As soon as you understand that the way to improve in anything is by the repetition of it, you are halfway there.

Why?

Because everyone else wants a shortcut.

Everyone wants the easy button.

And the majority of people will spend way too much time searching for this.

Meanwhile, you are quietly getting in more and more practice.

Eventually many will give up on whatever they are doing because it’s not easy (nothing is).

And the ones that finally do realize all the work that lies ahead – well – you will already be miles ahead of them.

I like the idea that “a professional writer is a novice writer that didn’t quit.”

Understand: Repetition is also persuasive.

At the Bird Cage, I formed the soft, primordial core of what became my comedy act. Over the three years I worked there, I strung together everything I knew, including Dave Steward’s glove into dove trick, some comedy juggling, a few standard magic routines, a banjo song, and some very old jokes. My act was eclectic, and it took ten more years for me to make sense of it. However, the opportunity to perform four and five times a day gave me confidence and poise. Even though my material had few distinguishing features, the repetition made me lose my amateur rattle.

-Steve Martin, Born Standing Up (Amazon)