Practice makes progress (not perfect).

In my early days in Jackson, my friend Shelley would get up on a Saturday morning before 6:00 a.m. to call the snow phone that reported overnight accumulation. If the news was good for her (six inches or more), it was bad for me, a novice skier for whom a day of deep powder meant falling and digging myself out so many times that I would be catatonic by the end of the day. We skied with her best friend, a beautiful athlete named Bill, as graceful as he was kind, and a big reason I kept pretending to like powder. I would marry him before becoming proficient on the Hobacks. 

 At first, learning a new hobby or sport is not easy or even enjoyable. The body sputters and wheezes and flails around as it tries to make sense of the new sequence of commands required to make the turn, sink the shot, finish the race. At Becoming Jackson Whole, we’re moving into the off-season with our own mindfulness spring training program, using this transitional time to prepare for the competitive sport of surviving a pandemic and a busy summer season. We are strengthening ourselves, showing up for practice, and trusting that our efforts will leave us in better shape for what comes next. 

I want to emphasize two significant pillars of mindfulness and resilience training. First, it’s called practice for a reason. We practice so it’s easier to respond with clear heads—maybe even open minds. But it’s practice, not performance. Practice, not perfection. Second, the definition of mindfulness is to pay attention, on purpose, to what is happening (not what you worry could be happening, maybe, at some point). And you do all of this without judgment.  

 For our spring training, you will receive a daily micro-practice, something you can use to build stronger mental muscles for incrementally improved access to emotional balance and critical thinking, just like every turn I took down Rendezvous Bowl incrementally improved my skiing. Over time I became a strong – and joyful – skier. But here’s the deal: the nonjudgment piece is the foundation of our training regime for the next month. Unlike your high school soccer coach, we give you full permission to miss some practices here and there. 

 I know we all want to win the championship, but we’re more focused on the zigzags of the journey than we are on the post-game trophy shot. And we want you on our team. Because most of the stories to greatness include people who have dramatic falls, stop showing up for practice, succumb to the realities of life that include the laundry, the boss, the soccer pickup, the grocery list. We prevail and succeed not because we’re perfect but because we eventually get back to the routine, return to the free-throw line, get back on the chairlift. And because nothing is more worthy of celebration than regular old people doing the heroic work of raising kids, remembering to feed the dog, making eye contact, caring about problems such as litter, water pollution, and hungry kids, and then doing something about it.  

Our collective work to solve problems and bring our best selves to the game rarely follows a linear path. There are stops and starts. There are reckonings and ah-ha moments. There is no perfect single strategy but rather a commitment to direction. We go toward something, we veer, sometimes reverse course, sometimes drop out for a bit. But for the people who find a way to get back in the game, success remains possible. 

A few thousand people read this blog each time we publish (Seriously? Thanks for showing up to the game!). The most frequent question we get is something like, “Should I even keep this up if I don’t do the practices every day? Should I just stop altogether?”  

 No. That’s my answer. Don’t stop. Don’t beat yourself up. Don’t do any of that. Just practice starting over, without giving yourself a hard time. It really is about progress, not perfection. 

Fitness experts often recommend 10,000 steps daily as a baseline for good health. Well, for spring training with Becoming Jackson Whole, 10,000 represents the number of times you can lose your focus, skip practice, and begin again while effectively cultivating mental clarity and balance, resilience, and compassion. Every time you get your head back in the game, you strengthen the mental muscles that result in a pretty great quality of life. Starting over is the practice. 

I’m grateful that I continued to show up each winter weekend, despite the thousands of flails, humiliations, and exhausting struggles with the snow. Because something that started out hard and intimidating and even embarrassing eventually became one of my greatest sources of joy. And for the same reason, I’m grateful that I continue to return to mindfulness practice. Over time, this at first odd and confusing practice became a source of balance, mental rest, and generosity.  

We share this motivation with all of you during our spring training this month:  You really do deserve a trophy for going easy on yourself and practicing for progress, not perfection. 

With great care,

Sara and the Becoming Jackson Whole team