Practices

At some point in your life, have you, like I have, thought it was odd that doctors are said to be in “a practice” with other doctors and are said to “practice medicine”?  I certainly don’t want doctors ‘practicing’ on me as though I were a lab experiment!  Have you also heard people talk about their morning ‘practice’ or other daily routine as ‘practice’?  A deeper, yet simple, meaning of the word, ‘practice,' may be a powerful reminder of the discipline of training, of habit, of action, of worthy pursuits.

What has intrigued me most about the meaning of ‘practice’ is how it is and is not related to the word ‘process.’  According to Chrissy Kidd in her article, “Practice vs Process: What’s The Difference?”, the author defines, “Practice [is the] ongoing pursuit of [a] goal or interest, often comprised of many processes.  Process [is the] well-defined, repeatable steps that achieve a predictable result…Processes refer to the way you get things done, the steps to get from Point A to Point B….In any process, the steps are more rigid for a reason so you can walk yourself through the steps.  The intelligence of the process - how it’s getting something accomplished - is embedded not in a person but directly in the process.

[On the other hand, a] practice is a more holistic and overarching than any single process. A practice is the ongoing pursuit of some goal or interest—and it’s usually something that you’re looking to continuously improve or optimize. After all, we use the term best practice, not best process. A best practice is something that an industry generally agrees as the most effective way to achieve something"(https://www.bmc.com/blogs/practice-vs-process/).  

What are daily practices your adhere to?  What processes do you use to support your practices?  Author Stephen Altrogge with contributor Jessica Lau identify “12 morning and evening routines that will set up each day for success”  (https://zapier.com).  In their article, Alrogge and Lau discuss “…the science of habits and creating routines…First, let's define what routine means: a routine is a sequence of actions that you do repeatedly. Brushing your teeth nightly and getting ready for bed is a routine. Waking up at 6 a.m. and exercising every morning is a routine. Purchasing a bagel and reading the news before you head to work every morning is a routine. Even eating chips while watching Netflix is a routine. They're all actions that happen again and again—a rhythm in your daily life. That doesn't make them all good routines. They're simply routines by virtue of being done regularly. Helpful or not, every routine is powerful…’[Even Aristotle agrees]We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.’  

In his book Daily Rituals: How Artists Work, Mason Currey writes about the habits, routines, and rituals of hundreds of artists, including Maya Angelou, Frederic Chopin, Haruki Murakami, Nikola Tesla, and Louis Armstrong. Even though their routines varied wildly, each individual had steps they followed to put them in an optimal state of mind. After studying the great artists, Currey came to this conclusion: ‘In the right hands, [a routine] can be a finely calibrated mechanism for taking advantage of a range of limited resources: time (the most limited resource of all) as well as willpower, self-discipline, optimism. A solid routine fosters a well-worn groove for one's mental energies and helps stave off the tyranny of moods’” (qtd. in https://zapier.com)  The article goes on to explore the differences between habits, routines, rituals, and they highlight six morning & six evening routines to consider.  Here, the authors use the word, ‘routines’, to mean ‘practices.’

As we know, disciplining ourselves to do daily practices is not easy.  Still, when our processes support our practices and our practices reflect our values, channeling our thoughts, time, effort, commitment to become a part of who we are.  Our practices flow from our values. If you would like help discovering your values, my blog post from may be beneficial: https://www.reimaginelifecoach.com/post/what-are-your-values 

Which of your daily practices reflect your values? Do you need to align your practices with your values? What processes do you use to support your practices? What processes do you need to start using to your practices? Please share your thoughts and insights by either commenting below this post if you are reading this on social media, or, if you are reading this through your email subscription, please share, by emailing me, at reimaginelife22@gmail.com.

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