Learning guitar sure can be frustrating. Don’t you agree?
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Whether you just aren’t “grasping” something as fast as you want…
Whether your fingers just aren’t cooperating…
Or whether you just feel “stuck”…
Sometimes, it can get to the point where you just want to put the guitar down for good.
If you’ve ever felt that way, you’re about to discover one little idea that can turn it all around.
And I want you to “file” it away in your mental filing cabinet to pull out in times like these.
Whenever you remember this little idea, it works immediately.
In fact, if you let it, this little idea can re-energize you and reignite your passion to pick up your guitar within 5 seconds of remembering it…
Ready?
Here we go: Have you ever seen a stock market chart?
The stock market can have crazy ups and downs like this:
How do people usually feel when the stock market is going up?
Amazing! I’m a genius! Can’t be better!
What about when the stock market is going down?
Run for the hills! Panic! The world is about to explode!
But just for a moment, let’s forget about the day to day “swings” of the market, and look at the “big picture.”
If we “zoom out” and look at the stock market over time, you can clearly see that overall, even with “down days”, it just goes up and up and up.
Your progress on guitar is the same.
We all have “up” days and “down” days…
Sometimes you have a great day…
You learn a new song… you master that riff you’ve been working on… or something just “clicks” and you finally GET it!
How do you feel on those days?
Amazing! I’m a genius! Can’t be better!
But other days, it seems like nothing goes right…
You just aren’t getting it… your fingers won’t do what your brain tells them to do… or you just can’t figure out what to work on…
How do you feel on those days?
“I suck! I’m such an idiot! I’m just going to give up and join the circus!
But here’s why you shouldn’t.
Business and success teacher Tony Robbins is famous for saying:
“What you focus on is what you feel”
– Tony Robbins
On those “down days”, when your attention is focused on everything going wrong, you feel like you’re not making progress.
And in the moment, this apparent “lack of progress” can seem very real.
But it’s not.
What if you “zoomed out” and changed your focus to the big picture?
You’d see clearly that overall, even with “down days”, your progress just goes up and up and up.
Think about when you very first started playing guitar. What was your biggest frustration then?
Making your first chord? Fingers hurting? Getting ONE NOTE to ring without sounding muted?
Have you made progress since then?
How does it FEEL when you know for a fact you’re making progress?
See, I told you this works :-)
When you’re having a “down day”, remember that it’s just how you’re feeling in the moment… because that’s what you’re focusing on.
When that happens, go do something different. Discover a new song. Talk to a friend. Go exploring.
It will change how you feel.
Then come back tomorrow, pick up your guitar, and give it a go.
Because you ARE making progress.
And your next “up” day is just around the corner.
If you know any guitar players who could use a little encouragement (and that’s all of us), share this with them. Or click the share button below.
