Practice makes perfect
Staying in bed feels like a wonderfully tempting option at the moment. I contemplated doing just that recently, but then I realised that doing nothing was not the answer. That’s just not what I do. I got up and got on with life, work, chores. I did my best.
Because so-called ‘horizontal thinking’, a phrase coined by the writer Elizabeth Gilbert, is dangerous. She recently posted on Instagram about the siren call of the bed (or sofa) and urged people to: “Get vertical. Move your mind to a higher altitude, where the view is better”. I could not agree more.
The theme for this week’s post is therefore practice and commitment.
This is in part self-serving because I really wanted to share with you the most unexpected and super badass story I have seen in ages. Meet my new idol, the 10-year-old Nandi Bushell. There is no one better than a budding musician to make the point of what practice can do for us, plus she is guaranteed to bring a smile to your face.
I also look at what the world would be like if we all practised (as in properly practised, on a daily basis) thinking inclusively. Sinead Burke is a brilliant role model on this front. Finally, a piece about practising would be incomplete if I didn’t look at the world of sport: how do athletes perform under pressure? The answer, you guessed it, is practice.
WHAT’S A MIC DROP FOR A DRUMMER?
Witnessing the fire emanating from Nandi Bushell playing (and screaming — in a good way) her very powerful drum cover of “In Bloom” by Nirvana is life-affirming. Whatever you do, watch the video here, because it’s so good you will want to immediately pick up the drums.
If that hasn’t raised your heartbeat, read the NY Times article about this girl prodigy and her new Foo Fighter friend Dave Grohl. They’ve agreed to write a song together after their public drum battle. My favourite part? When she told Grohl to “practice, practice, practice” before their battle.
The contrast between Nandi’s megawatt drumming and her 10-year-old little girl voice is endearing and it speaks too about not judging a book by its cover. Coming to a stadium near you soon.
INCLUSIVITY, INCLUSIVITY, INCLUSIVITY
In a year marked with talk of DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion), I was happy to read about Sinéad Burke, cover star of the Observer Magazine a few days ago. The Irish disability advocate talks about her new book and thanks to her work directed in particular at the fashion industry I discovered her Ted Talk “Why design should include everyone”.
I feel privileged to have worked for a long time with a man who always had a highly inclusive approach in his business. Thanks to Christian Louboutin, I was allowed to work from the start with people from all backgrounds, colour, walks of life and even age groups (which with the fashion world often being sizeist and ageist, is a big deal too). I was chuffed to see his Nude shoe range, which created such a stir when they were launched the first time (in 2013 not 2015 like Glamour says) listed as markers of change in the evolution of nude.
Now, Atima Lui, an MIT graduate, is changing the face of makeup with her Nudemeter, powered by AI.
“I’m really proud of how well my technology can measure the skin tones, undertones and differences of dark-skinned women… But how is the technology reading the faces of people with vitiligo? What about people who are bald and have hair loss? What about people who are over 70 years old and might have a lot of wrinkles?” she says. “This work of creating inclusive and representative technology is never done.” Read on at Wired.
That being said, let’s encourage each other to practice more inclusivity.
WHEN ATHLETES CHOKE UNDER PRESSURE
With the world in a constant state of turmoil around us, this in-depth article about Why Athletes Choke is a great case study about the failure to perform under pressure and points to practice and preparation as crucial to building resilience. You’d be surprised to find that little Nandi, for example, had herself prepared all the way to what she would do if she dropped a stick. Respect!
“The more players practice, the more automated aspects of their movements become, helping athletes to manage anxiety and heighten focus.” While this is about sports, it’s easy to draw parallels to life. A worthwhile long read.
THE LAST WORD GOES TO SETH
Seth Godin never fails to deliver and his thoughts on practice and process are worth bearing in mind, especially now when everything seems so transient and uncertain. Focusing on the process of things can be very grounding. In a recent podcast interview with Tim Ferris, Godin mentions a quote by sculptor Elizabeth King, which is featured at the start of his new book, The Practice:
“Process saves us from the poverty of our intentions.”
Godin explains its meaning to him:
“Tomorrow morning, when you wake up, you probably won’t feel like engaging in the practice. And if you do you probably won’t feel that way the next day.
What we do is once, decide. We decide that we are runners. And runners go running every day. We decide we are a blogger and bloggers blog every day. And that decision lightens the cognitive load so much because there is no time, no reason to negotiate with ourselves.
Because we already had “the meeting”. We already decided. Now the question is not should we go or not, the question is should we go left or right. But we are going.”
So how about you? Is there a meeting you need to have with yourself? What’s your practice and what do you struggle with? How can you better show up for yourself?
We all deserve to lower the cognitive load; it’s good to simplify things. And right now, making one less decision can be an easy way to lower any anxiety that may be present in your life.
This post was originally published in the AVM.Consulting newsletter, which comes out every Wednesday. For more insights into fashion, luxury, design and communications, please visit: https://avm.consulting/
