A practice of, well, practice.

Hey Reader,

In February, one of my favorite bands released a new album. I have followed Alkaline Trio for over two decades, and I get absolutely giddy when new tunes drop. In my excitement, I stumbled on a clip of their bass player, Dan Andriano, practicing in his home studio.

I was fascinated by the behind-the-scenes view of one of my creative heroes. But what stuck with me is that Dan… was practicing.

Practicing.

Founded in 1996, Alkaline Trio is coming up on their thirty year anniversary sooner than later. Nearly thirty years of playing the same tunes on the same instruments. Three decades.

And yet, here was Dan… practicing.

“Sometimes (or always, I guess) you gotta put your practice pants on,” he writes, “I practice dumb. You think Paul McCartney likes to practice? Practice is hard sometimes but big tour means big practice.”

And there he was: hitting the wrong notes, falling out of tune, and missing words. One of my creative heroes—a master of his craft—still getting better.

For me, this was an incredible reminder that, no matter how experienced you are, practice is essential to good performance and steady growth.

Even if you’re a punk rock bassist.

But we might take this for granted. I noticed that I stopped practicing design the moment I picked up my first paying client. If I wasn’t getting paid, you wouldn’t find me playing around in Illustrator.

And that’s exactly when my growth stalled.

I started getting stuck in a creative groove. I’d use the same visual tricks between clients. My creative toolset became overused, and I didn’t enjoy the work I’d put out. The empty artboard stressed me out: I had no room for mistakes because every time I created, I needed to perform.

Designing felt more like a chore, and less like play.

But I’m not alone here: I’ve noticed this same pattern in some of the folks I coached over the years. We stop practicing and playing. We resent clients for not giving us the opportunity to explore. We fall out of love with our craft.

It’s a tragedy.

But there’s good news: this diagnosis isn’t terminal. By incorporating a simple habit of practice, we can reinvigorate our creative souls. We can create a safe space where we can hit the wrong note or fall out of tune. We can fall back in love with our craft.

We can play.

This week, one Accelerator member discovered the power of practice. He posted a grid of gorgeous type lockups and explained that he’d been practicing using typography in place of illustration. The results of his practice are fantastic. But what I found so inspiring was what he wrote at the end of his post:

“I’m just glad to be having fun again.”

Man. I wish I could tell you how often this happens. How many times someone begrudgingly agrees to do a personal project or get some reps in on a practice session…

Only to return feeling invigorated, refreshed, and inspired.

It works… and it’s as easy as copying someone’s work.

Replication

One fantastic method of practice that can help us improve our skills and expand our creative toolbox is replication.

Think back to when you first learned your craft. Copying other people’s work likely made up a large percentage of your learning. It’s how I learned to design, for sure.

The process is incredibly simple:

1. Select a piece of work you admire
2. Replicate it. But try to do this without using any elements directly from the original (don’t paste or trace!)
3. Repeat

Be intentional about the work you replicate. It should be work that pushes you just outside of your comfort zone. Choose something that feels foreign, or too good to be real.

But don’t overthink this.

Replication doesn’t have to take much time. You can warm up with a fifteen minute replication session every day before moving into your "real" work for the day.

Give it a shot and let me know how you feel!

Happy Sunday!

Ben Burns

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P.S. This is something I need to work on too. I’m committing to be far more intentional about practicing, and share my results. Join me?

P.P.S. Shoutout to my dear friends who inspire me with their own practices of practice: Stephanie Owens, Greg Gunn, Matthew Encina, Matt Morgan, Rocky Roark, and Stewart Schuster.

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