Perfect Practice for Writers

In Emily's last Taekwondo class, her teacher said:

"Practice does not make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect."



This may sound a little harsh, but I think the message is, you can practice doing something the wrong way over and over, but you'll only become perfect at doing it the wrong way. This hit a chord with me. There are some parts of writing that I am not good at. I get a good voice for my characters, but I don't tend to do dialogue scenes well, there's either talking heads or lots of fidgeting going on. Instead of persevering, I need to learn to write dialogue scenes perfectly. This means, taking advice from experienced writers, reading up from the numerous untouched-writing manuals I have on my book shelf, or, maybe even taking on another writing course. I want to try perfect practice.

On the flip-side, I'd like a character that practices something the wrong way and becomes an expert in doing it the wrong way - which will turn out to be the way that is needed to save the day.

Is there anything you need to perfect to practice?