Repetition is the mother of learning, the father of action which makes it the architect of accomplishment – Zig Ziglar
The Accomplishment
I did it! I heard our seven-year-old Esther excitedly scream on the other side of the phone while I spoke with my wife. The excitement was electric. I heard my wife ask her what she did. “I rode my bike!” My joy skyrocketed. I recalled the days we practiced day after day at times with much frustration as Esther struggled to ride. That day, all the repetitive actions in practice came together for success. Now, Esther is eager to go outside and ride her bike every chance she gets. In reflection, I cannot ignore the fact that Esther’s accomplishment, which was a goal she set for the summer, didn’t come by wish or luck but by repetition. This often overlooked power yields dividends for anyone who takes on the biggest hurdle we must all overcome before the sweet taste of accomplishment.
The Resistance
Teaching Esther to ride a bicycle took me to the brink of impatience and frustration. At times Esther’s disinterest in learning to ride because it was too difficult almost made me quit teaching. Without immediate results, boredom began setting in. It was mentally taxing to go out and teach, and Esther felt the same about learning. There were times she opted to ride her sister’s bike with training wheels. Nevertheless, we kept at it. We overcame the hurdle of frustration and boredom that sets in when instant results don’t come as we are accustomed to. Resistance always rears its ugly head when we desire to do something worthwhile. Facing and overcoming resistance is of utmost importance. Giving in to the resistance drains our passion, derails our determination, and distances us from accomplishing what we set out to do. Be on the lookout for resistance creep. Its mission is to keep you from engaging in the routine long enough to experience the reward.
The Routine
Accepting and adopting the routine, even with frustration, is crucial in reaching the pinnacle of any repetitive action; mastery. Adopting a routine towards accomplishment requires frequency. What you do frequently harnesses the power of today. Author Gretchen Rubin accurately states, “One of my most helpful secrets is what I do every day matters more than what I do once in a while.”
What is your daily routine for what you want to accomplish? Do you have daily dedicated time to work on it?
Best-selling author James Clear made this eye-opening observation:
“Everyone wants to make progress. And there is only one way to do it: put in your reps.
The goal is just an event — something that you can’t totally control or predict. But the reps are what can make the event happen. If you ignore the outcomes and focus only on the repetitions, you’ll still get results. If you ignore the goals and build habits instead, the outcomes will be there anyway.
Forget about the goals this year. What is your plan for getting in the reps you need? What is your schedule for putting in a volume of work on the important things to you?”
Employ the power of today in your routine and do your reps on the easy or hard days. Eventually, the routine will become the reward. There are no shortcuts or hacks to mastery. Mastery offers one path, the power of repetition. When referencing the power of repetition, there are five things that author and leadership expert John Maxwell does every day:
Reading
Thinking
Writing
Asking questions
Filing
What are three to five things you do daily to continue on the trajectory of growth? Your key to success, development, and mastery is in your daily routine. Your routine produces the reward.
The Reward
Hearing Esther announce her accomplishment reminded me of the satisfaction of sticking to the routine even when the results are not immediately forthcoming. Nothing that matters comes without a healthy dose of sticktoitiveness. It’s the grind in the routine that no one sees that churns out the reward everyone recognizes and wants to emulate.
From childhood, the power of repetition proves rewarding. Whether it is a child learning to walk, talk, read, or write, repetition is without question at the heart of these achievements. The same formula applies in adulthood. If you skip the repetition, you will miss the reward. Athletes like Stephen Curry and LeBron James continue to amaze us with their consistently high-level basketball prowess. They maintain their success through their routine. For Curry, his relentless energy and accurate shooting that keeps defenders on their toes is the reward for the hours and hours he spends in the gym practicing his shot. Even with all he has accomplished, Curry has never abandoned the power of repetition. And the results show.
If you skip the repetition, you will miss the reward.
Final Thought: In a world of what’s new and next, the power of repetition reminds us that routine is a mainstay of success. Embrace repetition and experience the reward of the routine. Take it from a seven-year-old who helped me overcome my frustration and disappointment by reinforcing the endless concept of the power of repetition.
Keep on keeping on.
Notes
Discover Your Treasure 