Westside Toastmasters is located in Los Angeles and Santa Monica, California

CHAPTER 36

Practice Makes Perfect

What we learn to do, we learn by doing.

  -- ARISTOTLE

Practice your new charm skills whenever you can. When you first learn new techniques, they may feel a little awkward. This is normal. It is only when you repeat these charm skills in conversations with real people that you learn them to the point where they become second nature. It is not enough that the players on a football team work out and learn and practice the plays. It's the experience they get, game after game, that allows them to develop conditioned reflexes.

Make These Skills Automatic

As you practice and repeat these techniques, you will automatically program the behaviors of being charming into your subconscious mind. It will then take over and these techniques will happen naturally and easily. That's been our goal from the beginning.

You've seen the concentration and effort in a baby learning to walk, or a child learning to ride a bicycle, or an adult learning to play golf or square dance. Pure, dogmatic, do-it-by-the-numbers repetition allows us to do many things without having to think about them.

When you boot up a computer, certain programs automatically come into operation. If there were no programs already installed in the computer's memory, just like they are installed in your subconscious, then you'd have a blank screen and a blank mind.

Your Tools for Charming Others

Practice every skill you've learned so far on every occasion. Focus on one skill at a time. Use the skills of charm with your family, friends, new acquaintances, and people you work with during the day. Practice will give you the experience and confidence you need to be charming in almost every human interaction.

Treat each person you meet like a million-dollar customer, like the most important person in the world. When you approach people this way, you will make them feel wonderful about themselves. They will find you completely charming.

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