The Protocol Newsletter
Time doesn't produce growth. Attention does.
Sent
For years, I practiced six to eight hours a day. By any measure of effort, I should have been flying. Instead, I plateaued, and in some ways I got worse.
I was in active addiction. My hands were on the instrument, but I wasn’t fully there. Looking back from sobriety, I can see it clearly: I wasn’t practicing music. I was practicing absence. And absence is a skill you can get very good at.
That season taught me the most important lesson of my musical life. Time alone doesn’t produce growth. Attention does.
Two traps
Most serious players fall into one of two traps. The first is autopilot: running the piece top to bottom, mind drifting, assuming the minutes count. Repetition doesn’t care whether you’re present. Practice doesn’t make perfect; practice makes permanent.
The second is perfectionism: judging every note until the practice room becomes a courtroom. One trap gets you to a plateau through inattention, the other through fear.
Jesus said, “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light” (Matthew 6:22, ESV). An undivided focus transforms the practice room as much as anywhere else. We pay attention and spend time, and both are gifts to steward.
Try this tomorrow
Split your practice in two:
- Attend to one thing. Pick one passage and name one thing you’re listening for: a clean shift, an even tone, a relaxed hand. Play it slowly enough to hold your attention there. When your mind wanders, stop, reset and start again.
- Reach past your level. Then spend ten minutes on something just beyond your reach. Don’t aim to nail it. Aim to move toward it, fully present.
Then go back to your piece and notice how much easier it feels.
The whole story, with the research behind it, is in my post:
Read the post: The One Practice Habit I’d Teach Every Musician If you’d like a week to build the habit, the free 7-Day Practice Plan walks you through it one day at a time.
And if you’re stuck at the same level no matter how much you practice, that’s the work I do one-on-one in the Private Studio. Everyone starts with a Discovery Session.
Keep pressing on,
Jake
If you’re rebuilding after addiction, or supporting someone who is, Recovery Resources lists free, confidential help available today.