When I tell people I'm a pianist, the most common answer I get is: I used to take piano lessons when I was x years old, but (insert reason here), so I quit. I really wish I didn't. It's amazing you have stuck with it for so long.
I have always found this response to be incredibly sad. Playing the piano is my favorite thing to do (writing being a close second), and the fact that so many people lost out on a chance to enjoy how wonderful it can be to sit down and play is really awful. The worst part is, the skill that they weren't being taught in their lessons, (or it was presented in a way that didn't make sense or seemed like torture, depending on the case), is a skill everyone can use, no matter what field you are working in. That essential skill is: motivation. If you have motivation, there is no reason to quit. You are obtaining value from your experience, and therefore, you continue to participate in that experience. Easy.
However, when we look at our lives, there are plenty of things we HAVE to do, that we don't necessarily want to do, at all. Case in point: filing your income taxes. It is something (unless you have taken orders in some form of religious organization, and have no lay employees) that we all have to do. It's not fun for most of us, and we do it to avoid negative consequences, the largest being: jail time.
I propose that one can have the motivation to complete things we don't want to do for positive reasons, and therefore, not mind them so much. All it takes is a little thinking/planning, and reminders in a form that work for you. Ready to get started?
This question should have a slightly different answer for everyone. You should narrow down the answer to the most basic part of your favorite thing to do. This is what will be your motivation for everything else that has to get done in your life, mostly, so you can get back to doing what you love (or make enough money to pay someone else to do it).
My favorite thing to do is playing the piano. However, while I enjoy performing, am really good at teaching, get a charge out of lecturing, geek out over music theory, love reading about composers and musicians, and utterly fascinated by piano technology, practicing is my favorite thing to do. So, my motivation, for most things, is having more time to practice.
Figure out your answer and be equally specific. Remember: there is no right or wrong answer here! It's only the wrong answer, if it's not actually your favorite thing to do, but what is the "Politically Correct" or "Advantageous" favorite thing to do. This needs to be your ACTUAL favorite thing to do. There is absolutely no reason anyone needs to know what it is, except you. However, it would be incredibly advantageous for you to know what your motivation is: it's about to make your life easier.
Make a list of all the reasons why your favorite thing to do is your favorite thing to do. This could be a list of adjectives as your background on your computer or tablet, pictures on Pinterest, post-it notes on your pin board over your desk, or magnets on your refrigerator. Keep this list on hand where you will see it several times a day, for at least 2 months. Look at it regularly, especially when things get hard, or you have to do something you don't necessarily want to do. Enjoy having a purpose.
Time is a limited resource. It is the most priceless limited resource, as we have no idea how much we actually have. To be good at time management means you have an advantage over everyone around you who isn't. The best part about time management is: anyone can improve, even those who are really good at it.
To be good at time management, you need to decide how to prioritize your time. Your favorite thing to do should be priority one, most of the time. If it's not, you aren't making the most out of your time. Now, in certain portions of your life, or if you are just starting to change your priorities, your life can be filled with things you don't want to do: bills, arguments with your boss, a job you hate, taxi-ing your kids from one place to another, etc. While it may take time to change your priorities, and you will probably never do your favorite thing 24/7 (in my case, a pianist can only practice at full intellectual capacity for 4 hours, at a time), you can make certain you get to do your favorite thing every day.
Person A is a great example of this. Person A's favorite thing to do is running. S/he owns his/her own business and works 14-16 hours a day. S/he loves owning his/her own business, and would not work for someone else to have more time to run. However, it is running that is his/her favorite thing to do. So, how does s/he make certain s/he can run every day? S/he wakes up at 4 a.m. S/he enjoys the peace and quiet of the early morning hours. On days s/he remembers to do this, s/he generally has a better and more productive day at work, because in the morning, s/he fed his/her motivation. Is this a compromise? Yes, but it is one s/he is happy with, and works based on his/her reasoning of how much time his/her passion requires to make him/her happy: an hour or two before work each day, more on the weekends.
Once you start thinking this way, you will start to see a hierarchy of what you really love to do, what works as a secondary means to feed your passion, what you don't mind in your life to "pay" for your favorite thing to do, what is essential, but you'd really like to spend less time on, and what doesn't fit at all. That's great! Make a list (however works best for you), and think on that until next week's post!
See you then!
As always, if you have any questions on any of the steps, or you would like a blog post devoted to something specific that did not make sense, please, please, please comment below! I'd love to hear feedback about anything and everything related to these posts. Paying it forward doesn't help if you aren't listening to what people want or are speaking in a manner they don't understand. So, help me help you! Speak up!
