Last year I started taking Tai Chi classes at a local school. It was a long process of learning and training the body. Through the process I slowly learned the traditional Yang-style long form over the course of a year. Aside from the long term health benefits which I hope to reap if I continue to practice, I think the most valuable lesson was learning how regular repetition of a simple task can pay off over time. During this process I had to have faith that my daily stumblings would pay off. I had to have faith in very small incremental improvements over a long period of time.
For better or worse, our American educational system, especially in architecture, is on a project by project basis. Its a lot more exciting than doing rote repetition, but I think it makes you sometimes forget the long term value of mundane practice – maybe that’s why so many of us bail out so soon after entering the practice of professional architecture.