Practice Habits: The Cycle of Motivation

Illuminating and inspiring insights into the Cycle of Motivation and how to generate self-sustaining upward spirals of success…

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The Greatest Obstacle to Remarkable Progress

Assuming you’re a sincere piano student who makes a good faith effort to study and practice, the obstacle to making remarkable progress is not that you are un-talented. I repeat: Assuming you’re a sincere student who makes a good faith effort to study and practice, the reason you fail to make phenomenal progress is highly unlikely to be lack of talent. The real reason you fail to make phenomenal progress is highly likely to be extremely poor study and practice habits.

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Upward Spiral of Motivation

Let’s say you try something at the piano and we get an enjoyable, pleasant, fun, musical result. “Hey, that was pretty good.” You’d naturally be more inclined to keep on practicing, right?

In summary: 1. You do something, 2. Something desirable happens, 3. You are motivated to do that something again. 4. If you continue, you get a self-sustaining upward spiral of success going. Super cool, right?

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Downward Spiral of Frustration

Now let’s say you try something at the piano and we get an unenjoyable, unpleasant, unfun, unmusical result. “Wow, that was pretty bad.” You’d naturally be less inclined to keep on practicing, right?

In summary: 1. You do something, 2. Something undesirable happens, 3. You are now unmotivated to do that something again, 4. If you continue, you get a downward spiral of failure going and may quit trying altogether. Boo!

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Why Do Sincere Students Quit Playing?

The reason why the overwhelming majority of sincere students quit playing the piano is because they mistakenly come to believe–despite years of sincere effort–that they don’t have “it”… that they are fundamentally untalented.

Importantly, deciding to “quit” when one’s sincere efforts bear little fruit isn’t the choice of a lazy person, but of a perfectly rational person. Why would anybody in their right mind continue expending time and energy without producing anything enjoyable or useful?

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Implications for Students and Teachers

The discussion above should teach us all two huge lessons regarding the motivation to study and practice piano:

1. Studying and practicing the wrong way things the wrong way is guaranteed to create a downward cycle of frustration… until one quits trying.
2. Studying and practicing the right things the right way is guaranteed to create a self-sustaining cycle of effort and progress… and a lifetime of mastery.

So, if you can get this upward spiral going you cannot help but get excited about music. You can’t wait to sit down and study and practice. The results will speak for themselves and you will see and feel that your efforts are bearing fruit.

Sidebar: Instilling the proper study and practice habits is one of the primary responsibilities of your teacher and one of the greatest gifts they can give to you.

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The Secret to Success

Getting the upward cycle going required three things:

1. You’ve got to know what to study and practice.
2. You’ve got to know how to study and practice the right way.
3. You have to have the love of music and discipline to study and practice accordingly.

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Motivation (YouTube)

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Some Words of Encouragement

If you’ve read this far, you’ve already passed the audition. I’d bet a million dollars that you are NOT untalented, that you love music, and that you’re willing to study and practice the right things the right way. No special talent required. Only the choice to learn what these productive study and practice habits are and the disciple to study and practice accordingly. Follow this path and you’ll enjoy a lifetime of fun and efficient learning and mastery… guaranteed.

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