I’m pretty sure that 100% of what makes practice seem hard is self-judgment. Get rid of “I’m bad at this—that was stupid—why can’t I—I should be better at this” and practice is not only easy, but delightfully fun and satisfying.

If you won’t or can’t figure out how to remove self-judgment from practice, it will sabotage the whole purpose of the activity, turning it into an excruciating slog.

When meditating or learning a new skill or song, if you let yourself practice, it’s like all the heavy, solid bricks of your brain loosen and transform into a massive murmuration of starlings. As soon as self-judgment takes, THUMP, it all collapses into immovable bricks again.

By definition, if you’re practicing something, you’re exploring the edges of your competence. There’s some pretty deep irony in thinking you should be better at the thing you’re practicing.

Recognizing self-judgment so it doesn’t take hold is itself something that can be practiced, and no, you’re not supposed to be better at it than you are.