Jenius Creations

Tag: Goal setting

  • The Sticky Approach

    It’s the week before Thanksgiving here in the US. This used to be the indicator that Christmas was coming. Now it’s more like Halloween starts the holidays countdown (but that’s a different diatribe!). I don’t know how you’re coming along in your preparations for playing throughout the holidays, but I find myself wishing I had an extra three weeks!

    You might wonder how I know I need an extra three weeks – not two, not four, but three.* It’s because I can see where I am, where I want to be, and where I had planned to be at this point in time. (I originally typed “should be” but went with “planned” because should is such an evil, subversive word!).

    How do I “see” this? I have a sticky system. Literally!

    My system allows me to track each of the tunes I need to have ready for a holiday program(s) as they develop. It also allows me to see if something is just not going to be ready so I can replan for something that I will be able to play better. After all, the point of holiday gigs is to spread cheer and comfort – not to terrorize yourself trying to wow people with your brilliance! Save that for another time like competition or audition!

    This graphic gives you an idea of what it could look like. And here’s a shot of mine just now.

    You may have seen similar systems in your travels – this is much like kanban or scrum. Not surprising since I am a systems engineer when I’m not being a musician**, so of course I cross my tools between domains (goose/gander, etc.). The differences are that this is just for you, not a group (although you could use it for ensembles!), it is not as rigorous because we’re not building bridges (except ethereally) and we only need as much rigor as is required and not more, Finally, while on the one hand preparing music is a “project” on the other hand, it’s more than that – we’re making art not planning to pour cement or launch wonky code.  

    If you’re eager to start, you might want to know – what do you need to use this? Well…

    First – you need sticky notes! You need as many colors as you think you need. Lined or unlined? It’s up to you!

    Next, you need enough space for you to keep track of your work over time. I like the little stickies because I write small but if you need more room, use the bigger ones (they do come in sizes from 1.5 in x 2 in all the way up to 25 in x 30 in). Use the size that lets you write comfortably and fits in your usable space. I use a variety of spaces – a wall, the side of a bookcase, that photo shows one panel of a room divider and when I need to, I switch to a sheet of paper – depending on my mood and where I happen to be at the time (and if I need to take it with me). I write the name of the tune (and maybe the source if I’m reading) but you can put whatever else you decide to put there (maybe the key you’re playing in, etc.).

    Now, you need a scale for time. Use whatever type of calendar you work best with. If I have a long time (e.g., tunes I might teach next year) I will use a monthly calendar. If it’s something more imminent (like the holidays) I use the week. I used to use a daily, but I found that kept me too focused on checking the box rather than learning the music. Frankly, for daily progress I use a journal so I can capture details that would just get lost on my big sticky board.

    Now, you need a metric. I typically use what I have shown in the graphic – whether the tune is coming along, practically done, ready to go. This not only tells me how the tune is developing, it also helps me plan my practice – if I haven’t actually learned something at this point, it gets more attention so it can get “caught up”. You will always have some tune in this category of disrepair – how much you stress over it depends on how important it is (relative to the time you have to prepare). It’s important not to stress over these – if you’re not learning you’re not living!

    You need maintenance. This tool will only help you if you set aside a little time to review and update it. In the graphic example, that would be once a week so you can see, identify, and enjoy your successes, replan your practice as needed, and keep your sanity. If you review too often, you’ll get lost in translation. This is a tool but it’s not a cudgel!

    And finally, don’t forget to… Breathe.

    Give it a try, play around with it. It’s not rocket surgery, but it also didn’t come down a mountain on stone tablets, so feel free to modify it so it can work for you! Then, let me know how it goes when you start. I’d love to hear what changes you made for yourself and how prepared you think you are for the holidays! Let me know in the comments!

    * PS – I just learned that the em-dash is the exclusive province of AI…and me! I probably taught the model that. And I assure you, for good or bad, this is all me and NI (natural intelligence)

    ** Ha! I’m not sure I could be one without the other – being a musician makes me better at thinking systemically and being a systems engineer certainly informs how I think about, work with, and play music. Yet, I persist in pretending like they’re not on the same spectrum.

