Practice sets you up for success in situations you could never prepare for on purpose.

I was told years ago when I started my blog page: to be ready to feed a monster. I had to come up with a subject every week and it could be hard and I would have to figure out something to write all the time. I will admit, sometimes it can be a bit of a bugger. Other times it can come to me while I am sitting in my chair, drinking coffee.

I was scrolling through my phone and came across a video from medici.tv where a pianist had stepped in last minute to play with an orchestra. Maria Joao Pires in 1999 had expected Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 23 and was actually expected to play No. 20. A complete nightmare, almost like showing up in a dream for a presentation to find yourself standing there naked. It took me to places when I have stepped in front of a crowd to do something I didn’t think I was really capable of. Turns out, I was not only capable but even ready.

When I took on the residency at the Spokane Art School, one of the responsibilities was teaching art classes. I had only taught one class previously and it was when I was so stressed I have lost all memory of what I did. People have told me that I taught a good class then but without the memory of it, I had no confidence to fall back on. I stepped into the Art School’s classroom with shaking trepidation, over prepared and terrified. I led those first students (that I remember) to their first landscapes and found my feet halfway through the class. Things progressed since then and I love teaching, I love sharing what I know.

The other thing that I have done is a bit of performance art called “Quick Draw”. Some places refer to it as quick finish but it is still the same; you create a finished piece of art in an hour. That first time I worked one of those, I started with shaking knees. Practice helped there too but because I have been painting pastels for a while that one ended up being an easy exercise. I can still do an 8x10 original in an hour because I work in pastel a lot. When you practice what you love, it becomes muscle memory and that ends up becoming your saving grace.

The lesson here is this; do it enough it comes naturally and you don’t need to worry about failing in the clutch. That’s right, you can stop worrying about making a fool of yourself and just concentrate on doing what you know how to do and get lost in the process even under stressful situations. It makes even pressure pleasurable because you are doing what you love. Give yourself credit, you know what you are doing. Why worry about anything else in the moment? Just enjoy what you know how to do. I can even stop to drink a bit of wine during those quick draws and talk while I am working. I am doing what I love, I can be relaxed and have fun.

Trust yourself, don’t feel guilty if you can have a bit of joy while racing to the finish line. Think of it like this; race horses run because they love it, people climb mountains because they want to; professional athletes compete because they love the sport. If they could take out the pay, politics, travel, promotion and just do the sport; they would. Find the moment and be in that happy place while you are standing in the stress, you have worked hard for the privilege.