The Mind Over Finger Podcast - 166 The Path to Mastery

Episode Date: April 7, 2023

Discussing mastery – what it is and what the path leading to it looks like.   Enrollment for the Music Mastery Experience, the most comprehensive, life-changing, highly personalized group coaching program for musicians is now open! In the, Music Mastery Experience we cover everything from practice methods that work, to performance preparation strategies that have you perform with confidence, and mind management techniques that will remove all the obstacles and self-limiting beliefs that hold you back. BUT: you will go beyond just strategies and methods.  You will get to the root cause of issues and unlock everything that's keeping you stuck.  You will experience amazing results at every level of your music-making and of your life. If you're ready to make big dreams, plans, and more happen in your musical life, book a call today at MindOverFinger.com and let's make it happen.   DOWNLOAD THE TRANSCRIPT FROM THIS EPISODE HERE   Join my mailing list HERE and become a Mind Over Finger VIP member!   As a VIP member, you will you receive my free guide to a highly productive practice, a transcript of each new podcast episode delivered to your inbox every week, and all the insider information about my coaching programs, including VIP prices on most of them.  March bonus: get 10$ off the Performance Anxiety Solution when you join the mailing list HERE!   Do you have specific questions for me or my guests you would like answered on the podcast? Share them with me HERE!     Mind Over Finger Visit MindOverFinger.com for resources on mindful practice and information on how to work with me. Sign up for my newsletter to receive your free guide to a highly productive mindful practice and to get the transcripts of the Mind Over Finger Podcast episodes delivered to your inbox. Join the Join the Mind Over Finger Community  for access to my live videos and to exchange with a community of like-minded musicians. www.mindoverfinger.com https://www.facebook.com/mindoverfinger/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/mindoverfinger https://www.instagram.com/mindoverfinger/     THANK YOU: Most sincere thank you to composer Jim Stephenson who graciously provided the show's musical theme:  Concerto #1 for Trumpet and Chamber Orchestra – Movement 2: Allegro con Brio, performed by Jeffrey Work, trumpet, and the Lake Forest Symphony, conducted by Jim Stephenson.

You're listening to The Mind Over Finger Podcast, episode number 166. Welcome to The Mind Over Finger Podcast, discussions on mindful music making, efficient practice, optimal performance, and building a purposeful life and fulfilling career. I'm your host, violinist and certified performance and life coach for musicians, Dr. René-Paul Gaultier. Hello everyone. I hope you're doing amazingly well. I'm embarking on a super fun journey and I'm bringing you along in April and May on the podcast where I'm going to talk about music mastery. And of course, that's a topic that is on my mind because the music mastery experience

is open for enrollment. Mastery is a journey and it's a road paved with many things. Experimentation, doubt, excitement, and failures, and incredible discoveries, and plateaus, and success, all of these things. It's a phenomenal path where you go through the entire spectrum of human emotions. And how to reach mastery? Well, that's one of the questions I get the most from everyone, from you listeners, from my clients, from my students, everyone. Because what most people don't realize is the minute you have a dream or an aspiration and you take one step in that direction, you're already on your way. They imagine that the path is going to look different, that it's a straight line to the destination, and that they must be doing something wrong if

obstacles or challenges pop up. But the road to mastery is a very jagged journey. Because when you embark on this journey, you take action and you reach a certain level of modest mastery. But of course, as soon as you reach one level, you're striving to reach a higher level and you feel stuck and things start to feel like they're more difficult. And that's very discouraging. So how do you get to that next level? Well, let's talk about that over the next few weeks. And of course, As I said, with the Music Mastery Experience coming up very soon, this topic of mastery, of pushing past the plateaus, of overcoming the hurdles, of getting unstuck, and making the dream happen, all of this is very much on my mind. And this is what we're going to be talking about in April and May. And since I just mentioned it, please allow me to take one minute to talk to you about the Music

