Right, first-off a disclaimer... This post is not me claiming to have it all down. I'm simply writing this to share what I'm currently learning in the hope that you may learn from it too (and maybe even help me learn it better). As I said in my first post I'm in this to teach, and be taught... also, for anyone who's not from South Africa, CNA is a stationery supply-store... just so you get the title :)
Complacency & Apathy (C'nA) vs Potential
Potential. More than any other creature on earth, humankind has it in spades! It sometimes seems like there is really no limit on what can be achieved. I, however, would argue that we are coming increasingly under attack from two related threats to our progress, both as individuals and as a society: Complacency and Apathy (cue sinister soundtrack).
As many of us would have learned in school science class, potential is a potentially potent force, but is useless unless it is harnessed and developed by someone with potent intent. It is also not necessarily true that the largest potential force will result in the greatest actual force, as greater potential requires greater development.
In my field, music education, I see this dynamic at play day-in and day-out. The students with the most potential are usually the ones who do the least work. Often the ones who have less natural ability progress well past the 'talented' ones through hard work and discipline. In many ways I believe that the two greatest talents one can be given are the understanding of what is required to be the best (the process), and the will-power to realize that process in a disciplined and consistent manner.
Discovering the Process
I have played music for over ten years now, and until March of this year have felt like I was on my way up the 'musicianship ladder' (if there were such a thing). That was until in a moment of clarity and some pretty obvious evidence I found I was standing at the bottom of a new, and much larger, ladder than the one I had been climbing before. In the last few months I have thought through where I am going to, discovered a process that will take me there, and begun to implement the process in complete faith that I will end-up at my goal one day. In the beginning the biggest hurdles were things like doubt in myself and the process, residual laziness from my old way of doing the 'music thing', and a general sense of apathy at having done something for so long and being at the bottom of the food-chain again.
Persistence Pays Off
I practice day after day and don't see results for ages. Jeff Berlin says it's like watching your hair grow. You don't notice it getting a little longer each day, but all of a sudden it's time for another trip to the salon! Six months in, and I've really begun to see the benefits of my new approach - and that's what keeps me going back into the practice room every day. My initial trust in the process only had to last long enough to get me to the first gig where I felt like I had changed for the better, and it gets way easier from there.
Progressing People
The other thing that streamlines the process is to only hang out with people who are in a process of their own. If you're not going anywhere, I'm not going there with you! People who are on the move are the people who will encourage you in your journey and seeing them sacrifice sometimes for the sake of the end-goal helps make your own sacrifices not seem so tough.
I believe we all have an innate desire to be better. We also all have potential. How much? I don't know... What I do know is that we can all be better than we are now. And when we are better, we can probably be better than that. I also think that we could all be better than we think we could... And you'd probably agree, right?
The purpose of this post is not to say that we all have to be the best in the world at anything, rather it is an appeal to stay fresh and grow in whatever areas you are concerned with, and not to allow your potential to go to waste.
Anyway, I gotta go practice now, so take care!
Andrew
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