I’m a big fan of Anthony Robbins, the world’s authority on peak performance and achievement.
And one of the lines I always hear on his audio programs is…
“Repetition is the mother of skill.”
And it’s true.
If you expect to grasp something by only doing it a few times, you’re going to be sadly disappointed at the results.
This applies to your music playing, exercising, reading, hobbies, time management — just about anything you can think of.
On the other hand, however, if you commit to the thing you want to accomplish and support it with repeated action, you will succeed. The person who fails just didn’t try enough… point blank.
They say it takes at least 21 days of doing something for it to become a habit. Now, whether you agree with the specific number or not, it is undeniable that you must stick with something in order for it to become habitual. Heck, that even applies to negative habits. One who is overweight didn’t get there overnight. One who smokes oneself into lung cancer didn’t get there with one puff. So it goes both ways.
So the next time you’re tempted to give up, remember that in order for you to birth the skill and mastery that comes at the end of the tunnel, you must endure a moment of pregnancy — then, and only then, will the result emerge. No one desires a premature pregnancy.
“Repetition is the mother of skill.”
Until next time —
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November 8th, 2008 (comment#1)
This is the truth. speak!
November 8th, 2008 (comment#2)
Thank you…Be Blessed!!!!
November 8th, 2008 (comment#3)
I’ve spent a lot more than 21 days in trying to memorise Chopin’s Nocturne in C Minor…but still have only 2 pages of it comitted to memory…..arghhhh
I need a bigger brain!
November 8th, 2008 (comment#4)
Hey Roland! Good point lol!
I don’t think it means you’ll reach your goal in 21 days. A person who has never trained and just starts will not climb Mount Everest in 21 days. The same is true for someone who hasn’t ran in 10 years and wants to complete a 15 mile marathon.
I think it’s more to do with the repetition of the same action or skill that starts to become a habit. In the case of Chopin, you’re not doing the same exact thing over and over. It’s a little more complex. Now if you were taking just one manageable section of that and focusing on JUST it for 21 days, then things would be a little different. At least, this is my opinion on it :-)
Thanks for your comment!
(You’ve been a member here for more than 21 days. I hope your fingers just automatically type “hearandplay” when you open your browser :o) ).
November 9th, 2008 (comment#5)
Hehe Jermaine…yes,I do go here every evening to check out what’s happening in the blog. And I guess it’s almost in the fingers.
I enjoy this because it has an almost live feel to it,and many other players are checking in here too.
Also the ‘bite size’ things to work on…great idea :-)
Re: the Chopin challenge. Yes,if I do 4 bars or 8 bars etc. and work only on that,then I can play it fluently and sometimes think about something entirely different.
But just sitting down cold and do the whole piece,that’s very different.
Recently I’ve been thinking it just might have to do with: If you can hear it,you can play it!.
November 9th, 2008 (comment#6)
I just played at a club 2 pieces, one Mendelsson Song Without Words, and two Beethoven Sonata in C minor. I can tell you its taken more than 21 days to get them sounding right, but in bite size bits you can get there. I can play them beautifully at home, to my son, to my girlfriend, so what happens to me when I get in front of 60 or so people. I sweat like a stuck pig, my leg shakes, the nerves get to me and I make mistakes. Frustrating I can tell you!! How do you cope with this, how do you guys do it?
November 9th, 2008 (comment#7)
Hi Tony,
I know exactly how you feel! And “the best” (at whatever they do) suffer with this as well. Look at Shaq… he can probably make free throws at home after enough repetition, but when it comes to prime time — well, you know the story.
I think it has to do with the “inner game.” Around friends and family, you’re comfortable and your confidence is high. Much like being in a conversation with people you know but when you get around people you don’t know (or you think are at a high level than you), that same confidence and “flow” goes out the window.
Getting pumped up and into an “alter ego” helps. Have you ever told yourself that you’re going to be really pumped, energetic, and alive at a particular event? And it seems like just that moment of prepping worked and you were just as upbeat as you wanted to be? (Even around the “uncomfortable” crowd???) I think it’s the same way before you sit down and perform. Be affirmative. Tell yourself that you are the BEST and that the people aren’t even ready for what you have to offer. And that you’re about to go out and play the best you’ve ever played. Smile… get psyched and go do it!
There’s a guy by the name of Maxwell Maltz. I like his stuff. It’s called “psycho-cybernetics.” He talks about turning your mind into a theater and actually performing in your mind (using your imagination). It’s how some of the best athletes have gotten so far. They actually practice jump shots and free throws in their mind prior to the actual game. Pianists can practice and rehearse in their mind too. They can imagine themselves ‘wowing’ a crowd. They can imagine themselves making no mistakes. And the thing is — the subconscious mind doesn’t know the difference between imagination and reality. That’s why dreams/nightmares seem so real (heck, they ARE real to the mind when you’re dreaming)… that’s how the mind works. So that’s another thing you can do.
I hope I’m not getting too “out there.” I hope any of this info helps Tony.
JG
November 10th, 2008 (comment#8)
@Jermaine
Wow,incredible that you mention (and nobody has,that I have heard anyway) after all this time: Maxwell Maltz,“Psycho-Cybernetics.”
A g/f recommended it,and I read it in the 60’s or very early 70’s,and it made quite an impression on me.
I need to find a new copy and read it again.
@Tony
Yes,memorising in chunks works well.
I used to have the notion that: “Why strain your brain and memorise if you can learn to read well”?
Haha…it seems crazy to me now.
At the beginning of this year I flipped it upside down totally.
I decided to take one piece that was worthwhile to really know,and start memorising it instead.
And memorise everything..fingering,dynamics,etc.
After doing it for this long,I now I have the opinion: “If I can’t play it without the sheet music it’s not worth playing”.
And now I’m always glad to get away from any sheet music asap.
I’m 60 now and never been training that particular part of memory,but I’ve noticed awesome results.
One important thing I’ve learned,is to trust my own ear and knowledge…which I didn’t do before.
November 12th, 2008 (comment#9)
I thank you Germaine for your reply. I definitely will look into Maltz. I go over and over the playing of my set pieces in my mind prior to our monthly club meet, and lose more than just a few nights sleep as well! but imagining and going over it in my mind definitely helps. I learnt classically so my sight reading is excellent, but that means I rely on the sheet music in front of me, and I just freeze when its not there even if I memorize. Go figure! Moving into learning chords and patterns really pushes my envelope and out of my comfort zone. Its like a complete paradigm shift in the way I play and think about my music and for the first time I realise that I am actually listening to what I play instead of just technically playing the correct notes.
November 19th, 2008 (comment#10)
Yeah, thats so true.
I just found out that in order to know if something works or if you really can archieve something, you have to make sure you do it consistently, for a specific time, in a specific setting. When you’re done with that and still didn’t make any progress, ONLY THEN you can be sure it doesn’t work (for you). But even then you are successful either way, because you never gave up and in the end you have a clear result.
I think that this is an important scientific method we can all profit from. In the past I always wanted to archieve something and in the middle of the process I gave up on it, because of some pseudo-”rational” matter. Later on, as I began to make plans and consistently worked on them there were still doubts that they’d really work. This time, however, I said to myself “just hold on to it until the end of the deadline, only then decide what to do next!” and it seemed that my doubts were only some kind of excuses that I was tired doing the same stuff over and over again and it felt great when I saw the progress I made in the end which I was so doubtful about!