told by numerous colleagues that if the product had flaws, and I failed to find them, well it would produce a public relations nightmare for both the hotels and our firm.

One day after being badgered countless times by the upper management and investors, I said, “I am done with the testing process . . . we are ready to try it out.”

Gulp . . .

We selected one location, and I personally set the entire system up.  I connected all the wires (there were lots of wires in the early 1990s), returned to the office and waited . . .

It was a total disaster.

Within 24-hours I was back to the same location.  I reconnected the old system, and expecting my boss to fire me when I returned to headquarters.

He barked at me to meet him in his posh corner office, and closed the door.  Let me be clear, this man was about 6 foot 5 inches and easily 275 pounds with a voice deeper than Barry White’s. He sat me down and asked me to explain to him what happened.

Knowing me I probably apologized and then got passionate about the product and how we could fix these problems.  He stopped me and exclaimed, “Scott, fix it and roll it out again.  And if that fails, fix it and roll it out another time.  Keep at it and do not stop.”

A week later we rolled it out again, sure some bugs remained but we were off and running.  I soon received a raise and a promotion.  Do not get me wrong here, the company dissolved a couple of years later because we were on the wrong side of the internet.  But that is so not the point.

My boss was encouraging me and my team to practice and to make better.  I believe he was under no illusions that this guaranteed anything  . . . except a rich and fun life filled with adventure and connection.  Of course, with the added possibility of the company’s success.

And that is all I wanted then and now and I hope so too does my clever nephew.  A life that promotes bold and consistent experimentation.  Self Science 101!  What a great class from which never to graduate.

I urge all of my readers to find ways this week to practice something and make it and you better.

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If you have any questions about coaching please feel free to contact me at scott@kineticcoaching.co, and remember I always offer a complimentary 30-45 minute session to prospective clients to determine if we want to work together.