392. You’re Really Good At Doing It Wrong

Practice doesn’t make perfect; it makes permanent, so whatever you repeat becomes automatic, including the wrong behaviors
Jeff’s knee gave out after decades of running with a foot that flared out, and each injury was explained away instead of questioned
Experience alone doesn’t make you better; a 2005 Harvard review found that for more than half of the studies, more years of practice correlated with worse quality of care
The 10,000-hour rule ignores how you practice, and the hours only count if the reps are right
Warning signs like a quieter team, challenged ideas going unspoken, and departing employees are often explained away as bad luck or a rough quarter

Identify the behaviors you repeat without noticing, such as avoiding hard conversations, checking your phone in meetings, or letting missed commitments slide
Treat recurring problems as information about your practice, not as bad luck or the job market
When the same issue keeps returning, ask what you’ve been practicing that produces it
Look for the warning signs your team is giving you before they turn into exits or breakdowns
Get outside feedback on patterns you can’t see from the inside, because a behavior that worked before can keep running after it stops working

Ask yourself what you practiced today, meaning what you actually did rather than what you meant to do
Name one wrong thing you’ve practiced for too long, such as control, avoidance, or not delegating, and identify a single rep you can change this week