Practice Makes Perfect!

Episode 90 Practice Makes Perfect
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Cristina: [00:00:00] Welcome to Morning Coffee and Mimosas. I'm Christina. And I'm Joe. We are a father-daughter duo. We come here Sunday mornings, but you can come here anytime you please. We banter about life, about business, and we do it over coffee and mimosas.

Joe: And good morning to you. Good morning, 

Cristina: FAJ. 

Joe: It is a good morning, but we're we're dieting this morning because we haven't eaten, we didn't eat anything cuz we had to fit this in. It 

Cristina: feels like we're a little bit like, it feels a little disingenuous today because we didn't have morning that we didn't Plenty mimosas.

Mimosas. We didn't have breakfast. It really. I feel like I'm not gonna be able to be as inspired as usual. Really. 

Joe: That's a really good way to have people listen and say, oh, well, why should I listen to these two? I'm just 

Cristina: kidding. Maybe it'll actually be more insightful because [00:01:00] my, my, uh, ideas won't be fueled by.

Prosecco. Yeah. 

Joe: Champagne, right? Correct. That's true. Yeah. And maybe we'll be 

Cristina: Champagne Gene dreams. It will. I can't speak, but it won't be Champagne Dreams. It will maybe be more coherent. I don't know. Dreams of 

Joe: champagne. Yeah. Yeah. There you go. Yeah. and maybe we'll talk faster and this'll be a shorter episode because we just want to get to breakfast 

Cristina: because we need to get to eat, but it's so, like the weather has turned, which I don't know about you, but like my mood is immediately.

Better when the sun is shining, when it's like nice outside when you can get the vitamin D. When you go outside for you, you're kind of a little bit more like a vampire. So you may be, yeah, give a damn. With the weather sun, you're starting to like melt, I think. 

Joe: Yeah, no, when the weather's like this, then mom just wants me to go to go to the beach or something and go all the things that you love, like, and I don't want to do any of that.

So, 

Cristina: So this is when I come alive, you start to like, I wither away, wither. [00:02:00] 

Joe: But I have to tell you and I wanna tell everybody about, why we picked this topic for today. Um, last night I went to mom and I went to the Greenwood Lake Air Show and wow. It was over the top. Amazing. First of all, the weather was perfect, but the show was unbelievable and it started at five 30 and ended at about nine 30 at at night.

And, um, we got there about three and looked at the. You know, they have airplanes and cars and it was wonderful. 

Cristina: Well, and this is for those listeners that haven't been with us for a while. Um, aviation is very big in this family because mm-hmm. My grandfather, who I never got to meet, unfortunately. I know.

But your dad was a World War II pilot, correct? Fighter pilot. Right? Fighter pilot, yep. So, um, and, and he was then like a private pilot for a little while, right? After, correct. After he was 

Joe: an [00:03:00] instructor for most of his life. Yeah. You know, on the side. Um, and in World War ii he was also, uh, an instructor that he Texan and any pilots out there that know, you'll know the A six Texan, it was a trainer for the fighter pilots, and my father was an instructor during World War ii. among other things that he did and what was so emotional for me was that there is a, uh, aerobatics group that flies for. A T six Texans and they do the aerobatics in it. And I tell you, I was so emotional last night.

It was amazing. And these planes, the sound, everything. Um, so 

Cristina: it inspired an idea. Yes. 

Joe: And it inspired 

Cristina: Long story short. Yes. Long story. Long It inspired an idea. That's 

Joe: correct. And I'm watching this and I'm thinking, You know, the, and the announcer through the night is talking about how they practice and the [00:04:00] precision you've got.

Like they had four of these planes in precision formations doing aerobatics with their wings 30 feet apart in the air. That is so crazy 

Cristina: going. 

Joe: When I 200 and 300 miles an hour. Unbelievable. So, I mean, I can't even park the car straight in a parking same spot, let alone fly a plane So we thought of the topic of practice makes perfect and I wanted to define perfect.

They have to be perfect up there. Uh, we don't have to be perfect. On the ground here for most of the things that we do. 

Cristina: Well, that's a really good point. Yeah. Yeah. Like you're a surgeon. You need per perfect. Those are levels of perfection. There's levels of perper perfection. And knowing that's correct, what level of per what is good enough in your line of work or in your area of life is important.

