Foolish Consistency

“A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson. I think this quote means you need to be consistent, but you also need to be smart. It’s the difference between repeating yourself endlessly and what Anders Ericsson calls deliberate practice. Practice smarter, not harder. Smart people have been saying this for centuries. You don’t have to practice more than everybody else, but you do have to practice well more than everyone else. Use a metronome, but if you just put the metronome on and don’t change the tempo to suit your needs, you really aren’t doing it right. Play scales, but change the way you play them to fit your needs. If you play them the same way every time, you really aren’t doing it right. This is undoubtedly a more difficult way to be, but if the alternative leads to more frustration, resentment, and burnout, what choice do we have?