Mastery Experience, because this is my groundbreaking program. And as always, I'm so, so, so excited about it. It's open for enrollment only once a year. I have only 20 spots available and enrollment closes when those spots are filled or by May 19th. Officially, the program starts on June 1st, but I have all sorts of great bonus content in May. So when you sign up before April 30th, you get access to all of these fantastic bonuses and you get your transformation started immediately. For all of the information about the program, go to mindoverfinger.com slash M-M-E. So what is the Music Mastery Experience, you ask me? Well, in my opinion, it's the most comprehensive coaching program for musicians in existence. In this program, I have packed

everything you need to perform with confidence on stage and in life. It's your transformational journey to rocking the stage, winning the job, and supercharging your career and your life. Confidence, certainty, and fulfillment are within reach. MME is unique. It's a highly personalized group coaching program where you're going to get all the tools and systems and methods you need to practice efficiently, prepare thoroughly for optimal performance, perform at your best over and over, achieve big goals, and reach levels of confidence you've never even dreamed were possible. And the program goes well beyond systems and methods. It's an all-encompassing holistic life and career coaching program where you're going to get my support to succeed in any project

you're pursuing. When you join the Music Mastery Experience, you master the art of practicing, you perform at your best, you have clarity in your career, and you feel confident. Whatever level you are right now in your musical journey, whatever your dreams are for where this journey will take you. The Music Mastery Experience has what it takes to get you there. My mission is to help you create exhilarating musical experiences and a thriving career in life. And speaking of life, the Music Mastery Experience is for life. Once you join, you get me as your coach standing in your corner, helping you, supporting you for as long as the program continues. That means years of support. So head over to mindoverfinger.com slash MME right now to guarantee your spot inside

of the Music Mastery experience. There are no other programs like this out there. And as I said, there are only 20 spots available and they will fill up quickly. When you get to the website, book your free conversation with me to see if the program is the right fit for you and if it's the logical next step to take your career to incredible heights and we will get you started right away. Again, mindoverfinger.com slash MME. I cannot wait to talk to you. Now let's talk about mastery. I wanted to dedicate a few episodes to talk about this because this topic permeates everything that my guests and I talk about on the podcast. Let's unpack it. So what is mastery? Here's the definition I really like. Mastery is the mysterious process during which what is at first difficult becomes progressively easier and more pleasurable through practice. If there is any sure route to success and fulfillment in life, it is to be found in the long term, essentially goalless process of mastery. How beautifully put is that? Those are the words of George Leonard in his wonderful book, Mastery, which I highly recommend. And I use this book heavily while creating the content

of these episodes for you. That definition is so beautiful. So let's hear it again. Mastery is the mysterious process during which what is at first difficult becomes progressively easier and more pleasurable through practice. If there is any sure route to success and fulfillment in life, it is to be found in the long-term, essentially goalless process of mastery. What's interesting in what he says about it being the sure route to success and fulfillment is that he also says that it's goalless and he puts emphasis on the process. Because that's the thing about mastery. There is no fixed arrival and there is surely no quick fix to get ahead on the journey. It's also not linear. It's a jagged curve, which is, as I said earlier,

paved with a lot of ups and downs. It's one where we need to practice diligently, remain curious, learn to handle adversity, and persevere through plateaus. The path to mastery is about becoming. It's about who you become on this journey. It's the process of reaching for your goals, for reaching for an ideal. So it's who you become through this process. It's about being the practitioner and loving the practice. And let's talk about the word practice here for a second, because there are two ways of approaching this word. There's the verb, practicing, the act of practicing, which we do all the time, many

days, to sharpen our skills. And then there is the word practice as a noun. And I think that anyone who entered other disciplines, something other than music, might be using that word in that sense a little bit more than we do as musicians. Think of the practice of medicine, for example. It's an all-encompassing word that includes everything that comes with practicing this discipline, from the actions we take, the mindsets we have, the person we are. When you do a quick Google search of the word practice as a noun, you get the following definition, the actual application or use of an idea, belief, or method, as opposed to theories

relating to it. So yes, as musicians, we must take the action of practicing, playing our instrument, working actively on our skills. And I would invite you to remember that you are entering the practice of music making. Embracing the practice as an all-encompassing concept of everything you do, think, and are is what ultimately will get you to reach your goals. And yes, of course, we need intermittent goals. A jury, an audition, a concert. These are little tests along the way. They are not end goals. Because mastery really is a path. It's a process. It becomes interesting, pleasurable, stimulating when we make it about the process itself. And paradoxically, the more we focus on the quality of the journey, the better results we get.

