In my teens, I did not simply want to be a good pianist; I wanted to be perfect.
So I took for my role model the legendary pianist Arthur Rubinstein. Rubinstein had been a piano prodigy at the age of 4 and was said to have, at any given time, 175 pieces committed to memory.
Rubinstein was on every list I’d ever seen of the 20th century’s greatest pianists.
At first, having such a role model was inspiring, but the inspiration soured into something very different. I began, in every practise, comparing my playing with Arthur Rubinstein’s. And I began not to like the way my playing sounded. In fact, I liked my playing less and less as time went on.
In fact, the time came when I no longer wanted to practise, or even play, piano at all.
So I stopped.
I stayed away from the piano for a while, actually.
Thankfully, when I returned, I did so with a different attitude and approach.
This time, I decided to simply fall in love with the music. And let my practise be all about the love of the music.
The difference was extraordinary. I enjoyed playing again. And I played much better than when I had tried to be “perfect”.
And so we come to our final thinking habit of this series: BE A JOYFUL WORK IN PROCESS.
Instead of using perfection as a club to beat yourself with, use the love of your game as a “magnet” to keep drawing you forward.
