Repetition that builds more than just skill

March 26rd, 2026

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About six months ago, I picked up a tennis racket for the first time as an adult.
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I want to be clear: I was an extreme beginner. The kind of beginner where you miss the ball completely and pretend you were just warming up your swing.

Standing on that court those first few sessions, I kept muttering to myself that I wasn't built for this, that I'd started too late, that some people are just not sporty for racket sports.
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I almost quit after the second week. Not because it wasn't fun, but because I couldn't shake the voice saying: you're never going to get this.
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Fast forward to this week. I was on the court, rallying back and forth, actually enjoying myself. I'm still mediocre, let's not pretend otherwise.
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But something had shifted that had nothing to do with my backhand. I felt confident. Not just more capable, genuinely confident. And I started wondering: where did that come from?

The Real Reason You Should Keep Going

Repetition doesn't just build skill. It builds a new story about who you are.

Here's what I used to believe: confidence comes after you're good at something. You earn it once the results show up.

That's not what happened with tennis. I became more confident long before I became noticeably more skilled. The confidence didn't follow the competence. It built steadily alongside it, fuelled by something simpler than I expected.

I kept showing up.

The science behind why showing up changes how you feel.

There's a psychology principle called the Mere Exposure Effect, first studied by Robert Zajonc in the 1960s.

The finding is deceptively simple: the more you're exposed to something, the more positively your brain responds to it. You don't need to master the actual skill, just repeated contact.

This is why the court that made me anxious in September started feeling like familiar ground by December. My brain wasn't responding to improved skill. It was responding to familiarity. The discomfort softened not because I got better, but because I kept coming back.

Most people interpret that early discomfort as a signal to stop. What it actually is, is a signal that your brain hasn't had enough exposure yet.

1. The loop that nobody tells you about

Once the Mere Exposure Effect starts working in your favour, something else kicks in: the Confidence-Competence Loop.

Small repeated action builds small competence. Small competence produces small confidence. That confidence makes you slightly more willing to push further and try more. Which builds more competence. Which builds more confidence.

The loop feeds itself. But it only starts with action.

Most people wait for confidence before committing to the action. But confidence is not the entry point. It's the output. The entry point is always the doing, even when you're still bad at it.

2. Why we quit right before the shift happens

The period right before confidence clicks is the hardest stretch. The Mere Exposure Effect hasn't fully kicked in. The loop is turning too slowly to feel real. The gap between where you are and where you want to be is still visible.

That's exactly when most people walk away.

What kept me going was one simple commitment: I will not decide whether I'm a tennis person until I've given it six months. I won't give myself the pressure or the false timeline to follow. I just want to give myself six months of showing up before I either continue or let go.

3. What this means for the thing you keep putting off

You probably have something in your life that looks like my tennis court.

-A skill you told yourself you're not built for.

-A project you've abandoned.

-Something you keep delaying because you're already dreading the feeling of being bad at it.

The change in myself that I felt this week wasn't a reward for talent. It was a reward for not letting beginner discomfort have the final word.

That is what repetition actually builds. Not just skill. A new self-concept. A new story you are embracing for yourself: Am I someone who can do this?

You don't answer that with confidence. You answer it with action, repeated enough times that confidence becomes the only logical conclusion.

What's Next?

What's the thing you've been telling yourself you're "just not built for"? And is that actually true, or is it just a prediction based on a dataset of zero?

You might not need more talent or more certainty. You might just need six more months of showing up.

Which belief about yourself is overdue for a rewrite? Hit reply, I read every single one.

One More Thing Before You Go

I want to share something with you that I've been working on.

The world is changing fast, and connecting dots between human creativity and AI is the next growth edge.

If you’ve been curious about how to use AI to learn faster, work smarter, and stay creative in the process, I’m building something new for you.

AI is something that I have embraced into my own workflow in the last 1.5 years. Through my digital skills & AI training company, I've been training corporate professionals and entrepreneurs on how to empower their work with AI tools without the overwhelm. Now I'm excited that I get to share these with you.

It’s called ModernSkill AI, a practical newsletter and training series from my own training program, for modern professionals who want to future-proof their skills and stay ahead in the AI era.

I'm really excited about the free course, AI Playbook, designed to help you turn AI into your everyday advantage.

If that sounds like something you’d love,
👉 Sign up here and I'm excited for you to build your new skills in AI this year.

To your growth, Laurie 🙌

🎥 How to Fix Your Attention Span Before It's Too Late​

Here's something I've noticed: the same people who struggle to finish what they start are often fighting a losing battle with their attention span, not their discipline.

If the idea of showing up repeatedly resonates with you, but you find yourself getting pulled away before the reps even happen, this video is for you. I share the exact methods and experiments I tried to reclaim my focus, what actually worked, and how I started making progress on what matters without spending all day fighting distractions.

You can watch the full video here.

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