And there's really no quick fix about this. Shortcuts, as I love to say, usually lead to dead ends and it just doesn't work. Because what we're doing when we're playing an instrument is developing habits. And for habits to be fully assimilated and incorporated, it takes time. It takes effort, reflection, understanding. It takes intentionality and focus and mindfulness and the tension, all of those things. So check in with yourself. What is your ultimate vision? Because when you stick to this ultimate vision, everything else is just a touch point on the way. That journey to mastery, it starts with baby steps, as George Leonard mentions. One of your superpowers on this journey will be patience. I've already talked about patience a

lot in episode 142, so I will recommend that you go listen to this episode. But remember, patience to approach and learn and assimilate the fundamentals. Patience to let the progress unfold on its own timeline. Patience to work through the stumbling blocks. And also patience to reframe what you think about plateaus. And let's talk about plateaus for a minute, Because that's a big deal on the Mastery Obstacle course. The more advanced you get into the process, the more slowly things evolve. And we sit in these plateaus more often and for what seems to be longer periods of time. And we get frustrated with these plateaus.

But what we need to understand is that it's in these plateaus that learning is happening. What you see when you feel like you've acquired a new skill, when you notice progress, when you feel like you've had a breakthrough, what you're seeing is the tip of the iceberg. It's the result of tons of hard work that you've put in day after day, most likely for weeks and months, patiently building that skill. As you're building that skill, your brain is creating an intricate network of neural connections that anchor in that skill. You've heard about the myelination process, right? It's a thing of beauty. Our body and brain are so insanely amazing. But it takes time for these

connections to fire at top speed. It takes deliberate practice to create the correct neural connections. This is what the plateau is, when the brain gets the circuit board updated and functioning. You might not be perceiving progress, but progress is being created. And if you keep at it, mindfully, diligently, with attention to details, without rushing the process, you get the incredible feeling we all get when the realization of progress hits us. So next time you hit a plateau, when you feel like things are not progressing, are very slow, and it's hard and frustrating, keep in mind this fact. This is the learning process. This is what it looks like. It's what it feels like. And that's why it's really important to understand that the

act of practicing or working on our skills is the thing that we need to enjoy. It's the thing that we need to value. So we keep going during these plateaus when we get discouraged because we think no progress is happening when in fact this is when the skills are being acquired, anchored, and retained. What you perceive as a plateau is this acquiring phase. What you perceive as progress is all the efforts you've been putting in coming together at last. But there's no progress without a plateau. The process is their journey. If you take only one thing away from this episode, please make it this. Put your efforts and intentions on enjoying the process and appreciating the journey. Think about how you practice so that it becomes in itself an activity that you enjoy

and I have so many episodes on that topic for you. Go back and listen to these joyful practice episodes for example. I have many episodes on that topic for you. One of my favorite example of this is the story of a Korean monk from the show Chef's Table on Netflix. I love this show. And this was one of the most inspiring episode for me. If you can watch it, it's the first episode of the third season, where they profile Jeon Kwon, a monk living in Korea, who is really connected to the spiritual side of food. Instead of trying to be the best in the world, she strips any sense of ego from her mind and she cooks from the soul. Some people love to eat. Some people love to come up with ideas of what to eat or some dishes. But not everybody will enjoy cutting the onions and

preparing the food and washing the dishes. This monk was talking about the fact that for her, the making of dishes, of these elaborate, intricate, delicate meals is meditative. All of it is part of the process. So when she's chopping the vegetables, she's grateful because those vegetables are about to become part of the dish. When she's washing the dishes, she's grateful because this leads to eventually having the dish. For her, everything in this process is meaningful. Everything surrounding the preparation of the meal, all of it is part of the dish. She finds joy. She finds peace. She finds meaning in the preparation. And her dishes are renowned

