The Best Quote I've Ever Heard About Goal Setting

"A good goal is one that changes your actions in the moment. Like, right now. Goals are not about the future. They are about the present moment. Changing your present actions."

—Derek Sivers

Derek Sivers is one of my favorite thinkers/authors/speakers/entrepreneurs in the world. He regularly makes me think about things in a different way or inspires me to try something new.

This is the best quote I've ever heard about goal setting. I've never heard the quality of the goal attached to whether it inspires you take to immediate action which makes all the sense in the world.

Two summers ago I decided to learn all of my major scales in thirds with the descending scales featuring ascending thirds. I learned ascending thirds on the way up and descending thirds on the way down many years ago. I have played that pattern at most once a year for the last decade and could do it perfectly right now. It is fully engrained. But playing ascending thirds on the way down was like reading a foreign language at first! Surprisingly so actually.

So I made a very specific goal for myself which was something like this:

I will play all the major scales in thirds around the circle of fourths in 8th notes at quarter note equals 100 with ascending thirds on the way up and ascending thirds on the way down from memory by August 20th without making a single mistake.

This goal made me immediately spring into action. It was made around July 1st and I had a very busy summer planned. I wasn't going to have a ton of time to practice because of gigs, family obligations and vacation. Putting a hard date on it that was neither overly aggressive nor so far in the future that there was no sense of urgency was the key.

It ended up forcing me to spend a lot of time on basics and certainly led to me having a few practice sessions that surely would not have happened otherwise. Using Derek's litmus test, this was a good goal since it made me take immediate action.

My students are going to get sick of me saying this quote very quickly because it is about to permeate my teaching.

So if you have a goal that isn't changing your present actions, the question to ask yourself is how can I improve this goal so that it does?

Derek Sivers: Monday YouTube Fix

Here is a very short (barely over 3 minutes) and very interesting video by Derek Sivers on why you should keep your mouth shut when you establish a new goal rather than telling everyone about it.

(He talks more about it here in this short blog post.)

I'm a big fan of videos less than 5 minutes long that make you think about something for a really long time.

Enjoy!

http://www.ted.com After hitting on a brilliant new life plan, our first instinct is to tell someone -- but Derek Sivers says it's better to keep goals secret. He presents research stretching as far back as the 1920s to show why people who talk about their ambitions may be less likely to achieve them.

Derek Sivers - "Why You Need to Fail": Monday YouTube Fix

Every once in a while you stumble on a video that makes you reevaluate something you do on a daily basis.  This video by Derek Sivers did just that for me. In a departure from the norm around here, this is the first Monday YouTube Fix that is not a musical performance.  In fact, this video isn't even specifically about performing music, although as you'll see it is referenced and couldn't be more relevant to that pursuit.

"Why You Need To Fail" is a 15 minute look into why failure, whether it be in the practice room or the board room, is essential to all human growth.  This video made me do so real soul searching about my own practicing and I already feel a refreshed approach to my craft.  I can not possibly recommend this more to ANY musician (performer, teacher, conductor, composer, ANYONE.)

Prepare to have your eyes opened...

Enjoy!

(A tip of the hat to my friend Syd Schwartz who is currently serving as Music Business Entrepreneur-In-Residence at NYU for bringing this video to my attention via his twitter feed.)