First, I'm going to repost a past blog of mine that I promised to elaborate on at a later date. Then, that's precisely what I'm going to do – elaborate with specific examples.
Here is the original blog:
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Practicing to be the very best you can be is quite different from practicing to be the very best that anyone can be. The mindset of the latter is what inspires and creates greatness while the former usually ends up creating and perpetuating mediocrity. If you want to be the best, you have to have a heaping helping of self discipline and love for your craft. Only having one of those two ingredients is simply not enough.
Simply put, if you wanna be the best you have to train like the best.
Self-discipline. Self-sacrifice. These are the two traits of masters, virtuosos, and the accomplished. They are the two traits not found among the masses.
You hear it from ignorant mentors and trainers all the time: 'Be the best you can be.' These well meaning teachers are inadvertently creating and propagating mediocrity. That statement is very limiting in nature. Without some form of outside competition from peers, by what standard do you measure your success? Healthy competition is what is absolutely necessary for any type of success in life, even if the area of success is a private one.
Be careful when looking to others for competition. Be careful not to feed your ego; competition should be an internal – not external – matter. It is a matter of the heart and mind, and you should take care not to let it bleed over into your relationships with others.
On the flipside of the coin, remember that if you go about comparing yourself to God you'll always come up short.
There may be temporary comfort in fitting in with the crowd [mediocrity], but that small comfort zone can never compare to the personal satisfaction of knowing you're original, unique, and perhaps head & shoulders above the masses.
I'll elaborate on this topic much more technically in upcoming blogs with specific examples.
-Law
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Folks, there's no reason to waste twenty years blazing your own trail when there is already an Interstate right up to your front door. Success leaves clues, folks.
Modeling an Expert and Cloning Success
People are not born with blackbelts hanging around their wastes; they aren't born being able to play sweeped arpeggios at the speed of light on guitar; they aren't born having a degree in medicine, law, or physics. You know what they are born with?
Nothing, the same as you and me.
They are born knowing how to cry, suck, and poop their pants – that's about it. No one has taught them speed hitting mechanics, tactical knowledge, knowing the second law of thermodynamics, or what the harmonic minor scale is.
They busted their ass acquiring knowledge and applying knowledge. Some would like to attribute success to intelligence or IQ. Some know the truth though…
Success is usually never associated with intellectual prowess unless it is in a highly technical field such as physics, mathematics, engineering, or the like.
What is success associated with?
Self-discipline. Self-sacrifice. Shedding buckets of blood, sweat, and tears. Sharing success with others and pulling others up to their level.
That's what.
The level of success one achieves in life in whatever area – career, relationships, etc. – is largely dependent on not only the amount of time dedicated to practice, but more importantly the quality of practice they perform. The old saying of…
"Practice makes perfect….."
…Simply isn't true.
What is the truth? Try this out and think on it:
Perfect practice makes perfect.
Now, let's look at another false proverb:
"Knowledge is power."
Why is it false? Simple really:
The application of knowledge is true power.
Study the way the experts studied. Practice the way they practiced. There is no real secret to their success or precision. Their only "secret" is the fact they had the self-discipline and drive to be the very best. That's it. They learned at an early age how to use negativity as fuel for their inner fires, and their bodies and minds were forged with the fire of their will.
Don't worry about being original or not. Why? Because being original isn't so much what you do as it is how you do it.
I'll use a personal example of mine, Steve Vai, guitar virtuoso.
This guy wasn't born knowing how to play Paganini. Hardly so. The guy busted his ass, 7 days a week, nearly 365 days a year, practicing 8 hours – or more – every day using highly structured lesson plans. The man had what?
Self-discipline.
Drive.
Determination.
He was willing to sacrifice his precious time to pursue perfection in a life passion.
Steve Vai's wunderkind ability did not happen by chance or because of intellectual prowess. He knew that in order to become one of the very best he had to practice like the very best players in the world did. He didn't merely pick up a guitar and haphazardly jam. Mr. Vai busted his ass practicing in perfect slowness in order to obtain laser-like precision at maximum speeds. He used highly regimented practice sessions that developed every possible area of his physical technique [playing mechanics], one small chunk at a time, hour after hour after hour. He poured out buckets of sweat and burned tons of hours studying music theory – and applying it.
He didn't merely acquire knowledge; he applied it. He succeeded in becoming one of the most technically proficient, emotionally expressive guitarists of all time.
Learn from Mr. Vai. Success leaves clues, remember that. Look at what successful people do. Then do what successful people do. Practice like they did. Work like they did…
Succeed like they did.
-Law
