{"id":2385,"date":"2021-02-15T08:16:55","date_gmt":"2021-02-15T16:16:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.scot.fun\/damentals\/?p=2385"},"modified":"2021-02-15T08:17:00","modified_gmt":"2021-02-15T16:17:00","slug":"get-the-reps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scot.fun\/damentals\/get-the-reps\/","title":{"rendered":"Get The Reps"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"721\" data-attachment-id=\"2387\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.scot.fun\/damentals\/get-the-reps\/pexels-jo-kassis-4817592\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scot.fun\/damentals\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/pexels-jo-kassis-4817592.jpg?fit=2000%2C1409&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"2000,1409\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"pexels-jo-kassis-4817592\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scot.fun\/damentals\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/pexels-jo-kassis-4817592.jpg?fit=300%2C211&amp;ssl=1\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scot.fun\/damentals\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/pexels-jo-kassis-4817592.jpg?fit=1024%2C721&amp;ssl=1\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scot.fun\/damentals\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/pexels-jo-kassis-4817592.jpg?resize=1024%2C721&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2387\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scot.fun\/damentals\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/pexels-jo-kassis-4817592.jpg?resize=1024%2C721&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scot.fun\/damentals\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/pexels-jo-kassis-4817592.jpg?resize=300%2C211&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scot.fun\/damentals\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/pexels-jo-kassis-4817592.jpg?resize=1536%2C1082&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scot.fun\/damentals\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/pexels-jo-kassis-4817592.jpg?w=2000&amp;ssl=1 2000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>My relationship with practice was not good as a kid. I thought practice was about non-stop self-criticism and really sinking in to the fact that I&#8217;m messing up over and over. &#8220;I&#8217;m not good enough&#8221; was the mantra. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We&#8217;re now in an age of over-educated and under-experienced creatives.  We have so many ways to learn about our field. We can download anything ever made, but we don&#8217;t get our hands dirty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The result is<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Standups that can reference any comedian in history, but don&#8217;t breathe on stage<\/li><li>Writers making impossible allusions, but not connecting with our hearts<\/li><li>Film makers that make a gorgeous thing that doesn&#8217;t represent anything <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Practice is a gift to the world<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>It&#8217;s a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scot.fun\/damentals\/memorizing-cop-outs\/\">cop-out<\/a> to practice something tangential to what we want to do. If we want to be a great musician on Zoom, we&#8217;ve gotta get on Zoom as much as possible and play our hearts out over and over. The more we can do the whole thing in a practice session, the better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I&#8217;ve practiced a lot of things. Some things I didn&#8217;t know I was practicing until it was too late &#8212; I was already good at them.  I learned a lot about how a good practice session works from juggling. There was my own practice, then teaching lessons. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Goals<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>People are motivated by service of people and a higher cause.  Here are mantras in order of reverse helpfulness,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>&#8220;I suck at juggling&#8221;<\/li><li>&#8220;I want to be a better juggler&#8221;<\/li><li>&#8220;I want to be a cool juggler&#8221;<\/li><li>&#8220;I want people to see juggling in a certain way that nobody else is doing it.&#8221;<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>We can take the focus off ourselves. We can be positive. Progress will still be made.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Session Goals<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Each time we practice, the primary goal is to show up. If I commit to doing an hour a day of juggling practice and I juggle for an hour, that&#8217;s a 80% successful practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sometimes, the stuff we do in the practice seems like a big leap forward, sometimes the opposite. Setting goals like, &#8220;I&#8217;m going to get 300 throws without dropping&#8221; is great for keeping focus, but not a good measuring stick of whether it was a successful practice.  We can&#8217;t always see the progress, and the sucking is why we&#8217;re practicing. The sucking can be celebrated, because that day that I had crappy practice is a day that I didn&#8217;t share with crappy juggling with my audience. That was a hurdle I had to get over to make something better for the future. That better for the future is my bigger goal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Children see progress<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>I believe an important part of why kids are so good at learning is they don&#8217;t have baggage. They don&#8217;t have success. When kids stumble, they think &#8220;Wow, I walked further than ever before!&#8221; instead of &#8220;I&#8217;m supposed to be good at walking. I&#8217;m a grown up!&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, three things to steal from kiddos&#8230;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Forget past success<\/li><li>Look at progress<\/li><li>Don&#8217;t try to know how fast progress &#8220;should&#8221; come<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Focus&#8230; But not too much<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The best way for our bodies and minds to learn is not by squeezing things in our mind-vise, but by finding a lot of periods of relaxed focus. I want to get in a state similar to driving a car. Paying attention, but not tense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Long enough<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Once we get warmed up in our practice, our brain can make progress. Usually, it takes me at least 15 minutes to get warmed up for something. With juggling, I would feel warm when my skin started to itch a little with the first sweat. Then, my arms were ready to learn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Safe space<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In order to do all this gentle and present practice, we need a safe space to do it.  The stakes must be low and it must be not too laborious to step in and do it regularly and a lot. So, if we want to get better at writing jokes or photography, we can set up an anonymous instagram or twitter account and pile them on. See if they work. We&#8217;re not trying to get noticed or trying to build whatever. We&#8217;re trying to practice &#8211; and we&#8217;re succeeding.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>My relationship with practice was not good as a kid. I thought practice was about non-stop self-criticism and really sinking in to the fact that I&#8217;m messing up over and over. &#8220;I&#8217;m not good enough&#8221; was the mantra. We&#8217;re now in an age of over-educated and under-experienced creatives. We have so many ways to learn [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":2387,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10158666434799935_26707174888":"","twitter_aToyMjM4MTQzMDs=_22381430":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scot.fun\/damentals\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/pexels-jo-kassis-4817592.jpg?fit=2000%2C1409&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pc33gc-Ct","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3329,"url":"https:\/\/www.scot.fun\/damentals\/im-blogging\/","url_meta":{"origin":2385,"position":0},"title":"I&#8217;m Blogging","author":"scot","date":"June 26, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm blogging because I have to. Seth Godin told me to do something regularly as a practice, so I'm doing what he said. He's right. Taking the magic out of the creative work is really how to make more creative work. 