Pretty much everyone ready this will frequently hear (and maybe use) the phrase, “practice makes perfect”. (If you haven’t heard if before, then that’s interesting.) Especially in the context of practising something or self-improvement.

There could be a slight problem with that phrase, in that it may subtly shift one’s thinking to aim for perfection. Instead, the goal should be more realistic.

Sure, this is mostly a figure of speech- an idiom, even. And it mostly doesn’t make that much of a difference. However, I would argue that these kinds of things may make more of a difference than we may think.

That’s not me say, “don’t say that phrase ever again!” No, no. Of course not! What I mean is that we need to be mindful about how, when, and where we use such phrases.

Instead, I believe a better phrase to use would be…

Practice makes progress!

How about that, eh? With this phrase, the goal is shifted from perfection to simply making progress. Learning and growing is a constant throughout life, and this take on “practice makes perfect” reflects that reality.

It also maintains the alliteration of the original phrase!

M3