Two years ago we moved to Long Island, New York. An avid golfer, I immediately assessed the local golfing landscape (EXPENSIVE!) and decided that it was not worth my money or precious time to play golf regularly here. As my son would say, “What a bummer!”
But I didn’t give up the game by any stretch. I decided to buy 40,000 balls/swings at the local driving range. So instead of playing rounds of golf, I would just be beating 75-compression balls off mats.
Fast forward two years later…
I’ve hit ALL THE BALLS and after 20+ years of playing….my game has finally turned the corner in a significant way. (6-handicap?)
Think about it. If I had played 60 rounds of golf in the past 2 years, that would have only represented about 60 x 40 = 2,400 full swings.
So by simply changing the form of my golfing….I was able to increase my practice 16-fold! As *dumb* as I am with a golf club, how could that increased practice possibly not make me a lot better?
I saved some money too – $1,300 for range balls versus an estimated $4,800 for 60 rounds of New York-priced golf.
The fact is, even though unintentional, I found a way to get in a whole lot more *reps* with a golf club.
My son played baseball this spring. They had practices and games but there were also league-wide clinics on a few Sundays. Now we’re busy as bees here but my wife wanted him to go to the optional clinics. I pushed back, saying “He’s better off throwing the ball with me for 15 minutes in the backyard….He’ll get more out of playing with me one-on-one for 15 minutes…than he will out of a clinic with dozens of other kids that will take a 90 minute bite out of weekend family time.”
Another example would be chess. Is an aspiring player better off meeting up with designated people to play games here and there? OR are they better off playing chess in an online environment where they can get a whole lot more games in – a whole lot more games in against ideally suitable opponents? (In less than 1 year….I’ve played 1,800 games online!)
Of course the answer is obvious.
Whatever the subject or endeavor, continue to think hard about educational hacks and how you can multiply your all-important individualized, quality *reps* – because at the end of the day, that is EVERYTHING.