That's 

Joe: correct. So, um, so first of all, we, we like the, the phrase, everyone knows the fray. Phrase PR practice makes perfect, [00:05:00] but perfect is simply a better way to say, you know, good enough, uh, good enough for what it is that you need done. so that, that's number one. But we wanted to apply this to business, and most of us don't think of practice in business or practicing.

In business. But if you think about it, if you have a presentation to make, what do you do before you're gonna give the presentation. You generally don't wing it and go in, you practice it, right? If you are learning how to do something new, You can learn how to do something new, but what do you do before you actually either meet with a customer or do the process?

In the process that you're doing? You, you practice, practice it, right? So I wanted to talk about that and I play the guitar. So for example, in the band that when I was in the band, especially, even though we might be playing songs that we [00:06:00] played all the time during the week, I would. Practice because you just are not up to the level of performance level.

If you're not sitting there and practicing, you know that stuff. But I just keep thinking at work, how many times do we really quote, Practice where 

Cristina: do just deliberately dive in practice. Correct. Well, and I, I love this because I think sometimes, um, in the beginning of our careers right, or in the beginning of learning something, we practice mm-hmm.

Because you, you have a, a gap in what you know, right. And a lot of times I think people look at practice as, you know, time and experience that they've been doing something. Mm-hmm. And it's so different, right? Like the deliberate, you know, decision to practice just for the sake of practicing, like from a sales perspective.

Um, We sometimes will do role playing. Yes. And people always feel super awkward and uncomfortable [00:07:00] with it. And people that have been doing it for years, like have been doing the job for years, uh, sometimes egos come into play and they're like, this is, you know, uh, juvenile and I don't need to do this.

Mm-hmm. I've been doing this for 35 years, but I say that's actually probably when you need it the most. That's right. Yeah. Because if you haven't been, and we're, we're talking about. Perfection, right? Mm-hmm. And I'm not saying this from a level of, of like absolute perfection, but I am saying this from a standpoint of if you are not practicing perfectly, and what I mean by that is that like practicing like prime time, right?

Practicing as something would be, I don't mean just like glancing at things and saying like, I have a lot of experience and that equals practice, but. The role playing is a perfect example. Like, I'm gonna pretend you're, you're gonna pretend you're the customer. I'm gonna pretend I'm the salesperson and we're just going to have a fake conversation.

Right? Right. As if, and I think [00:08:00] shy of doing that, like. Sometimes we just reinstill bad habits. That's right. Because you need to be practicing to the point of like, well, how is somebody else gonna respond to this? And like tweaking things along the way. And this is kind of, I don't know, for those of you that may have read the book Outliers by, Malcolm Gladwell, it's the story of success.

He specifically studied professional athletes like Michael Jordan and the people that were like, At the, the absolute top of their field. Top of their game. Mm-hmm. And what he found was the, the balance between talent and the balance between the practice, it took 10,000 plus hours for people to get mastery.

And that was a combination of practice and experience to acquire the skills. Right. So it, it's kind of like a no-brainer, right? Mm-hmm. When you think about these things and, And then start to look at your world, like what, what your [00:09:00] professional, um, you know, what your job is, your professional goals, the things that you do, the hobbies that you have on the side, how much are we practicing at them?

Right? 

Joe: And I want to, and that's a great thing that you mentioned. Two things I want to mention. Number one about my dad, since we talked about him being a pilot and everything. And I've used this quote before in, in. Earlier podcast episodes. My dad used to say, some people have 20 years of experience and other people have one year of experience that they've replicated 20 times, which means a hundred percent.

They've never learned a damn thing in 20 years. I. But they go, I've been doing this for 20 years. Well, you've been doing it mediocre and crappy for 20 years, 

Cristina: or you did it really well in the first year. And guess what? Things changed and 

Joe: things changed. So to your point about the 10,000 hours practice and, and all that, and you know, that number, take it or leave it.

But the point is, are many talented people that accomplish nothing because they don't hone their skill and practice, and there are very many [00:10:00] people who have. Moderate talent that are at the top of their game because they've worked and worked and worked and worked at it. and this brings me to the a circle I wanted to talk about, which is you are on your job, whatever your job is, if you lead a team, You need to practice leadership, we'll get there.

You know? Um, if you are on an assembly line, you need to practice to make sure you're doing what you're doing, right? Anywhere in between practicing. But the art of practicing helps you in the performance of the task. But performing the task in real life then brings out mistakes you might make or. Oh wow.

Uh, when the customer said this, I wasn't prepared for that. And you are learning and then you practice that and it's, that's how you have 20 [00:11:00] real years of experience versus repeating one year, 20 times. I 

Cristina: love that like, because it's like the experience is almost like it reinforces the practice. Yes. And it allows you to.

