Practice is the key to everything for most people. From a quick read of a book on neural science (which I understood about 1 quarter of ) This relates to neural pathways in the brain. Repetition strengthens these to a point where the so called term muscle memory comes into play. I saw this more with Tai Chi. When I first started doing it I was awful, the instructor would say stand straight but I had no clue that I was actually not standing straight. After years of playing hard contact sports my movements were hard and stiff, ready for impact and tense. After 5 years of tai chi this changed to where they became more light, supple and hence more powerful. When it comes to learning there are obvious similarities. Learning languages is the best example, there is a moment when things just start to flow, but for most of us this takes many years no matter what your initial intellectual capacities are. Recently in IT I saw this again with Kubernetes. My previous IT knowledge did not help much (except Linux but that is pretty much step one in any case), It was extremely frustrating not being able to “wing it” as I had done to various degrees of success in other IT areas. After much repetition and practice things started to flow…. As long as you don’t stop the knife never gets dull because it has never been fully sharpened to its full potential.

I like this " This relates to neural pathways in the brain. Repetition strengthens these to a point where the so called term muscle memory comes into play'’- it relates very well to Buddhism philosophy .  

Let's use some Thursday wisdom:

"There are two kinds of skills, resources and tools:

Ones that get used up as you use them.

And ones that get better when you do.

Nobody wants there to be a crowd at the ski area on a bluebird powder day–too many people use up the new snow.

On the other hand, it’s no fun at all to go dancing when you’re the only one in the club.

A painting or a song that’s experienced by more people is worth more. A carpenter increases her skills when she works on new projects (to a point). On the other hand, a sharp knife gets dull if you use it too often…

If you’ve got something that benefits from use, from practice and community, use it and share it.'’ (Seth Godin)

Well put together post @Madi.Cristil! as someone that all too often uses time as a tool and not a resource, you’re absolutely right. I love this sort of content that makes you think about your own actions & behaviours.