don't think

When I was in college I had to take a typing class to complete my Management minor. Most people were able to test out of the class, but not me. To that point I had not had a lot of typing experience, or at least experience typing in a manner other than the hunt-and-peck method, so I knew I would not be capable of testing out of the class.

Now, more than ten years later typing is not such a big deal. I type a lot every day like most modern office workers and people mildly addicted to being online. I was thinking recently about how typing is not something I think about. To think about typing is to slow down and mess up. The finger movements have to be automatic to the point where there is almost no conscious effort involved. This is not the sort of thing at which I excel.

I used to think that the elements of sports that I was weaker in had something to do with athletic ability. I don't think so any more. For example, in baseball I have always been a decent fielder but a horrible batter. This make sense because when I bat I want to stop and think about whether I am going to swing and where I am going to swing. By the time I have thought about it the ball is in the catcher's glove. There is no stopping and thinking about where the ball is going when I am fielding, so I don't have many problems with that.

This is the same with musical performances. If a musician has to think about where each finger has to be on the piano or guitar or whatever instrument, then that musician will have a natural limit to his or her ability to play his or her instrument. Really impressive performances generally come from people who are able, through practice, to make their fingers move to the right place almost without conscious thought.

This all is an epiphany that I had recently. The things that I excel at are those things where I am given the opportunity to ponder. Through unending repetition I can make myself perform automatically, like with typing, but it comes less naturally to me than some others and I have to really work at it if it is very important to me.

The follow-up epiphany was that all practice is is a process for allowing you to do something properly without too much thinking. The thinking is done in advance when the practice routine is designed so that as little brain power as possible will be needed when that practice is put to the test. In more areas of life than I would like to accept, it is all too easy to think too much.