Laido Dittmar, The Art of Practice: Same Effort, Twice the Progress, Any Skill (Available in ebook, audiobook, and print, 2026, theartofpractice.com)
Reviewed by Eric Shibuya
In 2015, award-winning juggler Laido Dittmar published Fast Juggling Success: How to Achieve Your Best in Progress. Just over a decade later, this expanded work goes far beyond juggling, as the system developed is about improvement in whatever endeavor one is working on, from guitar, to dance, and other skills. Of course, there is obvious application to juggling as Art of Practice expands and completes the thoughts first developed in Fast Juggling Success.
From a multigenerational circus family, Dittmar finds juggling at the age of 17. This relatively late start (in terms of circus performing) puts him on a quest to accelerate his improvement, and his access to top-level circus performers allows him to interview many of them. At the heart of it, he asks two simple questions: How did you get so good? And how can I do it too?
The initial responses are disappointing. They are mostly platitudes, vague statements about focus and dedication and the like. Dittmar realizes that asking those he calls “Naturals” how to improve is not helpful, because Naturals just do it, naturally.* How one unlocks the “secret” of the Naturals is not by asking, but watching, and Dittmar distills his findings here:
Naturals don’t begin with the 99% of tasks they already can do, but start with the 1% they haven’t mastered yet, as soon as it’s physically safe and possible to do (p.50)
This concept is the heart of Dittmar’s analysis. Naturals focus on progress, not practice. The point is not to drill the same move over and over ad infinitum, but focusing on improvement, not maintenance of the skill. “As long as what you’re practicing is similar in nature and more difficult than before, your routine-level skills are safe from decay” (p.64).
Most non-Naturals, Dittmar argues, spend most of their time working on their routines, practicing what they already know how to do. It is an understandable regimen, and it can feel like “improvement,” but Dittmar argues otherwise. Spending most of one’s energy doing what one already knows how to do actually hinders progress, keeping one inside of their comfort zone.
All long-term positive changes in your life will happen outside your comfort zone, all of them (p.80)
Professionals test and explore their limits while amateurs guess and work by assumption (p.94)
Naturals test so they know when to move on to the next thing and do not waste energy on what is unnecessary. Anthony Gatto (arguably a quintessential Natural) notes that when fatigue sets in, one simply starts “practicing mistakes.” Naturals also do return to earlier fundamentals if they feel those skills atrophy, as noted in Jonah Botvinick-Greenhouse’s article on developing a long-term practice structure.
In my own experience as a very “non-Natural,” I started working with Dittmar’s concepts in his earlier Fast Juggling Success. My own six ball practice had long stagnated and I was clearly wasting energy running five balls because it “felt” like I was improving. I made more progress using Dittmar’s methods than I ever had before. (My current lack of improvement can simply be attributed to not practicing six at all).
The closest parallels to The Art of Practice in the juggling world might be Ben Cornish’s Juggling and the Art of Practice (2022) and Jason Garfield’s Juggling: Fundamental Exercises and Practice Structure. The book more closely relates to the larger world of sports/performance psychology, with books like Timothy Gallwey’s classic The Inner Game of Tennis and Alice Pinion’s The Match Dart Mindset. The website also includes video testimonials from many of the other individuals from other disciplines, to include ballroom dancing, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, and ice skating. Available in ebook, print, and audio formats, the audiobook is read by Dittmar himself. If there is a criticism on formatting, I do wish the audiobook had come with–at least–chapter divisions across its 6+ hour duration.
The Art of Practice is an extremely valuable addition to the literature of the psychology of practice and improvement. Dittmar’s work has already built a reputation among practitioners in other disciplines, but he is first and foremost a juggler, and his work should be featured in the juggling community. Reading and applying its concepts will undoubtedly help many in their progress in skill development. I would recommend The Art of Practice for any juggler looking to develop a more efficient practice routine (and not simply in juggling). For those jugglers who want to focus their limited time for maximum improvement, this is required reading.
*The term “Naturals” is Dittmar’s, and while it is understandable, the term may diminish the actual work many of them do to improve and perfect their art. Any prodigy starts from an advanced position compared to others, but they still have to do the work. Also, even (or perhaps, especially) Naturals benefit from good coaching (See Nick and Anthony Gatto, and Albert Moreira and Albert Lucas). A final point is to note that with time and thought, Naturals can better answer Dittmar’s original questions. As evidenced by Albert Lucas himself becoming a fine coach, working with the likes of Niels Duinker).
Eric Shibuya
Eric "Propfessor" Shibuya is Editor in Chief of eJuggle. He holds a PhD in political science and has been juggling for over 40 years. He's a frequent attendee of regional juggling and flow festivals.