One of my favorite clichés from 80s movies is the teacher/mentor figure in the movie saying, “Again.” Whether it was a martial arts film, a military film, or any other kind of film where the hero is training under the tutelage of an elder master, it was always a scene that caused mixed feelings in the audience: satisfaction that the hero succeeded on his attempt (or dissatisfaction if he failed), but then a realization that it was just one of many, many attempts that were a part of the journey.
It’s something that modern childhood doesn’t really entail as often as it used to. First of all, we live in an era of modern convenience where things are done automatically for us, from microwaving a meal to accessing entertainment on demand. Even video games have more checkpoints than ever before, so the player simply has to make it to that area and rarely has to replay entire levels or sections. Second, school is structured where you learn something, prove it in a test, and then move on. You might forget most of it five seconds later, and it doesn’t matter since it’s done. Third, we specialize so much in society that most people develop a few skills and don’t need to get better at things they are not naturally good at. To be clear, these are all good things overall, but they come at the drawback of not having that “again” mentality of needing to try something over and over again.
Bruce Lee famously said that he feared the man who had practiced a kick 10,000 times more than a man who practiced 10,000 kicks once each. He knew the value of repetition. Everyone knows that you get better every time you do something—while it has diminishing returns the 10,000th time you do it, people of similar natural ability will generally be better the 10,000th time than the 9,900th time. The difference between the first to second attempt, however, can often be enormous.
And that is the mentality that needs to be developed in anyone who wants to succeed at something in life. One of the most famous examples in recent history is Antonio Brown of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Setting aside his bizarre behavior later in his career, his raw ability coming out of Central Michigan wasn’t as strong as other receivers. He wasn’t the biggest. He wasn’t the strongest. He wasn’t the fastest. But, he outworked everyone. He became famous for his success at all of the elements of the wide receiver position that required skill, not talent: keeping two feet in bounds while catching a pass along the sideline; route running; getting open even when he was double-covered. This wasn’t the result of just being taller or faster—he was simply more skilled at his position through effort. By doing it again and again, he became one of the best receivers of his era (and, arguably, without his meltdown at the end, he would’ve been in the conversation as a top-five receiver of all-time).
There are many instances of raw repetition causing someone to be elite. There are many video game speedrunners (online streamers who play the same game over and over again to try to be the fastest to ever complete it) who play the same game tens of thousands of times to get a world-record. Yes, there are some who are naturally good at a variety of games, but it is generally the people with the ability and the tens of thousands of attempts who achieve the world record in any single game (and, even if it’s luck, more repetitions -> greater chance of luck going the player’s way).
The sad thing is that, with peer pressure and other factors, there are many people who try something once, fail, and then never try again. It’s fine if it wasn’t of interest to them, but if it was and they were just discouraged, that is a travesty. Barring fatigue, injury, psychological setbacks, or some other reason for regressing, more repetitions will always lead to better performance.
The interesting thing is that you will learn things through repetition that the greatest performers in that field might not have even thought or been able to articulate. My greatest learning about this point came when I decided to learn how to cook. When I first started cooking, I thought that all you had to do was follow the recipe, and the food will magically turn out as good as possible. Wow, was I wrong. Pre-heating, heating level, stirring amount, the cookware and utensils you use, the quality of the ingredients, the ratios, and even the order in which you perform the activities affects the output. The first time I made pancakes, I got them to look right, but they tasted like cardboard. Then, I made them taste better with different ingredients, but they looked ugly. I couldn’t believe how difficult it was just to perform these few simple steps.
But, what was amazing about the learning experience is that I would get better each time without even realizing how. First, I could start to notice things like at which temperature food would cook well, be undercooked, or stick to the pan. I started noticing the effect of the amount of oil used on the flavor. I started noticing the difference between waiting for the environment to reach the right temperature affected the food vs. just putting the food in right away while the oven or pan preheated. All of these things matter in cooking a great meal, yet the recipe just says to mix X and Y ingredients, cook, and out comes the meal.
And this is the power of “again”. It’s no different from watching a movie twice where you start to notice things you didn’t see the first time like events happening in the background or someone’s facial expression or behavior giving away their true motives. The power of again is to solidify what you learned the previous times and identify new things to focus on that can improve your abilities even further. That is the power of repetition.
So, the next time you try something new and it either goes well or goes terribly, don’t think, “Well, I’m good/bad at that, and that’s that.” Ask yourself, “Did I enjoy doing this? Would I want to get better at it?” If the answer to those two questions is, “Yes,” then try it again and see how you improve and what you learn. You’ll notice quickly that, succeed or fail on the first try, there is so much more for you to learn. That is the power of again, and that is the first step to long-term improvement and success in any area.