Focus On What You Can Do Now
A very nice quote appeared in my e-mail box this morning. Perfect timing, because I was just about to blog about this very topic. Check it out . . .
“Don’t let the fear of the time it will take to accomplish something stand in the way of your doing it. The time will pass anyway; we might just as well put that passing time to the best possible use.”
This quote comes from Earl Nightingale, a well-known motivational author and speaker who started the Nightingale-Conant Corporation of personal improvement products.
Last night, a student came into his lesson and admitted that he lost motivation to learn his new piece for one reason: he looked at all the pages he had to learn.
Have you had this happen? It’s not uncommon.
If you’ve ever made a “to-do” list with great excitement (or with good intentions), you’ve probably noticed that the excitement wears off quickly when that list becomes overwhelming. Suddenly procrastination, excuses and stress replace your well-meaning intention to get things done.
The reason the list can overwhelm you is because you couldn’t completely foresee the details of your day as you made the list. If you write down 5 things to do, it seems quite manageable. But, the day begins to unfold with unexpected phone calls, work events that demand your attention, childcare, meals, etc.
You get the point.
What can you do?
Focus on the first item on the list and completely engage in it! That’s right, forget about the remaining items on the list until you complete the one right in front of you. Maybe it’s the task that is most important, maybe it’s the one to do first in the day because it needs to be done before you can do anything else. Whatever the reason, you can certainly decide which activity is worthy of your full attention at any moment.
The problem comes along when you start to look over your list and imagine how you won’t be able to do it all. Then you get fearful and stressed. In fact, you spend more time worrying about the ways in which you can’t complete the tasks then actually getting something accomplished.
With our students, we have them practice just 1 or 2 measures at a time with full care and attention, even if it’s a 75 page piece with 800 measures of music.
Why?
Because if you do a good job on those 2 measures the first time, you won’t need to keep coming back to them to repair unfinished business. In fact, if you gloss over those first two measures and miss details, you will later have to unlearn the details that don’t even belong in the music.
I don’t think I need to spell out the life metaphor here.
Just focus on what is in front of you with full care and attention because the success in this moment will lead to success in each subsequent moment. You may even finish all the items on the list because your focus level is high. You’re unencumbered by fear and procrastination when you adopt this principle.
I’m thankful to Earl and my student from last night because I need this reminder on a regular basis!
