Mental Pivot #46: Reframing Practice
A helpful inversion for deliberate practice, doing the real thing, and a surprisingly good newsletter discovery tool.
Sometimes a small shift in perspective is all you need to unlock a meaningful change.
I was recently reminded of such a shift while practicing a piece on the piano, JS Bach’s Invention No.13 in A minor (BWV 784). I’ve dabbled with this piece for years, but never made the progress I wanted with it (a common refrain in many aspects of my life). Having picked it up again, I found myself making the same old mistakes over and over.
In the hopes of making progress, I turned to YouTube, which has amazing resources for instrumental technique and performance advice. I stumbled upon a video by piano instructor Jazer Lee offering general-purpose practice tips.
One of his tips immediately resonated. Lee advises his viewers that, instead of practicing a section to get it right, you should “practice until you can’t possibly stuff it up” (I think that’s Australian for not messing things up).
It’s a variation of a famous adage by Percy Buck, English musician and educator, that appeared in his book “Psychology for Musicans” (1944):
An amateur practices until he can do a thing right, a professional until he can’t do it wrong.
This reframing forced me to reevaluate how I was practicing and how much energy and time I’d need to expend to achieve this new objective. To not get things wrong, I had to recommit myself to optimizing my fingering, diligently annotating my sheet music, practicing at a much slower tempo, and working through smaller chunks of music at a time. The result was a more deliberate and painstaking process along with a more realistic perspective on how long it would take to achieve my objective.
I’m not done with the piece yet, but I’m happy to say I’m seeing slow and steady progress once more thanks to this small shift in mindset.
Side note: The 2-Part Inventions are instructional pieces. Bach originally composed them for his oldest son. Despite their pedagogical origins, they’re both fun to play and listen to. The recordings by pianist András Schiff are an excellent introduction to these Baroque works (Spotify). Glenn Gould’s are too fast for my taste. Alternatively, watch this excellent performance of the A minor Invention by 9-year-old Anna Kuvshinov on the harpsichord.
For a previous reminder on the power of inversion and doing the opposite, see Issue #14—it’s a great tool for getting unstuck.
Now onto this week's recommendations…
Productivity:
Do the Real Thing: Important reminder from Scott Young on making progress by engaging in genuine activity rather than “fake alternatives.” Examples: the business owner who spends time on designing a business card rather than finding a client, the student who creates an elaborate folder-system rather than studying the course material. I fall prey to this error all the time.
Five Minute Journal—Daily Journal Techniques and Tips: Brian Sunter offers practical tips and helpful templates for personal written reflection.
The Frustration with Productivity Culture: Cal Newport laments the fact that workplace productivity, at least among knowledge workers, places the onus of solving “optimization gains” onto the individual. He advocates for systemic productivity gains instead (akin to the types of gains found via scrum and kanban).
Articles:
The 9/11 Era Is Over. Good.: Noah Smith considers the impact (and inevitability) of trends in globalization, the internet, rise of the surveillance state, and cultural modernization vis a vis the events and aftermath of 9/11 (even if you’re sick of 9/11 coverage, this is still a worthwhile read as it’s more about high-level societal currents).
Andreessen Pulls a Bezos: Dror Poleg examines a case of strategic differentiation. In the case of venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (aka “A16Z”) this means changing the rules of the game by adding an impressive content business and network support services for portfolio companies (including marketing, legal, and technical expertise).
The Exponential Age Will Change Economics Forever: Azeem Azhar discusses “the exponential gap,” the divergence between old ways and rapidly changing new technologies. Two key failures confound most individuals and institutions: the failure to predict the magnitude of change and the failure to adapt to said change. Unfortunately, this “gap” is about to get significantly bigger.
How the Pandemic Is Changing the Norms of Science: “Imperatives like skepticism and disinterestedness are being junked to fuel political warfare that has nothing in common with scientific methodology.”
The Last Glimpses of California's Vanishing Hippie Utopias: In the late 1960s and early 1970s, young idealists left cities and went “back to the land” to recreate society in communes across Northern California. Fifty years later, journalist David Jacob Kramer travels to these abandoned and decaying settlements to talk to the last remaining representatives of this movement, now in the twilight of their lives.
Why I’m Not an Angel Investor: In-depth piece by entrepreneur George Saines that methodically lays out the time commitment, financial requirements and risk tolerance necessary for successful angel investing. I’m far too inclined towards passive investments, but the insights of the author are greatly appreciated.
Why Most Gas Stations Don't Make Money from Selling Gas: The Hustle breaks down the economics of gas stations and their position in the value chain; it’s reminiscent of movie theaters, which similarly make most of their money off concessions rather than the films themselves.
Odds & Ends:
The Sample is a free email service that helps you discover new and interesting newsletters based on your interests and topical preferences. The Sample uses collaborative filtering to curate and select newsletters by recommending publications for people with similar tastes. Check it out if you’re keen to expand your information diet. I’ve been using it, and it’s introduced me to some great new publications.
Two recent photographic contests worth a visit:
The 2021 Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards offers a humorous window on the animal kingdom.
Nikon’s Small World 2021 Photomicrography Competition gallery gives us a glimpse into the tiny universe that cannot be seen by the naked eye (micrographs are highly magnified images taken through a microscope).
Since I’m on a classical music kick in this issue, watch Benjamin Zander’s “The Transformative Power of Classical Music” TED Talk if you’d like a compelling lesson in music appreciation that is both thoughtful and humorous.
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