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You struggle until it’s useful, then get good without realizing it.
I’m learning Spanish over at DuoLingo. Before starting, I could say “Donde esta my jacket.” Now I’m up to “No me gusta la cerveza. Bebo agua.” Still not useful — I couldn’t even order dinner — but getting closer.
When you learn a language, it takes a long time to become useful. Until you have a few hundred words, it’s just a toy, something you practice for a few minutes or an hour a day, not something you actually use.
Once you have those few hundred words, though, you can use the language to solve problems. Which gives you a reason to push yourself beyond the short, comfortable lessons you practice with, so you’re actually using it to the limit of what you can, not the limit of what’s comfortable. Which is what it takes to become good, or even decent.
That’s how magick has always been for me: When I first learn a skill, I practice it a few times a day. Maybe 30 minutes total. After a few months, I develop the skill to the point where it solves problems: Practical energy healing, or use manifesting to find out whether I’ll enjoy a party. After that, I just use it to solve problems. And even when I’m too tired to practice, I still have enough energy to do something useful. Which is when I start to actually get good.
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