Momentum.
Chalk up another week of 3 hours/day of practicing!!! Yay! In between my 9-5, taking care of kids, spending time with my wife, cleaning the house, hitting the gym, and of course… sleep, I’ve managed to stay consistent. It’s all about planning the day and prioritizing. Same old story, but in practice over time is the real test. And again, just like any other muscle you are working or developing, I’ve learned that I NEED to give myself time to recover and heal. I’m getting some hand soreness on a pretty regular basis as I play… I’ll really have to be careful I don’t develop carpal tunnel or something.
I’m also learning that momentum is an extremely powerful thing when trying to accomplish anything. Stage 1 – Get started. Stage 2 – Continue with consistency. Stage 3 – Make calculated adjustments to sustain the regular activity. Stage 4 – Gain momentum! With momentum comes confidence, positive energy and habitual behaviors that become the new normal. These past 2-3 weeks have been extremely important for our project and my playing. As I’ve written about previously, my confidence in my abilities has had its fair share of ebbs and flows over the last few months. I’m on such a positive high right now really believing that I can get do this but I’m sure it will sizzle off at some point. The best thing I can do is to gain as much as I can technically and emotionally, so I can carry it forward to the rest of the project.
It’s a big week for the crew. It’s online public voting week for another grant application we applied for a few weeks ago. Ya, you know the one 😊
https://www.storyhive.com/project/show/id/3889 But this is where the rubber meets the road. Not only are we putting our project in public display for the next 4 days to win votes, but I’m planning to have a Facebook live mini-performance. Not only are we blasting it to our audience, but we are also capturing the moment for the documentary. The plan is to shoot me getting ready for this mini-performance, set up, warm up, then play live for about 5-8 minutes or so. Afterwards, I’ll go through my nightly routine with the family including bed time with the kids, doing dishes, then picking up the guitar again to practice. We need to capture the nightly routine that has given me this fantastic momentum. I must admit though, it’s pretty stressful. The selections I’m playing aren’t spectacular yet, but I owe it to our audience to give them a taste of what I’ve been working on.
The pressure is immense, but this is all preparation for the big show early next year. I just have to know that in my heart.
-- Noel
