Douglas: Welcome to the Unleash Your Potential Blog, what question can I answer for you today?
AspireAssist: How can I develop better habits for success?
Douglas: There is an old joke that I have heard for as long as I can remember. It goes something like this, A tourist is walking through Manhattan and stops a person on the street and asks, “How do I get to the Carnegie Hall?” The local stops and thinks for a moment and replies, “Practice, Practice, Practice.”
Perhaps it is because of my musical background that I have heard this joke so many times. Even more likely, the reason I have heard the joke is that throughout my musical development, I have had a tenuous relationship with the concept of practice (much to my mother’s dismay).
The key to developing better habits in anything is repetition. Practice is, at its core, repetition.
But what do you practice? How do we make practice effective? This is a much more involved question. When you look at how a musician practices, you will see a variety of techniques involved. However varied, I think some basic structures might help you here.
When it comes to practice, the first thing most musicians do is develop a plan. We don’t wander into a practice room and start playing. Well, if we do, we aren’t practicing, we are noodling, or showing off for the person in the next room. Practice is about having a plan. If you want to develop better habits for success, you have to have a plan for how you are going to get better. Then you can follow that plan as you practice and you will be much more effective.
My typical practice session will start with scales, arpeggios, and similar things. These are not necessarily related to any particular passage I am working on, but they build facilities on a variety of basic skills. When you are developing better habits for success you need to find some processes for general skill development. For me, I start my day with prayer and then I recite a series of affirmations I lifted from Zig Ziglar. These help to frame my practice throughout the rest of my day. What are your warm-ups? What are the things that will help set you up for success throughout the day? Start the day with an attitude of success and you will make much more progress.
Any musician will tell you that practice isn’t about running the whole song over and over again. Many musicians, and even my work as a choral conductor have taught me that you seldom run through the whole piece. Effective practicing is about targeting the specific areas where you need to make improvements. I have practiced a single measure for 15-20 minutes just to make sure it is correct before going on. As you develop habits for success, your work should be no less targeted. What are the specific habits today that you want to focus on? You then focus on those habits until they are “fixed” and then you move on to something else. If you just glass over and go to the next thing, you will never make substantial improvement.
Frequently, when I am learning a new piece I will listen to recordings of others performing the same music. If I am going to work on German lieder, I will listen to Dietrich Fischer-Diskau, because he perfected German lieder. Athletes will do the same thing. They will figure out who the masters are in their sport and watch films of them playing. If you are trying to develop successful habits, your practice session should include looking at people who have already figured it out. When I am working on public speaking, I listen to motivational speakers who have already figured it out. When it comes to life coaching, I look at people who are already successful at life coaching. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel. Part of practicing is borrowing from people who do something better than you.
Growing up, I was always told, “Practice makes perfect.” I think that mantra, however well-intentioned, sets us up for failure. Perfection is not achievable and striving for it can lead to a whole lot of disappointment. Most musicians will admit that they have never played a perfect performance. Instead of practice makes perfect, I prefer to think, “Practice makes progress.” This is true every single time. If you are deliberate and focused in your practice, at anything, you will see incremental improvement every time. If you want to develop better habits for success, practice using better habits for success, every day.
I hope my answer sheds some light on your question. If you want to dig into this concept further, I encourage you to reach out and set up a conversation. In the meantime, check back tomorrow for the next question in the Unleash Your Potential Series!
Be Well!
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