Everything you do is practice for the future. For example: Every conversation is an opportunity to practice and improve your conversation skills. Everything you write is practice for future writing. Every time you drive a car you are learning how to drive better.

And you will also regress and teach yourself to be worse, less accurate, less funny, less efficient – even when you aren’t aware that this “unlearning” is occurring.

So why not be more aware of it and take advantage of the opportunity to recognize whether each interaction has improved your life or set you back in some way. You might think of your life, skills, relationships, etc. like the stock market…  minor daily progress or setbacks result in a general trend upward. Don’t fret so much about the small daily setbacks or even large “corrections”.

Keep working on small daily victories that you have control over such as: How you treat people (including yourself), teaching yourself new things, and practicing positive reinforcement.

This can be as small as I did better at looking them in the eye during that conversation. I did better at asking them about their life rather than only discussing mine. I was a bit funny!  I taught myself something today. I exercised and improved my health today. I got great sleep last night. I helped that person. I was honest.

Celebrate the upward trends despite any of the setbacks that tend to hog the limelight. And keep practicing life – it will just keep getting better!