People say practice makes perfect, but to attain genuine improvement requires the addition of the Taft loop. Taft stands for think, act, feel, and talk. These are the building blocks you will use for rising to the most productive mental state. Don’t associate practice with hard work, it is using the power of your mind that allows you to effectively set and achieve your goals. This article addresses how to practice, how to excel in whatever skill you are trying to perfect, such as leadership, meditation, studiousness, athleticism, or time management.
Meticulous practice is unnatural to most kids. This article is for people who already acknowledge they are unsatisfied and know they need to change. This is not for the resistant person who denies their need to change. With the Taft loop, anyone can achieve any goal without the help of a mommy or a coach. Cut through all the noise and fluff and get down to the kernel of faster change.
To elevate your mind power, you must master the first stage of the Taft loop: thinking.
Requirements for perfect practice:
Relax the mind: A relaxed mind is optimized for perfect attention and consistent practice. Everything in your mind will be on the practice. Let go of the tenseness of your body and breathe. Drop your shoulders and unloosen the tenseness in your neck and arms. Be aware that you are breathing deeply. This is the time to empty you mind and clear the cache. The state of your mind affects your practice, so it is important to clear it of the banal surroundings. Once you clear your mind of the distractions, completely use all your energy to focus on the practice.
Visualize: Before practicing, learn to see your body in the middle of the action you intend. Your mind is on the practice.
Scenario build: A complete strategic walkthrough. The reason to build scenarios is to fill your mind with your practice and preempt the unexpected. The unexpected can cut short a person’s consistent practice, which is the aim. An event can go many ways, and often not the way a person expects. So anticipate for many outcomes of the scenario.
If you don’t scenario build, you might give up on the practice because you might waver if something unexpected occurs. Should I do this or should I do that? If you walk through all the scenarios in your mind, there is no room to react to an unexpected event. Anticipate unexpected events and how you will handle them. You will rarely be taken off guard.
Here’s an example of scenario building. If I need to study in the library for finals week, I set up the possibilities of the scenario like this:
- All the tables are taken
- A friend invites me to a party
- Kids are coughing around me
- The library closes early
- The database of the library is down
- I get hungry in the library
- The library is noisy
- All the books I need are checked out
Create many possibilities in your mind. When I go to the library I control all the situations that could happen. I am calm and productive because scenario building negates worry, surprise, or upset. I plan ahead by bringing food with me to the library so nothing will stop me from leaving my studies. If I haven’t planned out my day and a friend asks me to hang out, I’m more likely to say yes.
Scenario building forces you to stay engaged in the practice.
Internalization of the practice
The only way to excel in the skill you are trying to perfect is through unceasing training of your thinking. The most productive mental state won’t happen if you just sit around waiting for it. Start your ascension. Use the Taft loop to level up. The Taft loop is the booster to propel your body through a relentless, determined act of will. You will take your body beyond the limits and at the end, what is left is an internalization of the practice into you.
→ This post is part of a series on the most productive mental state:
- Think clearly for success.
- Act like your targeted identity.
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