Would You Like to Skip the Struggle?
If you could magically play what you want to on the guitar without putting in all the hard work and practice, would you choose to do that?
I’m sure there are a lot of you who, like me, would not choose to skip the process. Sure, we want the end result, but we also love the experience of learning and problem solving, and we’re hooked on the satisfaction of achievement. Not only that, but we’ve discovered that by going through the process we benefit in ways we could never predict or imagine.
But I also realize there are a lot of people who just want to be able to play the song, without all the hard work. Does that describe the way you feel some or all of the time?
If you feel that you love being able to play guitar but hate practicing, you may be a victim of the belief that everything between where you are and where you want to be is burdensome and unpleasant. To whatever degree you hold that belief, you will limit yourself. No one becomes a good guitar player without encountering challenges and pushing through them, and everyone benefits—often in surprising ways— from struggle. The answer lies not in avoiding or tolerating struggle, but in learning to embrace it.
You’re in Control!
If you’re trapped in a practice avoidance cycle, you don’t have to stay there indefinitely. You can change your responses and beliefs to accommodate your goals, and when you do, you’ll experience big changes not only in your guitar playing, but in other areas of your life, as well.
To do that, you’ll need to become aware of your resistances and make the decision to let them go. Do you have countless excuses to avoid picking up your guitar? When you practice, do you succumb to distractions? Can you identify the distractions that keep you from being fully immersed in practice?
Once you’ve gained clarity, make some rules and stick to them long enough to start rewiring your brain. Changing your brain takes time and you may not feel results for the first few weeks or even months, but you can do it!
The Rules
The first rule is to get to the practice room and stay there for a minimum of 15 minutes. It doesn’t matter much what you practice, but to build perseverance and patience it must present a challenge, however small.
The second rule is to stay deeply engaged in 15-minute intervals. If you go much longer before taking a 10 – 30 second break, you’re likely to become mentally fatigued and lose the quality of your focus. Any session shorter than fifteen minutes won’t allow you time to enter the “zone.”
Staying On Track
When you first begin self-witnessing, you may be surprised at how many small things you allow yourself to be distracted by. Your phone is the most obvious one, so consider leaving it in another room. But there are plenty more distractions that may be less obvious, the most common and insidious one being self-talk. Be on the lookout for it and do not engage! Whatever is going on in your busy brain, even if it’s about what you’re playing, ignore it and stay on track with your musical goal.
After practicing this way for a while, you won’t have to push yourself so hard to stay focused and engaged, because you’ll be hooked in to the process. This can actually happen within a session or two—even before your brain has had time to change—so enjoy it and stay committed! Once patience and tenacity settle in as a default pattern in your brain, it will get even easier. And that’s worth going for!
