Practice makes Progress

I do hot workouts. Not hot like sexy—but I literally work out in 125-degree saunas. It’s hard and intense, and I love it. I’ve been doing this kind of workout for a year. Well, when my shoulder started hurting, I stopped going to the gym. I haven’t been consistent for the past few months.

Two weeks ago, I decided I’d commit and start going again, even though my shoulder was still hurting. I walked into the sauna and tried to do my typical workout with resistance bands. It was somewhat of a disaster. I could hardly do anything, at least not when it involved my right shoulder.

I somehow made it through the 40-minute class, with many breaks and modifications upon modifications. As I walked out of the sauna, tears filled my eyes. Was this really my new reality? Five months ago I could do every exercise, and now I struggled to complete even one. Ugh.

I gathered up my things and headed to the front door. For the first time, I noticed a sign in the front window that said, “Practice makes progress.” Those words went straight to my disappointed heart.

Practice makes progress.

Not practice makes perfect, but progress.

If you are like me, I want perfection to come when I practice something. And truthfully, I want it to come quickly. If I eat super healthily for one day, I want the scale to show at least a 5-pound loss the next morning. Is that really too much to ask? When the scale doesn’t move, it is easy for me to lose motivation and quit. Donuts for breakfast? Yes, of course! Chic-fil-a for dinner? You betcha. Then I spend lots of time convincing myself that I didn’t really want to lose weight anyway. It’s not awesome. I think that’s why the sign in the gym pierced my soul.

Let’s be honest—I want to be perfect. I really do. But almost 47 years into this life, and I’m not even close. However, looking back, I can see progress in quite a few areas. And for a person who tends to quit when perfection doesn’t come, working towards progress is life-changing. Even minuscule progress is worthwhile.

Practice makes progress.

Try it out for yourself.