By Mike Mandel
Repetition is the mother of skill…
When I was a rebellious teenager surrounded by a tribe of fellow pseudo-intellectuals, we measured our worth by the depth of our knowledge—especially when it came to music. That was our domain, our badge of honor (at least in our own minds).
We prided ourselves on listening to the most sophisticated prog rock bands: Procol Harum, King Crimson, Van der Graaf Generator—blaring from our turntables at the loudest volume our bookshelf speakers could handle.
Naturally, this led to frequent battles with my father, a devoted fan of Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass, not to mention Frank Sinatra.
“Turn down that racket!” he’d shout from the living room.
Of course, I’d respond in classic teenage defiance by deliberately mishearing him: “It won’t go any louder!”
I’ll never forget the day my Black Sabbath album mysteriously disappeared, leaving me utterly distraught. When I confronted Dad about it, he said, “Some music lover must have destroyed it.”
And so our “musical wars” raged on, always in a good-natured way. To borrow from Conan Doyle, my father was one of the wisest and best men I’ve ever known.
Dad had a knack for doling out his helpful wisdom in the form of aphorisms, one of which I mentioned in an earlier email regarding washroom breaks: “Go when you can, not when you have to.” Strange as it may sound, that little gem has grown truer with every passing year.
Another one of his favorites was the age-old saying: “Practice makes perfect.”
I always knew there was truth in those words, but as a younger man, I struggled to embrace them. My attention bounced between so many interests that sticking with any one thing for very long felt impossible.
But here’s the thing…
These days, my interests have distilled down to just a few key pursuits. While I still enjoy trying on new activities, I’ve learned to stay with the ones that truly spark my passion.
For instance, I’ve recently dropped pickleball from my list of hobbies—a decision that baffles my pickleball-obsessed wife. She plays several times a week, and her license plate even reads “NVZ” (a nod that true pickleball enthusiasts will immediately recognize).
But here’s what I’ve come to understand: interest creates competence, and growing competence deepens the interest. It’s a wonderful self-propagating loop.
Take my journey with the piano, for example.
Nearly a year ago, I purchased a Yamaha AvantGrand and began taking lessons a month later. While I’ve always loved music, I knew nothing about theory and couldn’t read sheet music to save my life. My Royal Conservatory teacher had to start me at square one—the same place as a five-year-old beginner: “This is a piano, and this is middle C…”
Despite taking most of the summer off, I’m now reading music and can even play the theme from Downton Abbey—a personal favorite.
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Dad was right: practice really does make perfect. And when it’s driven by genuine interest, it amplifies the brain’s neuroplasticity—its amazing ability to rewire itself and learn new skills at any age.
My wife has experienced the same phenomenon with pickleball. The more skilled she became, the more she enjoyed it, diving into pickleball books and watching YouTube tutorials before each game. Her focus on constant and never-ending improvement keeps her brain sharp and her enthusiasm high.
A strong interest in any activity leads to mental stimulation, which keeps our brains young and agile. When we push through the initial frustrations of learning something new, we often experience a spark—a moment when everything clicks—and that’s when the real magic happens.
That’s because we don’t learn in a gradual upward slope of small victories. We improve in quantum leaps, suddenly able to do more than we could yesterday, whether we’re adding a new language to our repertoire, or a new wrist lock to a jiu jitsu session.
The benefits run both ways: the more we practice, the better we get. The better we get, the more we enjoy it. And all the while, our brains stay healthy and strong.
The breakthroughs will come if we stay the course, no matter how small the steps may feel at the time. Especially if the activity is something we want to do, and not something we have to do.
So here’s to finding those passions that light us up and committing to them with curiosity, patience, and—yes—practice.
Repetition really is the mother of skill. And practice may not actually make perfect, but it will make us much better at anything we enjoy doing.
It’s the same with hypnosis too, and the reason we provide 24/7 practice rooms for our online students. In that safe and supportive environment, they quickly thrive and develop world-class skills in record time!