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We feel that, we start something and if it's just up to us, we'll get off track. This could be a fear that comes up for us in working on our own projects. \u00a0This is probably a challenge\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scot.fun\/damentals\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/pexels-andrea-piacquadio-3760268.jpg?fit=1200%2C674&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scot.fun\/damentals\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/pexels-andrea-piacquadio-3760268.jpg?fit=1200%2C674&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scot.fun\/damentals\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/pexels-andrea-piacquadio-3760268.jpg?fit=1200%2C674&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scot.fun\/damentals\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/pexels-andrea-piacquadio-3760268.jpg?fit=1200%2C674&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scot.fun\/damentals\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/pexels-andrea-piacquadio-3760268.jpg?fit=1200%2C674&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4197,"url":"https:\/\/www.scot.fun\/damentals\/fail-until-it-works-dont-incrementally-improve\/","url_meta":{"origin":2385,"position":2},"title":"Fail until it works. Don&#8217;t Incrementally improve","author":"scot","date":"August 31, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Lexus doesn't build a subcompact economy hatchback, then slowly raise its price. We want to get somewhere bigger and feel good about it. We want to get there ASAP. We want to have fun in our lives. We want work to be a game. Many freelancers try to slowly raise\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scot.fun\/damentals\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/blog-22.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scot.fun\/damentals\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/blog-22.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scot.fun\/damentals\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/blog-22.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scot.fun\/damentals\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/blog-22.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scot.fun\/damentals\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/blog-22.jpg?fit=1200%2C675&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1096,"url":"https:\/\/www.scot.fun\/damentals\/rejection-hoarding-it\/","url_meta":{"origin":2385,"position":3},"title":"Rejection: Hoarding it","author":"scot","date":"July 5, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Another approach to being rejected is to set up camp on the chopping block. Stay in it. Set yourself up for rejection a lot. Increase your Rejection Opportunity (RO) rate This is a 3 part series on rejection. Doing it, avoiding it & embracing it. Some of us can't get\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 2 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 2 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.scot.fun\/damentals\/rejection-hoarding-it\/#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scot.fun\/damentals\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/garbage-lot-2967770-2.jpg?fit=1163%2C842&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scot.fun\/damentals\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/garbage-lot-2967770-2.jpg?fit=1163%2C842&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scot.fun\/damentals\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/garbage-lot-2967770-2.jpg?fit=1163%2C842&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scot.fun\/damentals\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/garbage-lot-2967770-2.jpg?fit=1163%2C842&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scot.fun\/damentals\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/garbage-lot-2967770-2.jpg?fit=1163%2C842&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2599,"url":"https:\/\/www.scot.fun\/damentals\/making-9-fun\/","url_meta":{"origin":2385,"position":4},"title":"MAKING! 9 Fun","author":"scot","date":"April 26, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"I\u2019m *making* an online fundraising event for a school. \u00a0I thought maybe people would gain something by seeing my process for creating, rehearsing, collaborating, and performing the event\u2026 So, here I am sharing. The other posts in this series, I've been trying to be vulnerable and transparent about my process\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scot.fun\/damentals\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/pexels-kristina-paukshtite-701758.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scot.fun\/damentals\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/pexels-kristina-paukshtite-701758.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scot.fun\/damentals\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/pexels-kristina-paukshtite-701758.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scot.fun\/damentals\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/pexels-kristina-paukshtite-701758.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scot.fun\/damentals\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/pexels-kristina-paukshtite-701758.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3234,"url":"https:\/\/www.scot.fun\/damentals\/four-kids-shooting-hoops\/","url_meta":{"origin":2385,"position":5},"title":"Four Kids Shooting Hoops","author":"scot","date":"December 17, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"My son is fascinated with basketball, so we paused on our walk at the school nearby to see some kids shooting hoops. They each had a ball and they were terrible. Every single shot was out of their skill level. They were trying to shoot from far away and do\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scot.fun\/damentals\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/lkafd.jpg?fit=1200%2C660&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scot.fun\/damentals\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/lkafd.jpg?fit=1200%2C660&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scot.fun\/damentals\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/lkafd.jpg?fit=1200%2C660&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scot.fun\/damentals\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/lkafd.jpg?fit=1200%2C660&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.scot.fun\/damentals\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/lkafd.jpg?fit=1200%2C660&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scot.fun\/damentals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2385","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scot.fun\/damentals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scot.fun\/damentals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scot.fun\/damentals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scot.fun\/damentals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2385"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.scot.fun\/damentals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2385\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2388,"href":"https:\/\/www.scot.fun\/damentals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2385\/revisions\/2388"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scot.fun\/damentals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2387"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scot.fun\/damentals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scot.fun\/damentals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scot.fun\/damentals\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}