By Christopher Aesoph, MA
After many years of playing guitar, I committed fully to improve, with a goal of being an accomplished guitar player by the end of this decade. That means 2020. The other day my guitar teacher made a significant statement. He is 20 years my junior yet has acquired a wisdom regarding helping people stay the course. I was complaining to him about my slow progress, and he replied, “What you need to realize is that when you are traveling down the musical highway, the fastest you can possibly go is 5 clicks per hour.” In other words, about 3 miles per hour. “And so,” he continued, “Congratulations, because you are flying down the highway today at 5 clicks.”
That pace, he said, is actually something to be very proud of. It’s nothing to be concerned about, and it’s certainly not a pace that should be looked down upon. If anything, once I understood what he was saying, it only strengthened my commitment to regular practice. At two hours per day, and five days per week, that’s a total of 30 miles per week, or 120 miles per month. It adds up to a significant amount.
Since applying that same principle to every improvement project I work on, including expensive and important projects to improve my client companies, my tendency to despair or become indignant when things move slowly has dissipated. Now I just stay the course and look for the next opportunity to make progress, however small. Sometimes radical improvement requires radical change, which seems to move more quickly. But on most fronts, pushing forward, slowly, is the only option available.
At certain times we need to push hard. But I've seen change agents who've become self-righteous and impatient to the point that they have begun to lose the influence they worked so hard to earn. The lesson is to push with patience. Not an easy assignment. The payoff includes some small satisfactions along the way, which when we are too aggressvie, we are often too agitated to appreciate.
Comments
Is it Malcolm Gladwell, in his new book "Outliers", who argues that original genius and inspiration and native talent have been overrated as predictors for success in the performing arts, and that what is needed instead is a sort of doggedness, plugging away day after day from early childhood well into maturity, that separates the celebrated virtuosos from the also-rans, and puts the seal of greatness on a pianist or violinist? That, and the culture from which the artist sprang: Was that culture encouraging? Did it have high expectations? Did it hold perseverance in especially high regard?
I think that was Gladwell's idea. And your way of proceeding fulfills his prescription for success. I will say that I, in my twenties, practiced the piano every day for four to six hours a day. At the very end of this five-year period of torturing my wife and neighbors, I could play Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata, Op. 27, in a half-assed sort of way. Then, I quit abruptly, and determined I could better further my music education by listening to much more music.
I think I tried to force things. I tried to do too much too fast, and ended up repeating pieces endlessly without much improvement because I tried to play them too fast without getting them perfect first at much slower speeds. Perhaps you could take a warning from my stupidity and greed for immediate improvement. Be patient, as you have been. Keep doing what you're doing.
Bill Sweetland
# Chris A. 2010-07-03 14:07
Bill, your illustration suggests "keep doing what you're doing" only works if you're doing the right thing in the right way, for the right reasons. Otherwise, to keep doing only means to repeat wrongs, right? Now my head hurts. Thanks for your comment.
# Denise Owen 2010-06-25 12:30
I agree 100% with this approach. Most businesses need to keep productivity up while trying to implement change in parallel. Rapid change is difficult to achieve when resources are consumed by their day-to-day jobs. It is like trying to rewire the house while the power is still on. You want to do one room at a time and proceed very carefully – slow and steady will get you there.
# Chris A. 2010-07-03 14:10
Denise, what grows tiresome are those who belligerently demand that you blow the house up before rewiring. Great to hear from you.
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