Hello Window Three readers, and welcome back to another Window Three blog! As always, this is Jon Nodine, here with you today ready to challenge, ready to explore, and ready to fire out new ideas that can be used to change how the world looks!

Having just watched the Super Bowl, I thought it would be appropriate that we spend some time talking about the world of sports and how that relates to our lives. Not that we ever talk about sports on this blog, it seems to find its way into many of our conversations. It just seems fitting that we finish off the football season with a brief discussion of what it means to be a professional.  After all, if there is one thing this Super Bowl can be remembered for, it’s having two of the greatest quarterbacks of all time in Peyton Manning, and Drew Brees.   Drew Breeeees! (that’s me trying to make it sound like the ESPN commercial)

The reason I want to discuss these two quarterbacks today, has less to do with where they are at in their careers, and more to do with what it took to get there.  After all, becoming a quarterback that is competing for a Super Bowl championship doesn’t happen overnight, it takes practice.  So what’s the old saying, “practice makes perfect?” Or wait, maybe it was, “Perfect practice makes perfect?” Wait a minute, that’s not it either. Oh yeah, I remember what it is, “Practice makes permanent!”

Now, here I need to put in a disclaimer, I didn’t come up with the phrase, “Practice makes permanent.” Rather it was told to me by my good friend, Dr. Heath Nagel. It’s a phrase that he uses on a daily basis as a chiropractor, and highlights to his patients the importance of good posture and good body mechanics. Because as any great chiropractor will tell you, being just a little out of line now, means being a lot out of line later.    Or maybe, a better way to put it, would be to say that bad posture or bad mechanics overtime, can never be fully repaired.

So what does this mean regarding our quarterbacks? It means that any lifetime spent practicing proper mechanics can lead you to the biggest stage in the world, the Super Bowl. When you get to the point in your career at which Peyton Manning and Drew Brees are, what you’ve done is what you become, or “Practice makes permanent.”

It goes  along with a statement made by sports psychologist, Gloria Balague, from the University of Illinois, “Athletes sometimes think anxiety has a protective value that motivates them to avert disaster. But you want to prepare for adversity well in advance. Identify your worries and training to overcome them. As you get closer to race day, focus on your strengths and the body of your training work.”

 The same can be said for your life. Your actions now will become your habits later. Your attitude now, will become your permanent attitude later. Your work ethic now will be seen in your success later. Your stress and diet now, will help shape your health later. Or a better way to put it, “Practice makes permanent.”

Now, all of this is not being said to scare you, or to make you feel like a failure. It’s simply a reminder of the Window Three behavior timeline.  How you feel becomes your window (attitude), your window decides your actions (choices), your  actions become habits and your habits define your character, or what you do when nobody’s watching. This is why it is so important to focus on a goal. When you have a goal in mind it keeps you on track and forces you to perform positive actions that will eventually become permanent. I’m certain that Peyton Manning and Drew Brees set goals as it pertains to their becoming great quarterbacks. Going after those goals allowed their now permanent throwing techniques to be executed without thought and in front of millions of people watching in awe.  

In close, I would like to ask how this idea, “Practice makes permanent,” applies to your life and your profession. When it comes to finding out what you want in life, keep in mind that the emotion and effort you devote now, will be permanent later. It’s never too late, only too little commitment. Thank you everyone for your time and for your attention. I wish you all a wonderful week, and until next time, remember that you always have a choice.