I don't carve enough, so sometimes I'll lay out the carving and cover it with clear plastic tape. Then I can remove the tape and transfer the design to another piece of wood to practice the carving. Mostly, it is a "warm-up" exercise, but it also helps me find and plan for problems that may come up (as in, "if I make this cut first, that is going to chip out," etc).
My carving and inletting has greatly improved since I started forcing myself to practice more.