re: Let Go Your Fear

Shaun Bedingfield — Wed, 02 Nov 2005 23:22:01 GMT

I think sometimes we spend too much time rationalizing and quantifying things.

Being good at something is not a formula or recipe that can be followed blindly. Rather than something quantifiable it is often the never ending quest to look at yourself and find out what you did wrong yesterday and can do better today. We often strive for perfection but perfection leads to paralysis and the inability to move forward.

I feel that the way to overcome fear is to not try to be great immediately or perfect. Rather, let yourself work and be fallable. Take small bites and then use introspection to figure out how to get a little better. The greatest failure is not failing to be perfect but rather in feeling that you are.

We train ourselves in following processes to uncover solutions but not on how to discover the processes. A computer can follow instructions but only a human being can produce music. I feel that our education system is too centered on teaching people who to follow and fails to teach how to lead. When you confront a problem that may not have a solution or has potential infinite solutions requiring tradeoffs, you must know how to think not follow instructions.

You're point on fear is well taken but often I feel perfection a greater fault.

We often throw away our best talents and stress our worst. Humans are bad at remembering notes and raw data and contrary to what most think, this is not any great loss. However, human beings can analyze music and find parallels between certain patterns of notes and the generated emotions in an audience. This might actually lead to compositions worth listening too. If you have trouble memorizing notes, think about memorizing the structures and impressions they create. Memory depends heavily on the ability for one to associate and appreciate what they are memorizing.