The beginner’s mind and how to practice best.
Here is the question I want to tackle in my first blog post: What mindset and routine are most effective in preventing us from giving up during practice? Because let’s be honest, we all struggle with practicing sometimes.
My child Maya just turned one year old on October 5th, and I’ve been watching her learn to walk. First, as a tiny newborn, she learned to roll over. Then, she started making cute little movements to strengthen the muscles in her legs in preparation for her first crawling attempts. She then started crawling backward until she figured out how to steer her body in the desired direction. After she became a fast crawler and maneuvered herself anywhere she wanted, she stood up. At first, she could only stand up while holding onto the furniture, but soon enough, she tried to stand on her own. Her eyes lit up with delight and joy as she was balancing on her two little feet. Soon enough, she took her first tottering steps. But in the blink of an eye, she was walking—steady, fast, and with so much confidence!
Witnessing this reminded me that learning a new skill takes time. Many months of different practice levels build up to one new skill. Many of my favorite musicians have quoted Malcolm Gladwell’s book Outliers where he popularized the 10,000-hour theory. The idea is that it takes roughly 10,000 hours of deliberate practice to achieve mastery of a specific skill. Just hearing that number makes me anxious, and I immediately want to stop and give up.
But the good news is that one element is more important than the sheer amount of time put into practicing, and that is consistency. Research has shown that short, focused, consistent practice sessions are the most effective way to learn a new instrument or skill.
The most exciting thing is that I can hear my progress when I practice daily but in very short and deliberate sessions. That of course, keeps me motivated without getting overwhelmed.
Watching Maya, I’ve also noticed something else—she wasn’t worried about being perfect right away or embarrassed that everyone around her was already walking. I mostly saw curiosity and joyful determination in Maya’s eyes. One thing I couldn’t detect was judgment or criticism. Granted, I also saw her falling, occasionally hurting herself, and, most of all, getting frustrated.
Yes, she is still a baby, so of course she isn’t able to judge and criticize yet. But seeing her reminded me that judgment and criticism are very effective assassins to kill our aspirations and creative dreams. In moments of frustration, we often hear the harsh voice of our inner critic the loudest and it can be a struggle to drown it out. Trying to help Maya handle frustration reminded me that curiosity is a powerful tool to counter my own inner critics’ voice. When I’m creating a new song, I can address that something isn’t working but instead of shutting myself down with judgment, I can look at the problem with openness and curiosity. It removes my self-worth from the problem. More specifically, let’s say I’m having trouble writing the second verse. My inner critic would say: “A real songwriter never has problems writing a second verse, you’re not a real one. Go home and look for a different occupation.” Now, it’s very hard to get back into the creative process. Instead, staying curious will keep me working; I wonder more about the verse in front of me than my own abilities. Curiosity is less personal: I’m busy with what’s in front of me, exploring and willing to try different options. With this practice, I can often pivot and keep on working.
As adults, we’re often excited to start learning a new skill and come to the first lesson with a “beginner’s mind”—our attitude is open, eager, and curious. We know we need time and that we won’t be good at first. But still, we often haveunconscious expectations and forget that even as adults we truly learn in baby steps. Secretly, we often want to be kind of good right from the start. Learning something new not only takes time, it sometimes feels uncomfortable, awkward, and even embarrassing. When we haven’t reached our expectations after a few lessons, it’s only natural to want to shield ourselves from those uncomfortable feelings and that nasty voice in our heads that keeps getting louder. We might even quit. So, the question is how to navigate this struggle and still have fun.
“We can and should allow ourselves to be a bad artist first,” says Julia Cameron in her book The Artist Way. She writes that, as beginners, there is no use in comparing our endeavors to people/artists/musicians/singers/songwriters who have been working on their craft for far more years than we have. She describes this unfair comparison as masochistic and encourages us to focus on our own progress. Did I sing the high note with more ease than in my last session? Did my fingers find the chords a bit faster than yesterday? Instead of perfection, we can demand progress from ourselves. When you become your own competitor and show up to practice consistently, you'll discover small wins each day and begin to enjoy the process. While setting goals is helpful and necessary, focusing too much on the outcome or the end product can lead us to become overwhelmed and impatient. Goals should guide us and point us toward our next step. Once we know the direction (like learning a specific song, mastering a technique, or producing an EP) we can zoom in and focus on the present step. By avoiding the mental race toward some distant destination, we can delight in the process, and our feet start to feel lighter.
A great beginner’s mindset is nothing without action, of course. So, how do we practice best?
As I lay out in the beginning, short, focused, and consistent practice sessions are most effective.
Studies have found that practicing daily in short blocks of 15-30 minutes helps the brain retain information more effectively compared to long, infrequent sessions. Repetition strengthens memory and muscle memory while reducing cognitive overload. Short, focused sessions allow for better technique without the risk of fatigue, which would slow down the process of creating healthy singing or playing habits. Additionally, this is more compatible for many of you who have to juggle a job, family, and a creative life. Short and frequent sessions can become part of your day-to-day life without burning or stressing you out.
Here is my exercise routine for you:
🎤 For Singers:
Task: Choose one exercise to practice daily this week.
🗣 Exercise Idea: If you're new, start with a breath support exercise for just 5 minutes a day.
Challenge: If this works well, add another exercise and an additional 5 minutes next week.
Be consistent throughout the week.
At the end of the week check in with yourself: Can you perform the exercise better now?
🎶 For Songwriters:
Task: Dedicate short daily sessions to strengthen your lyric-writing muscles.
✏️ Exercise Idea: timed sensory lyric writing.
Choose a keyword (an object, person, or place).
Set a timer for 5 minutes.
Focus on the picture in your mind and free-write while engaging your senses:
• Taste • Touch • Sight • Sound • Smell • Attention to movement
Keep coming back to your senses. When you start writing thought or feeling language, gently nudge yourself back to the senses.
Challenge: If this works well, add another exercise and an additional 5 minutes next week.
Be consistent throughout the week.
I hope this inspires you to start your 5-minute daily practice routine today and motivates you to be consistent. The progress you’ll make will be worth it!
Stay curious!
Andrea