Refine and figure out what did I miss? Yes. Because there's only so much you can capture when you're not in the real environment. Correct. Correct. And then you need to go and practice with that refinement so that you keep 

Joe: getting better. That's right. And, and I'm going to again, use the guitar and it, and please, if you don't play an instrument, be like me.

Yeah. I don't play an instrument, daddy. No. But but here's the thing. I, I don't do sports and I That's true. And I can't. Right. And I, I always hate when. When people will make it as a sports analogy, cuz I'm a guy and they go, well, you know, in football or whatever. So guess what? I'm not using sports analogies, I'm using music analogies.

So if you don't play an instrument, suck it up and listen. No, I'm just kidding. Um, my point is when, when I would practice and then we, Saturday night, Friday night, we have a [00:12:00] gig. You learn and grow so much when you're in the moment performing for those three hours because you're watching people's faces when certain things happen and you go, oh, they like that, or, that didn't go over too well.

Um, or in the heat of it standing and it's warmer than you wanted and sweaty and your finger messed up. You know that's real life. That's when you're at work. That's real life. The phone's ringing, emails are coming through and you still have to perform. but if you would reflect on that and then practice, what do I do if I, if I'm in that situation for whatever.

So anyway, it, this is just such a really powerful topic for, for 

Cristina: us, I think. And I, I just think it's something that like, it's one of those things that you don't sometimes think about often and you're going through the day to day and. It's something like you need to almost schedule deliberate [00:13:00] time for mm-hmm.

Learning and practicing and, and finding somebody like a partner, like an accountability partner Yes. That you can practice with. Yes. And it could be somebody from outside, somebody from within your company, a colleague. But, um, I mean, I, I'm just, I think all you, you think about the people that are at the top of what they do, like comedians, right?

Mm-hmm. How often do comedians say like, you know, I sometimes watch the, behind the, the comedy or, um, Jerry Seinfeld's, like, you know, riding in cars with comedians, right? Or whatever, I forget what it's called, but they talk about the process, right? Yeah. And a lot of them, We'll go to your local, like little comedy shows, or they'll go to a bar and, you know, you might see a famous comedian at, at a local pub doing standup bombing because, or, or practicing with like a smaller venue because they're trying things out.

Yes. You know? Yes. Yes. And they, they recognize that they need to try it out in a live environment. Yeah. In order for them [00:14:00] to get to the point where they can be at Carnegie Hall and deliver. 

Joe: Correct. I'm sure they were like, this is a great joke. And then they, they go to a local place and do it, and nobody laughs and all right, well, I better or do it differently because 

Cristina: I've heard people that have been like, oh yeah, like so and so showed up at Comedy Cellar on a random Tuesday and.

Sucked. Yes. 

Joe: Yeah. But they sucked in front of only 20 people or 30. Exactly. Instead of 5,000. So it's so true. And practicing. Then think of this, it builds your self confidence. If, if, if you're, a lot of people say, you know, I've never done that. I, I've never tried that. Okay. Practice it privately on the side.

Do it, it'll, it'll build up. And then as you get a little confidence, show someone else how you would. Do this, and it builds your own self-confidence. 

Cristina: You know, do it in a mirror or record yourself. Recording yourself is such a. I've, it's, it's a humbling experience. At times. It was very humbling. Like when you listen back to yourself, even listening to the, our podcast episode, sometimes I'm like, can you [00:15:00] say right one more time?

I'm gonna, but, uh, it's real. I mean, and that's how you start to have that like muscle memory of, okay, this is something I'm gonna change and do it. And it keeps getting better. 

Joe: Right. And I, and I don't care what position you're in, if you're in a leadership position, in a management position, you are not the, if you're a true manager or a leader, you are not the creator of the product.

You are the one building the team to create the product or to deliver the message, right? So in that you need to practice. Like test out. Well, if I, if I ask Christina to do this and we do that, let, let's see what we, what might happen. Talk to Christina. Talk to this. In other words, you don't have to make bold moves all the time.

You can. Test practice from leadership. You can do this from being the president of the company all the way [00:16:00] down to working in the mail room, you know? Yep. Practice. The other thing, especially as you move up in business and you get into more of a leadership and supervisory management position, is it builds humility and patience.

Try doing, just pick a task that one of your staff does and. Try it yourself and do it. Now. You may have done it 15 years ago, but you haven't, cuz now you're managing people. Do it yourself. 

