What have I spent 10+ years practising?

Sometimes it takes awhile to see the most obvious thing that has been there throughout our whole journey. We focus so much on the details and not on the bigger picture; hence why I had been stumped on my friend's question. I reflected, dug deeper, and after some serious thought, discovered what the common element was.

I am an expert in coping with transition.  Not only had I experienced a lot of transition personally, I counsel individuals and organizations on how to improve (change is a huge element of this). 

Practice makes perfect, right? Or, if you keep training and improving, you will win medals, right? The common motivational advice from other athletes is: "Keep practicing and never give up!"

When I hear statements like these, it seems that athletics can be simplified into a formula.  You train for this many hours (10,000 hours as said by Malcolm Gladwell)  or repeat the motion 50,000 times, and you will excel at it.  In many sports programs, the focus is on the physical and technical aspects.  The athletes constantly train to improve their technique to become the best they can be.  They go to practice and do drills to better their performance.