Spectacular

I have a table tennis robot.  Nets stop the ball from disappearing all the time (it cannot help my wild shots).  They are channelled into a certain location and go up a shute and are spat out at the right speed and angle to enable me to hit them over the net, and the whole process starts again.  There are a number of pre-set programs for improving all facets of my game, or I can have the ball land in the one spot enabling me to practice it and concentrate on putting the ball back in a certain location.
I was never a great player but my ability to hit odd angles was never disputed.  I believe the robot really helped me with that.  Or, and I only did it once, I could program the program to land the ball at all different locations on the table and help me to practice both for-hand and back-hand shots, both short and long.
Why I was thinking about that is a person had a go on it one time and I could not believe how they tried to hit the cover off the ball.  While I reckon doing that is a good goal, the first step really is to be able to get it back consistently.  Once I had told them that and they settled down, they could do first things first.
It made me think of two words.  Spectacular and consistent.  I really like spectacular, but I can generally only do it if I have got the consistency down pat.  I love doing and seeing spectacular things.  The trouble is, if I do not have the consistent right first, I can be spectacular but spectacularly bad.  In that case, the only way for another person to be safe is to be in another room.
I think the need to be consistant applies to everything.  These home shows I see on tv make me sick.  A carpenter hammers a nail into something effortlessly.  Yet when I do the same, I know I make an impression – on the wood.  Or the nail bends and I need to pull it out and start again with another nail.
It does not matter what I do, I generally get better at it by practice.  Not just any practice - but practicing it right.  Practicing something wrong only leads to bad habits.  I may get better at something, but I am sure to be found wanting by someone who does it right.  I can mow the lawn and get better each time if I do it right.  I may have the cut right, but practice means I get the time it takes down and go about it in the most efficient manner.  I do not know that I have ever seen a mowing job I considered spectacular, but I have seen one that was spectacular for the wrong reasons.
I want to be spectacular, but more than that I want to be more than a one-shot wonder.  The key for me is consistency.  The more I do something right, the better I get at it, and the more likely I am to pull off the spectacular that was not just a lucky shot.
Spectacular can be memorable, but I think I would rather be a consistent winner than do something spectacular and go down all the time.
I know that is the way I want to be anyway.  It may be boring, but I will be there at the end.