Cristina: I feel so strongly about that, you know, and you, and, and that's where like, I think part of what we do in on our team is we're selling leaders, you know?

Mm-hmm. So like, there may be certain opportunities, there was this, there's this, you know, certain lines of business where I didn't have as much experience and I'm like, you know what? I'm gonna work a deal. With that line of business so that I can understand the experience firsthand. Right, right. That my team goes through.

Right. Because for me, I'm like, I don't [00:17:00] know how else to guide and coach somebody on how to, you know, work in a certain environment if I've never done it myself. Mm-hmm. You're right. Yeah. And I know that that's not always, you know, you. The best doers aren't always the best leaders, but I think you need to have a certain level of experience and understanding in order to provide guidance that helps make that practice worthwhile.

Well true, 

Joe: but it also helps you be a little bit humble so that if your staff is saying, I'm really trying, but I'm having trouble with this, instead of saying, suck it up, Christina, just do the darn job. You follow? 

Cristina: Yeah. That's generally what I would definitely, how I would've definitely handled that. So, so you know it, so that's general.

Yeah. You come to me with a problem and I'm just like, suck it up. But it, yes. Don't, no one likes 

Joe: winers. No. Right. But if you, if you actually like, say, well, let, let, let's look at this together. What, it builds your humility as a leader and gives you the patience to help or at least. [00:18:00] Understand it may take them a little bit longer to get something done.

Totally. And that humility is a very good quality in a leader. I 

Cristina: loved what you said too about practicing leadership. Mm-hmm. Because, um, I think like it's a skill that it's, it's a challenge and a skill that's so important and. have good days and bad days, right? Where you look at like kind of the conversations you had and you're like, okay, I could have come to that differently.

Or, you know, I, I wish I had a little bit more, you know, had prepped for that differently. Yep. So practicing like hard conversations I think is so important, you know, and, and thinking through, you know, what you heard, but what somebody really meant and trying to, Flex and practice the empathy is important.

That's right. It is. So I, I like that. I mean that's where I listen the majority of what I listen to, certainly I listen to things that are about my industry at times, [00:19:00] but more I find myself listening to like, you know, things on leadership because I just think that's so important. No, it's very true.

Because people, people are everything. And that's, I think, where things start and end. Yep. 

Joe: No, this was very good. What else do you wanna say about this topic? Should we have practiced? Listen, should we have practiced? 

Cristina: I'm gonna say, should we have practiced this episode ahead of time? 

Joe: Oh man. Hey, you see, this is why practicing is very important because thanks to the people that said it's fine to allow your pets to sleep in your bed.

Now my goldfish is dead. You know? I should have. I should have. And 

Cristina: for those that didn't realize, that was a dad joke.

Oh man. Well, dad, this was fun. It, yes, very much. Life is, life is so busy and there's so many, good, exciting things going on. Um, but I continually, continually always enjoy when we're able to get together and do this. Oh, 

Joe: thank you. That was really nice. Thank you. You [00:20:00] didn't practice that either, did you? 

Cristina: I didn't.

If I had practiced it, I would've had a little bit more of like a, you know, a follow up rebuttal that wouldn't be as nice, but that's true. That's truth from the heart test. Ah, 

Joe: that's very nice. Well, I love our, our time together and listeners, we love being able to give you a little, little tidbits of things that we hope help your day and maybe make you some more money and do better at work.

So, and in life. Yeah, nothing. 

Cristina: Thank you. Can't, can't hate any of that. No. But anyway, listeners, if you liked what you heard, please like, subscribe, share with a friend. Follow follow 

Joe: us. Follow on the, uh, podcast? 

Cristina: Yes. Oh, follow on the po on the old podcast? That's correct. Uh, channel 

Joe: give us a, uh, recommendation.

Cristina: We would appreciate that. Only nice ones though. And let us know, dad. There I go. Ah, there he goes. but yeah, thank you for hanging with us and if there's anything that you wanna hear about, that you wanna talk [00:21:00] about, uh, don't be a stranger. Mm-hmm. 

Joe: Wherever you are, whatever your story. Thanks for spending time with us this morning.

Now go and make a difference in your world.

Cristina: You're searching for another 

Joe: dad joke. I wanted to tell you that mom dated a clown before me. I had some pretty big shoes to fill. 

Cristina: Oh, and you filled them. Oh, thanks. Bye everyone. Have a great week, everybody.