  • Have great vision

    You might have noticed that at the turn of the new year, I assiduously avoided talking about setting goals (except to encourage you to plan on coming to Ireland and Scotland with me in October!). But that doesn’t mean that we can’t still have some idea of where we’d like to get to as we keep learning and growing throughout the year (and beyond). A vision board might be just the tool you need to keep focused!

    A vision board is really just a collage made of graphics, photos, words, and any other visual elements that help you keep in mind where you’re going. No matter how you put it together, making yourself a board gives you an opportunity to think about your playing and progress in a very different way. Because how often do you think of a visual to represent your music? It is relatively easy to speak of it, but what visual would symbolize where you’d like to go?

    How might you go about making a vision board for your harping? I thought you’d never ask! First you have to choose a couple of parameters – you can make your board virtual (online) or physical (on paper). Then the hard work begins! You need to ask and answer a few questions –

    > Where are you coming from?

    > Where are you going to?

    > What would show your thinking?

    Once you’ve asked and answered these questions (and any others you dream up), then you can get started in a series of steps.

    1. Collect pictures and other ephemera that will display those thoughts.

    2. Organize these items to reflect your thinking.

    3. Using those organized items, generate a collage that shows your thoughts (as well as dreams and desires).

    4. Look at it – every day – and remind yourself what you’re working toward.

    5. Change your collage as needed – so that it continues to stand for your thinking. Nothing about making the board is “permanent”. You’re not stagnant and your vision shouldn’t be either!

    You can make a vision board as simple or as complicated as you like – after all, it’s yours. What matters is that you know what you mean when you look at it.

    You may find that coming up with ways to show your thinking helps you get clearer on what you want to do. Or you might find that trying to find the right photo helps you refine your thinking as you try to capture your thoughts visually*. Keep in mind that it will be dynamic and that you have to leave yourself room to grow and change.

    Will you give a vision board a try? What do you think will be the most challenging part of putting it together? Would you be willing to share yours? Let me know by leaving a comment!

    * I’ve really focused on visual representation, but don’t feel like you must use only one sense – if you want to include audio, do it! Want to put your vision in smell-o-rama, use it! It’s your vision and your reminder!

  • Trying things you’re not good at

    We all like to succeed.  And it’s always more comfortable to do things we already know that we can do and do well.  And we are, if nothing else, creatures in search of comfort.

    Unfortunately, there’s no challenge in always doing stuff you’ve done before.  And there’s only paltry reward in continuing to do things you’ve succeeded at before.

    Last week I suggested that you should make goals for the year and capture them.  I suggested you do that visually if you didn’t want to do it in writing.  And I wanted to do it too.  I’m

    t-e-r-r-i-b-l-e

    at pictures – I don’t really enjoy drawing and I never know where to start when someone says find pictures that show (just about any idea) (because you never need to find pictures of concrete things!).  Ok, I really didn’t want to do it.

    But I did it anyway.  Here it is:

    Use graphics to capture your goalsBut the point is not my collaging abilities.  The point is that, by doing something I’m not good at, I learned a lot.

    1.  I really can do anything if I just get over myself.  I hemmed and hawed before getting started, but once I made up my mind to get going, it wasn’t as bad as I had feared!

    2.  Doing something in a medium you don’t prefer is challenging, but it also is eye-opening.  In order to come up with ways to present my ideas graphically, I had a to really think about what my goals meant.  I also had to get over worrying about whether you would understand what I was trying to say…when the point of the exercise is for me to understand what I was trying to say!

    3. Not doing something the “easy” (or preferred) way really makes your brain work – none of your “usual tricks” work so you really have to use other techniques and strategies to get the project completed.

    I hope you tried this exercise – if only to help record your ideas for what you should be focused on this year.

