If we would be always waiting for perfect conditions to get things done, nothing would be done ever. In our work lives, personal lives, our creative endeavors – there is always something that stands in the way, so we choose to do it in another moment. Somehow the time is never right for one reason or another. Nevertheless, humanity continues moving forward. Furthermore, some of us achieve amazing results across the board and seem to never be troubled by anything, while others are always waiting for perfect conditions to do significant things. What is behind this paradox?

I had this discussion with my students in the class the other day. We were doing some locomotion work, there were many people in the room, the work was physically demanding and the floor was really wet from the collective sweating. Hands and feet were sliding and it was rather uncomfortable to do anything on this floor, so people started complaining. I brought their attention to the fact that these conditions were a great test for whether they have a skill or not since only being able to perform in perfect circumstances means that your skill is weak. There are many examples in the history of sports illustrating that this is true. Bulgarian weightlifters are famous to train in, let’s call it, suboptimal conditions. Back in the 70s, the athletes of world-renowned Bulgarian weightlifting coach Ivan Abadjiev were known to train in the gyms with rusty bars, no chalk, and no special equipment, so when they would arrive at an international competition where everything was set up perfectly, they would repeatedly break all the records. It was happening not only due to the new and superior programming of Abadjiev (which it was) but also due to them being used to doing their lifts in the setting that would scare any western athlete they competed against. In well-ventilated rooms of international competition, world records were a piece of cake for them. Practicing in suboptimal conditions made them prepared for any inconvenience and develop mental resilience and practical skill inaccessible to their rivals.

Our body requires variability in order to learn new things better. Moreover, variability is an inherent quality of our nervous system. When we are acquiring a new motor skill, the “noise” in the system acts as means to explore motor space. Through the process of trial and error, our system develops new control policies and patterns that will eventually reduce the costs of activity and lead to improved performance (Shadmehr et al, 2016). This intrinsic variability of the system is an essential part of the process that shapes adaptive behavior and builds reliable motor skills (Skinner, 1981). It creates a vast library of movement patterns that the brain can choose from. The bigger collections of references the system will have, the better outcome we can expect during a performance. The learning process can be reinforced significantly by introducing unpredictable external conditions. It will require dynamic exploration and regulation of probed actions that will lead to creating motor patterns that adapt to quick changes in the environment and learn to auto-correct the course of action to achieve a high level of success in solving any motor problem (Daw et al, 2006). In simpler terms, constantly altering the conditions in which learning takes place is proven to significantly improve performance by building a bigger database of references to choose from when executing a skill.

This theory has been proven over and over again in practice by such examples as Abadjiev and his trainees, mentioned earlier, and a number of other athletes of different disciplines from the Soviet bloc. Similarly, BJJ fighters and capoeira players from Brazil, soldiers from Israeli Special Forces, and many others in the variety of fields of high performance have understood this principle and have been successfully using it for decades in their training. On both practical and philosophical levels, it shows us that trying to adjust the external environment so it is always “perfect” is rarely a good idea. If you are looking for perfect conditions, nothing will ever be done, because in reality there is no such thing. Instead, you can turn to your internal landscape and work on the capacity to adapt from the inside to anything that can go wrong. Our mental state is the only real thing we have any significant control over, so it makes much more sense to make it the target of improvement. If you have this part covered, whatever the external world throws at you, you will always be prepared. There are never perfect conditions to open the business, have a child, go see the world, learn a language, start a movement practice or take on a hobby that you always wanted. You can facilitate certain conditions to make things happen, but you can never expect a 100% guarantee for everything to be right. Waiting for things to be perfectly aligned will paralyze any pursuit for development and you will simply never get to do any exciting things in life. However, you can always change yourself and you can use any situation that life throws at you as a learning experience.

The real test of human ability comes in extreme situations. It is a big blow in the face when you have been training to fight for a decade in a tidy gym with comfortable room temperature, nice sparring partners, and a coach who always petted you on the back, and then you are being beaten on the street like a baby when you are being robbed, for example. Very often athletes who have been practicing for years in a perfect setting freak out and forget everything they have learned when it comes to competition. Altering training conditions is not only valuable for motor learning but also for psychological resilience. Performing under stress, or in an unfamiliar environment, is ultimately what you want to be able to do. In order to always be prepared, better start taking care of it already at the stages of learning. Practice outside, inside, alone, with people watching you, with music, without music – alter all the time the conditions you are in. Uncomfortable surfaces to interact with, wet floors, asphalt and dirt, hot and cold weather, with and without music, switching between different options will help you build resilience mentally and also create a motor skill that is much more adaptable and accessible at any time and in any place. Because if you can only perform a skill when all the planets are properly aligned - you have no skill at all.