I first heard this phrase used by the legend that is Tony Robbins when he was talking creating habits – the more you repeat something the higher the likelihood that it will become a habit.
“Habits lead to actions, which lead to results which in turn leads us to success” is the maxim.
Whilst I agree with this theory, I disagree that repetition is the mother of all skill.
I would say that persistence is the mother of all skills.
Why?
I come across people everyday who give up on their dreams…often when they are just within touching distance they give up.
They are literally around the corner form the finish line and yet they put their hands up and stop running.
Maybe you know someone like this or perhaps you’ve even done this.
Everything started well. They had an idea, a plan and they took massive action. They kept a positive mind but eventually it had been worn down by challenges, difficulties and people around them telling that perhaps ‘they’ve tried enough’ and ‘maybe it’s time to give up.’ – even they should be ‘proud’ of how far they’ve come.
Talk to anyone who has achieved real success and you’ll find that they have been so focused on their outcome or goal that they would run through concrete reinforced walls to get there.
Even when the odds have been stacked against them they’ve been persistent – even relentless in their efforts.
To them it is never enough until the job is done.
To achieve anything in life you have to hone your mentality to create a superhero level of persistence.
Yes habits are very important but in my opinion persistency is the mother of all skill.
I disagree with you there Vinay. Think you are jumping the gun to persistence. To be persistent you have to be constantly going for or doing something which is a repetitive action. Therefore repetition is the mother and persistence is the father followed by tenacity as their first born 🙂
Hey Pauline,
It’s great to have conversations about this stuff!
Are you a Robbins fan?
Thanks for comment. It’s tough one because I did believe that for a long time too. In my own experience I found that repetition is powerful but I do think people give up far to easily when they are so close. 🙂
And that’s the real problem; people mind others peoples business and then their own business passes them by never-mind the repetition and persistence.
I think the repetition Tony means is keep doing it and getting it right and getting better at it.
There is no point being persistent if you don’t know what you are doing.
No I’m not a Tony fan, just looked at your comment and saw the flaw in common sense.
Anyway back to minding my own business : good luck with yours 😛
I think this is one of those chicken and egg things. My own personal experience of dealing with some pretty tough challenges sways me towards persistence, tenacity and just keeping going. I’d also say that habits are formed through persistence. Anyway – I think you have great points Pauline and thanks again for taking the time to comment.
To inter-relate semantic meaning is problematic these days. For instance, “practice makes perfect” is both correct and false – because ‘practice makes permanent’ and therefore the meaning of what is “perfect” is the question. It is the same with this quote: “Repetition is the mother of all skill” – define what you mean by repetition, i.e. does it mean to just do something again, or does it mean to do it consistently with perseverance, determination, and discipline. See we have succumb to the idea that “faster is better” in shortening our statements because we assume that means it contains “more meaning” when in fact most platitudes are not understood, or are not well thought-out when they are referred to or used. i.e. Developing Skill is the reason for repetition, and that repeat-process is the act of persistence, yet even if you repeat persistently you might find yourself doing that which you practiced inaccurately, incompletely, insufficiently, with affectations, mediocrity, and/or just plain wrong. Unless you actually have a master teaching you the skill in the first place….
In my own opinion, robbins addressed his meaning of repetition to the greater or common masses who are not familiar with technical words like persistence, tenacity, etc. Repetition is a common word easily understood by common people. It all connotes everything that all intellectual people can comprehend about the word.
hi vinay.i just visited your web and i think it is a great job.This talking about repetition is pretty cool.