Everything Is a Practice

Aikido instructor George Leonard on mastery:

​”How long will it take me to master Aikido?” a prospective student asks.

“How long do you expect to live?” is the only respectable response.

Ultimately, practice is the path of mastery. If you stay on it long enough, you’ll find it to be a vivid place, with its ups and downs, is challenges and comforts, it... See more

This newsletter is one way I've made my road. It's kept me focused on the next step rather than a perceived destination in the distance. Showing up to write this for 505 weeks (I skipped a few in the early days, but not a single one since 2016) has allowed me to embrace imperfection. It's provided both pressure and release.

Much as working with a piano teacher is not, fundamentally, about learning songs, but about using songs to push yourself; I now think of our projects, not as ends in themselves, but as means to help us improve the underlying process and ourselves. This helps put me in the right frame of mind. I want this essay to turn out well, of course. But the g... See more