1/20/23 Stop Practicing So Much!

One sure way to never reach a long-term goal is to make the goal too big.

We are all too familiar with the New Year’s resolutions that never get kept. If you want to keep a resolution, make it fun and make it easy. 

Here’s the problem. No one wants small results. We want big results! We want total transformation! We want to lose 50 pounds, or we want to make 100K more this year.

Those are aspirational goals, and aspirational goals are crucial.

But they aren’t the day-to-day tactics. They are the destination. 

We need our GPS to tell us: take a right at the next light, go 3 blocks then take a left. We don’t want our GPS to tell us: drive really hard for 3 hours and then, voila, you’re there! "Can't miss it!"

The trick is to break the goal down into bite-size baby steps that we can keep taking every day, not one massive aspirational leap. And we need to find a way to make those baby steps fun. 

That’s why I often tell my students to stop practicing so much. Because I know what’s coming—the burn out! And then there's no practicing at all.

So, I tell them to practice less and play more. Bark less, wag more.

And stop playing while you’re still having fun. Come back to it later or tomorrow. “Leave ‘em wanting more” is one of the great truisms of show business and it applies here.

Stop while you’re still having fun and you’ll start by having fun the next day. 

So, if your goal is to achieve a big transformation in your playing, the solution is non-intuitive: practice less and play more.

Groove on,

--Tracy