Progress, not perfection.
This has become my mantra. It motivates me when I need a kick in the pants, it soothes me when I feel overwhelmed, it helps my constant self critique feel productive instead of painful. It also resonates in every area of my life - teacher, singer, student, business person, woman.
As a voice teacher I especially want my students to understand and embrace this mindset. Singing is a complicated and sometimes frustrating endeavor, but it’s also incredibly rewarding if you can let go of the pursuit of perfection. In this culture more than ever, we are surrounded by “perfection” - even in music! A quick reminder that those carefully crafted and enhanced voices you hear on the radio do not capture the breadth and beauty of singing. In fact, many issues that I work through with my students (and myself!) are the product of attempting to imitate popular singers - whose voices don’t actually sound like that.
Instead of longing for the day that we sing perfectly, why not instead focus on the daily, weekly, and monthly progress we are making? Once we can flip that switch to celebrating our forward momentum instead of waiting to arrive at a destination, we can truly start enjoying the process.
Of course, this mindset can be applied to any aspect of life - and you can be sure that I’m applying it to every aspect of mine.
"Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good."
