Practice

For John, BLUF:  Violinist Mischa Elman is walking from Carnegie Hall toward his hotel following a rehearsal. He wasn’t happy with his playing and had his head down. Two tourists who saw his violin case asked him "How do you get to Carnegie Hall?"  Without looking up, he replied, “Practice.”   Nothing to see here; just move along.

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In Boot Camp, A Drill Instructor Taught Me The True Meaning Of Practice

From "The Long March" (Reporter and Historian Tom Ricks) feature of Task and Purpose, by Ms Sara Samora, 6 August 2018.

Here is the lede plus two:

One of my drill instructors, then-Staff Sgt. Rosie Suarez-Woods, made it all look so easy.  My November company platoon sisters and I tried repeatedly to duplicate her drill actions.  A handful I believe were successful.  Most of us were not.

As easy as Suarez-Woods made it look, it was hard.  Hard as f_ _k, really.

During one drill practice, she said something that stayed with me to this day, and it’s something I always return to when professors or bosses have me and my colleagues or classmates do something repeatedly:  “An amateur practice until she gets it right.  A Marine practice until she can’t get it wrong.”

Seems right to me.

Regards  —  Cliff