As I sat down to write just now, I was completely distracted by so many noises; my phone started ringing, the heater in my house kicked on, UPS  rang the door with a delivery, my neighbor’s gardener came by with the loudest leaf blower imaginable, which caused neighborhood dogs to start barking. I seriously wondered how I would be able to accomplish writing an article.

And then, miraculously, all of the noises stopped at exactly the same time. Complete quiet. Complete stillness. All that I hear right now is the sound of my fingers hitting the keys to create the words that you are now…

I was channel surfing the other day when I came across a program featuring…Ice Skating. As beautifully as these ladies skated, and as precise as each jump executed, I realized that all of this creative balance and symmetry did not come by accident. Polished professionalism, regardless of the trade, is the result of focused and well-initiated practice.

Prior to prime-time TV coverage, there were countless hours of grueling, boring, repetitive, painful, joyless skating in empty ice rinks somewhere just south of…who knows where? Hour after hour…day after day…week after week…month after month…and year after year the practice sessions were scheduled and conducted with one goal in mind: the skating program that, after all the time and effort, would fill all of 60…