Practice makes you proficient. Mindset makes it permanent.

We have been misled, dear reader

For as long as most of us can remember, we have been told that practice makes permanent. Put the hours in, build the muscle memory, repeat the action until it becomes second nature. Simple, logical, reassuring.

Except it is only half the story. And the half that is missing might be the more important one.

Let me explain. But first, a confession.

Something I can't tell you about yet

I am working on something. I cannot share the details yet (I know – the audacity of assuming you care!).

What I can tell you is that it ticks the following boxes:

• It has been an ambition of mine for as long as I can remember.

• When the opportunity arrived, I said yes before the question had finished being asked.

• I am entirely capable of delivering on it. Above and beyond, in fact.

• And since saying yes, I have become progressively more terrified.

Sound familiar?

The moment the Mind Monkeys get their spotlight

A big opportunity comes your way. The excitement is immediate, instinctive, real. Even the voices in your head (what I call the Mind Monkeys) cannot stop you from responding with a wholehearted "Hell yeah!"

And then the euphoria passes. And those monkeys get their moment.

• "Ooh, was that a bit hasty?"

• "What if we haven't got time to do this justice?"

• "It's a big ask. What if we're not good enough for this?"

• "What if we mess up? What will they think of us?"

• "What if we politely back out now? Is it too late to change our minds?"

• "We'd best put in a LOT of practice, I guess..."

That last one is interesting. Because it sounds responsible. It sounds like the right response. And in many ways, it is.

But it is also, if we are not careful, a hiding place.

Practice becomes the life preserver

The logic goes like this: if you put the work in, you will greatly reduce the possibility of failure.

• More preparation means less risk

• More rehearsal means more confidence

• More practice means more permanence

Sounds fair. Makes sense. And up to a point, it is absolutely true.

But you're overlooking, or choosing to be distracted away from, something (and this is as much a message to myself as it is to you).

You already have decades of evidence proving your existing proficiency. The skills, the experience, the judgement you have built up over years of showing up and doing the work. That does not disappear because a new opportunity feels bigger than usual.

You are already good enough

Of course you will still put the hours in. Because you care. Because when the moment arrives, you want the muscle memory to be there – not so you can think your way through it, but so your mind is free to be fully present in it. To relish every second rather than manage every step.

That is what practice is for. And it matters enormously.

But it is not the whole picture.

Where the danger lurks

No amount of practice can outpace a mindset full of "what ifs."

You can rehearse until you could do it in your sleep and still walk into the moment with a head full of noise. Still second-guess yourself at the critical point. Still let the Mind Monkeys talk you into a smaller version of what you are capable of.

Which is why I want to retire the old adage of "practice makes permanent" (as catchy as it was) and replace it with something more complete:

Practice makes us proficient. Mindset makes it permanent.

It might not flow off the tongue as well, but it is much more accurate

What we believe, we become. What we tell ourselves consistently becomes our operating truth; the default our brain returns to when the pressure is on. And if that default is a loop of "What if I'm not good enough, what if I get it wrong, what if I'm not ready...?", no amount of preparation is going to silence it entirely.

This is precisely where The Four Fears® live. In the gap between what you are capable of and what you allow yourself to believe about your capability. In the space between the preparation and the moment. In the story your Mind Monkeys are telling while your hands are busy practising.

Mindset is everything. Everything.

In terms of my secret something, I have two months ahead of me. And I have made a deliberate decision about how to use that time.

Not just to practise the thing itself. But to work on my mental picture of it.

To rehearse the version of events where it goes well. To build the internal narrative that says: I have done hard things before. I have evidence. I showed up and it worked. I will show up again.

Carol Dweck's research on growth mindset tells us something important here: the story we tell ourselves about our own ability is not fixed. It is malleable. It responds to the data we feed it. Which means that working on your mindset is not a soft, optional extra to the real preparation. It is part of the preparation. Arguably the most important part.

Practice builds proficiency. Mindset determines whether that proficiency shows up when it matters.

What about your mental picture?

What are you working towards right now that, deep down, you know you already own (and yet the Mind Monkeys are starting to chitter)?

Where is the gap between what you are capable of and what you are currently allowing yourself to believe?

And what would it look like to spend some of your preparation time not on the skill itself, but on the story you are telling about it?

Practice makes permanent

Practise the conversation you have with yourself. Create a more proficient narrative – a truer reflection on where you actually are.

Get better at noticing when the Mind Monkeys are running the show. Getting better at replacing "what if it goes wrong" with "look at the evidence of what I have already done." Build the habit of talking to yourself the way you would talk to someone you genuinely believe in.

That kind of practice? I concede... that kind of practice makes permanent.

A few things that might help

If this has landed somewhere useful and you want to take it further:

• The most recent episode of the Mind Monkeys Welcome... podcast (with special guest Ian Farrington) explores this territory in depth

• The free Business Bravery Quiz takes four minutes and will show you exactly where your mindset is getting in its own way, along with a personalised plan for what to do about it.

• And the book – How to Embrace the Four Fears® of Business Ownership – covers both proficiency and permanence in detail, from the comfort of your own sofa.

Or just hit reply. I am always on the other side of a conversation.

Mark Franklin is The Four Fears® Guy: a transformational mindset coach and speaker working with people who are building something of their own.

What is the thing you know you are ready for, even if the Mind Monkeys are suggesting otherwise? Drop it in the comments. Let's talk about it.