The more you do it, the better you get

"The more you do it, the better you get."

This is an irrefutable law of nature.  The more you engage in an activity, the better you will become at performing the necessary tasks.  Over time, you will unconsciously become more efficient, effective, and require less work to obtain the same objectives.

This applies to everyone no matter how they may be rated by themselves, or their peers; and at any specific activity. In fact, the complete form of the expression is as follows:

"No matter how slow and stupid you are; the more you do it, the better you get."

There are many reasons why this is true, but the following is a favorite:

The neurons in your brain are naturally lazy like yourself.   They have a degree of self monitoring and group interaction.  If you are repeatedly using the same group of neurons to engage in a specific task like playing a C chord, painting a brush stroke, or kicking a soccer ball, your brain will start to optimize the way the neurons are used.   It will grow new neurons specifically dedicated to that task.   The neurons will organize more efficient ways to perform the same tasks.   The end result of all this is that you get more proficient.  It is inescapable.

Now, it does take a long time.   It may take up to ten years to grow a new neuron, because your brain grows neural connections very slowly.   In sleep studies, it takes up to ten years to create a permanent memory.  Every night during REM sleep, your Hippocampus refreshes an electrical connection to almost all the neurons.  It is speculated that this activity refreshes and organizes memories and information.  Sometimes, after about ten years of life, a neuron will become disconnected from this Hippocampus activity and then it becomes a permanent memory.

In popular lore, it also takes ten years, or 10,000 practice hours to become an expert.

I remember a story in the news, that I believe to be true, about a man in Florida who woke from a coma after 19 years.  It is speculated that it took that long for the brain to regrow the neural circuits necessary to function.   The entire time he was on life support, the brain was slowly regrowing neurons so that he could eventually function again.

It takes me about 5 - 10 years to learn a new rhythm pattern on the piano so that I can play it smoothly and effortlessly.   I can only really play a small number of rhythm patterns, but I mix them up so that most people cannot tell.

Personally, I never had that much facility for music and it always came with difficulty to me.   My brother Brian had much more innate skill and many of my classmates were more advanced than myself in musicianship.  I was very average skill musician.  But, I kept playing piano because it was fun and slowly I have gotten better at performance and playing ability over time.

This is true for everyone, no matter what it is you choose to do.   History is full of people who overcame severe limitations to achieve great success.   William Prescott was nearly blind, but went on to become a great historian and great writer, Theodore Roosevelt was sickly and had a speech impediment, but he became one of the great orators of his era,  Vincent Van Gogh got kicked out of Seminary and out of Art School because he could not learn the lessons and then went on to become a great painter.  George Washington was turned down for service in the English Military as a young man, and went on to join the American army in the French and Indian War and then to become the General of the Revolutionary Army.

Therefore, even though you may not achieve greatness, and maybe not even become "fantastically skilled," you will improve if you follow this simple idea:

"The more you do it, the better you get."

or for the more poetically inclined, the complete form of the expression is:

"No matter how slow and stupid you are; the more you do it, the better you get."

Take heart in the fact that you have much company and are not alone.  Many of your compatriots are exceedingly slow and stupid -- and are also having to be patient with their own meager progress in life.  At least half of all people on earth are below average in academic ability and intelligence.  And the ones that aren't -- are below average in something else like personal appearance, physical ability, or health.  So, get going and get moving and stop your self criticism and stop your complaining.   Whatever you enjoy doing, do it to the best of your ability and always remember that:

"The more you do it, the better you get."

copyright(c) 2015

William Schaeffer