“I know a magic word,” I tell my young students, “and that magic word is ‘yet.’”
I watch their expression change from wonder to puzzlement.
"Whenever you try something difficult, you must never say ‘I can’t do it.’ You must only ever say, ‘I can’t do it…yet.”
I cannot take credit for this piece of brilliance—that belongs to my Tae Kwon Do instructors, El and Ian Fauth of Fourth Degree Martial Arts. That simple idea has stuck with me and become one of my tools for living life well. Saying ‘yet’ changes everything because it makes everything possible.
Often as a teacher I find I am teaching not only music but life lessons as well. I’m like that football enthusiast who finds a sports analogy for every situation. For me, music is the very stuff of life. Learning to play an instrument is like learning any life skill—it’s easier in small bites. It helps if you repeat it a lot. It takes time. There will be set-backs. Sometimes it will seem too hard, but if you remember the magic word, ‘yet’, you won’t feel so discouraged, and you will go farther than you could ever have imagined.
I watch their expression change from wonder to puzzlement.
"Whenever you try something difficult, you must never say ‘I can’t do it.’ You must only ever say, ‘I can’t do it…yet.”
I cannot take credit for this piece of brilliance—that belongs to my Tae Kwon Do instructors, El and Ian Fauth of Fourth Degree Martial Arts. That simple idea has stuck with me and become one of my tools for living life well. Saying ‘yet’ changes everything because it makes everything possible.
Often as a teacher I find I am teaching not only music but life lessons as well. I’m like that football enthusiast who finds a sports analogy for every situation. For me, music is the very stuff of life. Learning to play an instrument is like learning any life skill—it’s easier in small bites. It helps if you repeat it a lot. It takes time. There will be set-backs. Sometimes it will seem too hard, but if you remember the magic word, ‘yet’, you won’t feel so discouraged, and you will go farther than you could ever have imagined.
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