The above is a photo of me during my hockey season.
Oh, don't be silly. It's a stock photo I found online of someone who spent a lot of time in a basement practicing to be able to shoot the puck like that. When this post goes live, I will be solidly in my off-season from The Salisbury Stingers, so if I wanted to be able to shoot the puck with accuracy and strength, I would be shooting fifty, a hundred, a thousand shots per day in my basement because I know that how I spend my time is what I get good at.
When I came home from one practice and told my husband that I didn't score on a breakaway because I'm about 50-50 on being able to lift the puck (with no goalies, players have to hit the top of the upturned net to score), he suggested that I practice shooting, every day, in our basement. It's great advice for someone who's not me. Sadly for the Stinger teammates who like winning, I don't care about hockey in that way. I love playing, hanging out and laughing with strong women, getting exercise, pushing myself physically, and in all ways being friends with my team, whose motto is "It's not about the hockey." I don't care at all about whether we win or lose or about how many points I score or assist.
So I'm not spending my off-season in my basement shooting pucks at the wall. I know that I'd get better, but scoring goals isn't why I play hockey. Because how I spend my time is what I'm going to improve at doing, I choose to spend my time in other ways. Here's a very short list of the activities I want to get better at and therefore things I do every day (or as often as I can):
- writing
- reading
- exercising
- teaching/preparing to teach
- doing things for my family and friends
Yes, that's the whole list. It's not very long, but I work hard at each and happily spend as much time as I can at them.
What are the skills you work to improve? If you had an hour in your metaphorical (or actual) basement today, what would you practice? At the same time, what gets in the way of your ability to work at that craft, and how have you tried to eliminate/reduce that roadblock? Please share your responses in the comments.
Your blogs always inspire me. I loved “It’s not about the hockey.” I want to become better skilled at having a good time. I think I need at least an hour a day of practice.
I love this answer! What a great idea. Sometimes it’s actually hard to remember how valuable fun is. I like the idea of making time to practice it.
I’m in with Pattie’s idea and Viveca’s reminder. So, how do we practice having fun?