I have always found this response to be incredibly sad. Playing the piano is my favorite thing to do (writing being a close second), and the fact that so many people lost out on a chance to enjoy how wonderful it can be to sit down and play is really awful. The worst part is, the skill that they weren't being taught in their lessons, (or it was presented in a way that didn't make sense or seemed like torture, depending on the case), is a skill everyone can use, no matter what field you are working in. That essential skill is: motivation. If you have motivation, there is no reason to quit. You are obtaining value from your experience, and therefore, you continue to participate in that experience. Easy.
However, when we look at our lives, there are plenty of things we HAVE to do, that we don't necessarily want to do, at all. Case in point: filing your income taxes. It is something (unless you have taken orders in some form of religious organization, and have no lay employees) that we all have to do. It's not fun for most of us, and we do it to avoid negative consequences, the largest being: jail time.
I propose that one can have the motivation to complete things we don't want to do for positive reasons, and therefore, not mind them so much. All it takes is a little thinking/planning, and reminders in a form that work for you. Ready to get started?
Step 1: What is your favorite thing to do?
This question should have a slightly different answer for everyone. You should narrow down the answer to the most basic part of your favorite thing to do. This is what will be your motivation for everything else that has to get done in your life, mostly, so you can get back to doing what you love (or make enough money to pay someone else to do it).
My favorite thing to do is playing the piano. However, while I enjoy performing, am really good at teaching, get a charge out of lecturing, geek out over music theory, love reading about composers and musicians, and utterly fascinated by piano technology, practicing is my favorite thing to do. So, my motivation, for most things, is having more time to practice.
Figure out your answer and be equally specific. Remember: there is no right or wrong answer here! It's only the wrong answer, if it's not actually your favorite thing to do, but what is the "Politically Correct" or "Advantageous" favorite thing to do. This needs to be your ACTUAL favorite thing to do. There is absolutely no reason anyone needs to know what it is, except you. However, it would be incredibly advantageous for you to know what your motivation is: it's about to make your life easier.
Step 2: How does your favorite thing to do make you feel? Why is it your favorite thing to do?
Make a list of all the reasons why your favorite thing to do is your favorite thing to do. This could be a list of adjectives as your background on your computer or tablet, pictures on Pinterest, post-it notes on your pin board over your desk, or magnets on your refrigerator. Keep this list on hand where you will see it several times a day, for at least 2 months. Look at it regularly, especially when things get hard, or you have to do something you don't necessarily want to do. Enjoy having a purpose.
Step 3: Start observing a chain of reasoning that everything in your life leads back to you having more time to do your favorite thing.
Time is a limited resource. It is the most priceless limited resource, as we have no idea how much we actually have. To be good at time management means you have an advantage over everyone around you who isn't. The best part about time management is: anyone can improve, even those who are really good at it.
To be good at time management, you need to decide how to prioritize your time. Your favorite thing to do should be priority one, most of the time. If it's not, you aren't making the most out of your time. Now, in certain portions of your life, or if you are just starting to change your priorities, your life can be filled with things you don't want to do: bills, arguments with your boss, a job you hate, taxi-ing your kids from one place to another, etc. While it may take time to change your priorities, and you will probably never do your favorite thing 24/7 (in my case, a pianist can only practice at full intellectual capacity for 4 hours, at a time), you can make certain you get to do your favorite thing every day.
Person A is a great example of this. Person A's favorite thing to do is running. S/he owns his/her own business and works 14-16 hours a day. S/he loves owning his/her own business, and would not work for someone else to have more time to run. However, it is running that is his/her favorite thing to do. So, how does s/he make certain s/he can run every day? S/he wakes up at 4 a.m. S/he enjoys the peace and quiet of the early morning hours. On days s/he remembers to do this, s/he generally has a better and more productive day at work, because in the morning, s/he fed his/her motivation. Is this a compromise? Yes, but it is one s/he is happy with, and works based on his/her reasoning of how much time his/her passion requires to make him/her happy: an hour or two before work each day, more on the weekends.
Once you start thinking this way, you will start to see a hierarchy of what you really love to do, what works as a secondary means to feed your passion, what you don't mind in your life to "pay" for your favorite thing to do, what is essential, but you'd really like to spend less time on, and what doesn't fit at all. That's great! Make a list (however works best for you), and think on that until next week's post!
See you then!
As always, if you have any questions on any of the steps, or you would like a blog post devoted to something specific that did not make sense, please, please, please comment below! I'd love to hear feedback about anything and everything related to these posts. Paying it forward doesn't help if you aren't listening to what people want or are speaking in a manner they don't understand. So, help me help you! Speak up!
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