worldwide. They are exquisite. But she herself has found meaning in the entire process. And that's what we need to do. We need to make the preparation, the prep work, as enjoyable, as meaningful as the enjoying of the dish or the meal. How amazing is the entire journey then when we're able to do this? And for sure, there are moments when it's frustrating. There are hurdles. Playing an instrument is not the easiest thing. But think about the way you would approach the obstacles, the difficulties, if you reframe them as part of the journey, as part of the learning process, as a necessary part, actually as the only way to reach mastery, then there's no longer unnecessary agony and misery. We find resilience and determination. We go on fact-finding missions

of how to fix issues. We understand that acquiring skills takes time and we both bring and find meaning and purpose in the work, in practicing, in the practice of pursuing musical mastery. So every practice session, every jury you play for, any competition you enter, any audition you take, they are steps along the way. Think of these short-term goals as stepping stones from one level to the next. And remember this about the path to mastery. And yes, I will read this definition by George Leonard a third time. Mastery is the mysterious process during which what is at first difficult becomes progressively easier and more pleasurable through practice. If there is any sure route to success and fulfillment in life, it is to be found in the long-term,

essentially goalless process of mastery. Mastery is a path that requires patience to let the process unfold, a love for the process itself, the understanding that there are no quick fixes, a willingness to embrace the plateaus, the insatiable curiosity to explore solutions, and the determination to push past the obstacles. And as you walk this path, ask yourself, what does mastery mean to me?

What is my definition of mastery in my field? What are my short-term and long-term goals for achieving mastery? How can I stay motivated and committed to the process of mastery over the long-term? How can I integrate my new skills and knowledge into my daily life and work? What are the biggest challenges I may face on the road to mastery and how can I overcome them? What are some ways I can push beyond my current level of expertise and continue to challenge myself? How can I remain open and humble to learning even as I become more skilled and more experienced? And how can I use my knowledge and experience to help others on their own paths to mastery?

keep those questions nearby for reflection and to help yourself stay focused motivated and continuously learning and growing so this is what i have for you this week my friends in the next few episodes we're going to continue on our journey on the path to mastery and we're going to cover all sorts of great things i'm going to talk to you about the five keys to mastery we're going to talk about handling change how to manage our energy how to avoid pitfalls and a lot more i have a lot of great stuff for you in store over the next few weeks and don't forget to head over to mindoverfinger.com slash mme right now to catch all of the details about the music mastery experience i guarantee you results in this program this is my promise to you better performance

more confidence you're going to reach goals and you're going to enjoy the whole process if you're wondering how to finally get where you want to be and you want help getting there faster i will be with you every step of the way and i have a fantastic community of supportive wonderful musicians ready to cheer you on to the finish line so if that sounds like the right next step to finally make all of the things you've been wanting to create in your life happen, book your free conversation with me and let's make it a reality for you. Much love going your way and à bientôt. Thank you guys so much for listening. I hope you enjoyed this episode of the Mind Over Finger

podcast. If this content was helpful for you, please share with everyone you think could benefit from it. Take a screenshot, share on social media and tag me. I'm mind over finger everywhere. So reach out, send me a DM and let me know how this content helped you. Let's keep the conversation going. As always, I have all the information related to this episode in the show notes. You can find them via your podcast app or by visiting mindoverfinger.com, where you can also find more free resources on efficient practice and performance preparation, links to sign up to my free workshops, and information on how to work with me. Don't forget to sign up for my newsletter to receive your free guide to a productive mindful practice, transcripts from the Mind Over Finger podcast episodes delivered to your inbox every week, and more. also join the mind over finger facebook community my private group for access to my live videos and to exchange with a community of like-minded musicians so make sure you're subscribed to

the podcast and if you have specific questions for me or my guests that you would like answered in an episode share them with me using the link in the show notes or send me a dm on instagram or Facebook. That's it for today. Again, thank you and à bientôt.