At this time of year many people make resolutions to do or achieve new things. As a musician what do you want to achieve this year? Will you work towards the next grade, perform a new piece, develop your technique or maybe play in a new style or genre? A good way to think about this is to imagine you are now at the end of this new year looking back now at what you have achieved. How does it feel to have achieved your goal? As you look back over the year how did you achieve your new skill, your new piece or technique? How much practice did you put in, did you go for some lessons, did you join a group or go to a Summer School? As you look back and notice all the things that made it possible for you to advance your playing this will tell you now how to make your new year resolution effective and lasting. It will tell you how to plan and what time to dedicate to your playing. And you can do this with the thrill and excitement of having already imagined having the skill you are now setting out to achieve. Try this method with any of your other new year resolutions and see how much more achievable and real they become.
I wish you well in your new year and hope you have lots of fun playing your mandolin as you create all the time you need to practice and experience that great feeling of achieving something new that you haven’t done before.
Happy New Year