The Importance Of Repetition

The Importance of Repetition

How do you practice a discipline? Over and over and over.

We’ve been fooled into thinking that what matters is only what’s new, what’s exciting, or what entertains. So the mundane, boring periods of life become the waiting room we endure until we can do something more exciting.

But look at people you admire. Elite basketball players. Brilliant scientists. They didn’t get where they are by waiting to be entertained. Their greatness was won in the unseen backrooms of repeated, boring discipline. Running sprints and shooting drills. Methodical observation and repeated experimentation.

Becoming a better human being requires settling into a daily routine of seeking God and His guidance, practicing what you learn, and starting over tomorrow to do it all again. This is where returning to the same scriptures over and over is necessary. Just because you understand a life principle doesn’t mean you’ll actually live it. You’ll only live it if it becomes part of you, and that requires repetition.

I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you. —Psalm 119:11