In music as in life, the ability to effectively set and achieve goals is absolutely critical in enabling you to move forward on a path to success and happiness.
When it comes to the art & science of musical achievement, you must not discount the goal setting part of the process as it may be the single most important skill you can develop as an aspiring musician.
I used to scoff at the musicians I knew that would write down their musical goals in notebooks and schedule their practice activities in their daily planners.
It seemed to me that they were missing out on the free-flowing, spontaneity that made the artist’s pursuit so romantic and appealing.
Well eventually, dissatisfaction, a constant feeling of underachievement and a mounting desire to speed up my musical improvement led me to change my stance on such matters.
Adopting some basic goal setting practices into my studies has proven to be one of the most rewarding musical decisions I’ve ever made and this (very simple) practice has catalyzed some dramatic improvements in my playing ever since.
So, if you’re one of those students who is thinking about skipping this section, or if you think that goal setting is just for squares and attendees at a Tony Robbins seminar…you’re wrong.
A little intentional goal setting can go a long way toward getting your banjo playing from where it is now to where you want it to be!
Luckily, it’s not that hard to strengthen your goal setting muscles. All you need are a few helpful guidelines…
How to set goals
Get Specific
The simple act of accurately defining what you would like to accomplish will get you well on your way to accomplishing said goal.
Conversely, If you don’t take the time to figure out exactly what you are trying to achieve, then it’s highly unlikely that you’ll ever achieve it.
“If you aim at nothing, you’re sure to hit it every time.” – anonymous
If you decide that you, “want to play faster”, you’re not giving yourself a clear enough picture of the desired outcome.
If you decide you “want to play Bill Cheatham (along with a metronome) at 120 beats per minute without making any mistakes”, you’re being more specific.
Armed with this hard data, your mind (including your subconscious) can start moving you toward a more specifically defined destination.
Write Your Goals Down on Paper
Taking your goals from the realm of the immaterial (a thought in your mind) to the material (ink on paper) is a great first step toward turning a notion into a reality.
Action Item #1
Find a writing utensil and a blank piece of paper. Turn the paper on its side and divide it into thirds, like so:
Right click the link above to download and print a pre-made sheet
In the left hand column, write down any and all banjo goals that come to mind.
They can be as conservative or as outrageously ambitious as you want.
Remember to get as specific as possible with each one.
Make sure you’ve completed this step before moving on…you should have at least five goals listed.
Get Clear on Your Motivations
Action Item #2
In the second column, next to each goal that you’ve written down, list the benefit(s) you hope to receive by accomplishing it.
Perhaps it’s simply a feeling of accomplishment or recognition that you’re after.
Perhaps, as with my Bill Cheatham example above, it’s a more specific benefit, like the ability to perform a tune ‘up to speed’ at the local square dance.
Maybe you’re hoping to wow the judges on American Idol.
There are no right answers here. Just be honest with yourself and do your best to define the inspiration behind each specific goal.
Among other things, getting clear on the impetus behind each of your goals can help accelerate your motivation to get to work achieving them.
On the other hand, you may learn that the driving force behind a particular goal is less than noble…at which point you may decide to remove the goal from your list altogether.
Either way, exploring your the motivations behind your goal choices is a critical step in this process.
Set a Deadline
Action Item #3
In the third column, assign a deadline to each goal you’ve defined.
This is not an exact science, you’ll likely have to make an educated guess as to how long it will take to master each skill you’ve laid out for yourself.
The key is to be realistic during the process. Strive for a deadline that will challenge you but avoid making them impossibly ambitious.
For example:
Let’s say that, at present, I can successfully play Bill Cheatam at 100 beats per minute.
My goal is to play it at 120 beats per minute. I’m going to guess that, with consistent and intentional practice, I might be able to increase my performance speed by about 5 beats a week.
So I’ll set my deadline to one month from now.
I may be overestimating or underestimating the rate at which I can improve but, regardless, this deadline will give me a clear focus that will serve to guide and motivate me through my practice sessions.
As I mentioned earlier, you want to set realistic yet challenging deadlines for each of your banjo goals, but you don’t have to overthink this step.
Just make your best and most-educated guess. You can reassess your deadlines down the road and we’ll do so when we get to the ‘Refining Your Practice Regimen‘ section of this course.
There’s something magical about a deadline so go ahead and start putting that magic to use.
What now?
First, give yourself a pat on the back.
If you completed the goal setting exercises above, then you’ve made a huge step in the right direction and you are on the right path to start accelerating your rate of musical improvement!
Second, it’s time to take some action.
No matter how good you are at setting goals, they’re useless if you don’t act on them. So, for the next few days, spend a portion of your daily practice time focusing on some of the goals that you defined during today’s exercise.
At this point, your assignment is that simple: work your newly-defined goals into your current practice regimen.
In the lesson segments to come, you’ll be spending plenty of time and energy on creating and refining a specific practice plan for your purposes and you’ll be introduced to a myriad of concepts, strategies, tricks, tips and philosophies to help you do so.
Till then, I ask you to do just one thing: work your newly-defined goals into your current practice regimen.
