What Michael Jordan can teach you about Practicing

Michael Jordan:
"I missed more than 9000 shots in my career
I've lost almost 300 games
26 times I've been trusted to take the game winning shot
And missed
I've failed over and over again in my life
And that is why I succeed"

What is it that enables Michael Jordan to keep bouncing back in the face of major failures, minor setbacks, sharp criticism and challenges?

What it is - you have too!

His Mindset…and loads of practice, of course! Today we're going to examine his mindset:

According to Stanford Professor Carol Dweck's book: Mindset, the New Psychology of Success , Michael Jordan has what is known as a Growth Mindset. It enables him to enthusiastically take on new challenges, effectively maneuver through failure and grow from rejection. The opposite of a Growth Mindset is called a Fixed Mindset.

Growth or Fixed -
The one YOU have will determine the challenges you take on the amount of effort you put in,
the way you handle failure, and how you feel about yourself and your practice. 

Are you beginning to see how your Mindset can affect your Music?

Learning to play music on an instrument can be hard. Sometimes we just don't feel up to the challenge of a new piece. Its so much easier and safer for our ego to keep playing what we know. Sometimes it takes 100s of repetitions to get something correct but, often, after about 25, we're convinced we just can't do it and, probably, never will. Sometimes, our very own family buys into this belief and demand relief from the painful sound of our repeated failed attempts leaving us feeling utterly rejected.

I remember when I first started learning to play scales. I was determined to practice and practice until I got it. Up and down my fingers ran over and over and over again until my father cried out for "peace and quiet" so he could enjoy his dinner.  Not understanding the stresses of adulthood, I was totally deflated and never did practice my scales as hard again.

Sometimes we get so despondent about our failed attempts, the new challenges and the criticism  that we give up completely. Often I talk to students, like these, years later and they tell me how much they wished they had kept going. Fortunately, they have a 2nd chance and often start as adults.

Like Michael Jordan, we have numerous opportunities to fail. Also like Michael Jordan, we can choose to utilize a Growth Mindset and keep our fingers and voices bouncing along until we score big with the ability to enjoy music making the rest of our lives.

So how do we grow a Growth Mindset and which one are we starting with - Growth or Fixed?

Here is a simple quiz to help you figure out which one you're starting. Are you starting with a mostly Growth Mindset or a Fixed Mindset - One that will help you or hinder you? Circle a or b for each question.

1. If something is hard,
1. you feel discouraged and give it a half-hearted effort or stop all together.
2. you buckle down, learn more, work more and keep pushing forward

1. You approach new challenges
1. with distress and fear, wondering if you will succeed or fail.
2. with commitment and a belief that, in time, you will accomplish it

1. When you fail
1. you  feel overwhelmed, discouraged, and judge yourself as not talented enough
2. you feel disappointed and then carefully consider what happened, where it went wrong and what you need to do next to change, improve or pivot.

Tally up your As and Bs. If you circled more As, you are currently leaning towards a Fixed Mindset. If you circled more Bs, you are leaning towards a Growth Mindset.

In our next article, we'll give you 4 simple steps for growing your Growth Mindset. 

NOTE: much of this article was adapted from Carol Dweck's book: Mindset, the New Psychology of Success. 
We highly recommend it!

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