Developing Positive Habits

Remember the first time you tried to ice skate, or water ski, or roller blade, or PLAY A CLARINET? Can you recall how awkward it felt, how awkward YOU felt? We all know mastering any skill requires time-on-task. (Aside from those choice few individuals who we have labeled, “naturals.”) Can you remember your college curriculum requiring “the learning of other instruments,” and the struggle you experienced trying to become proficient at performing a long stroke roll, or developing an acceptable sound on the bassoon? What is it that puts some people ahead of others? Certainly “talent” plays into it. Some people have an innate ability to throw a football and/or play a piccolo, but – for the most part – it is a matter of embracing the fundamentals of practicing. Doing the same thing over-and-over to map the mind so the given process begins to feel “natural.” To date we have found no substitute for repetition, so the key to developing greater expertise lies in the willingness to invest personal time-and-energy with a disciplined desire to accomplish a higher degree of competence.