    But perhaps the real take away is that these points also apply to our music! (you knew I’d come around to music, you just might not have known how I was going to do it!).  

    First, you have go get over yourself (and get out of your own way).  How often do we inhibit our own learning and playing? 

    Second, you have to think about what you’re practicing and the music you’re playing so that you can you want to share.

    Third, when you do things differently you have the potential to uncover new approaches to your old (or typical) way of doing stuff. 

    You can learn new ways to think about ongoing challenges.  And you can bring these new ideas to your practice (as well as to all the various parts of your life). 

    While trying to capture my ideas graphically I had a couple of ideas on how to look differently at scores that might help me learn more music faster.  My explorations of improvisation may improve my questionable recipe modifications.  And the strategies I use on the bench to push through something hard may help me improve my running. 

    And most importantly, I have now got multiple representations of the things I’ve identified to keep in focus throughout 2021 – so I might be even more likely to complete progress toward my goals throughout the year. 

    Of course, as a product person, I will need to keep referring to my captures (graphical and verbal) to keep myself on track!

    Hope you were able to capture your ideas graphically – anyone want to share?  Let me know in the comments!

  • But if I don’t have a goal – how will I know that I got there?

    If goal setting is so last year and this year we are going to do better – what are we going to do? How will we know if we got where we meant to?

    First, we’re going to acknowledge that this is where that maxim about life being a journey not a destination kicks in. And to that end, I’d suggest that this year – we bimble.

    To bimble is to walk about aimlessly but not pointlessly, to get nowhere in particular, while enjoying the walk.

    In other words – there is no “there” to get to. The time is spent enjoying the time.

    Seem like a good idea? For so many who play for enjoyment, this is the ideal approach to the work of playing throughout the year. No deadlines, no stress, simply playing to play…and to enjoy! No goal setting. No getting to December and feeling like you have failed after working so hard!

    But even if we play to enjoy, we would like to improve, to see some progress. How will we do that without setting goals? We’ll bimble – enjoying our music and our lessons – without being fussed about how fast we are (or are not) progressing or that we are not ready to perform well enough.

    To make improvements, we can focus on what we’re doing. Change the focus from “where am I trying to get by some specific time” to instead be “what am I doing just now – can I do it just a little better right now?” We can focus on practicing or learning. We can spend time reading, listening, analyzing music, thinking about the tunes.

    This enjoying the journey means that we don’t have to “work” so hard that we forget what we enjoyed about playing in the first place. It means we can pay attention to the little things –

    • how our hands feel as they close
    • how the harp vibrates on our shoulder or thigh
    • how the bass wires tickle our feet when we don’t wear shoes
    • how we particularly enjoy the sound of those specific strings that made us buy that harp in the first place
    • how buzzes sound terrible but are kind of fun to make!

    Take time to enjoy the various parts of your practice time – the simple yet difficult task of performing scales, arpeggios, or other exercises. The delight in getting through a tune you’ve been working to learn. The fun but determined way you have to work new music into your head. This focus and enjoyment is a motivation to get back on the bench, to spend the time, to play the harp, to practice.

    We can bimble on our instruments – play and enjoy – aimlessly but not pointlessly.

    And pay attention.

    Pay attention to how you have an easier time now with some particular technique. Do your hands close fully now, without you having to think, “fingers all the way to the palm” each time? Do you move your elbows as needed to address the strings at a good and ergonomic angle? Can you sit comfortably for long enough to satisfy yourself?

    Notice that you are more able, with each passing practice, to play more easily. Do you remember more of each phrase without having to read every note? Are you able to control your dynamics?

    Use tools to capture your thoughts (recording, journaling, etc.). Are you able to note that you played straight through for the first time? Did your approach to working a tricky section work?

    In the end, as we enjoy the time, we get where we end up – probably right where we wanted to be. Because really, there is no “there” there. There is only our time and our enjoyment at the harp. What are the things you want to notice while you’re at your harp?