goals and progress

            Something that I realized the other day was that having a certain goal makes all of the work needed to achieve that goal much more bearable. A great example of this is me playing the violin and playing the guitar. I personally find that playing the guitar is just more fun while playing the violin seems to me as more work than fun. The reason could be because I am in the school orchestra and practice the violin for a grade, rather than playing to improve for my own enjoyment. If I suddenly started loving playing the violin, I am sure that I would be able to make huge improvements by devoting time for practice out of my own desire. Looking at how long I have played the violin and the progress I have made leaves much to be desired. If I had been more serious about playing the violin with the sole goal of improving for my enjoyment, then all of those years that I have played the violin would have definitely been more efficient. I just started playing the electric guitar today and I absolutely love it. I already have made goals of being able to play certain songs by around when in the future and I actually want to practice scales (the dreaded, painful things teachers make us play) in order to improve. Just today I have already learned most of the song called Sweet Home Alabama (yes, for a boy from New England, I do still enjoy some Southern Rock) and I’m satisfied with the progress I have made in just two days. I expect to be able to play harder songs in the next month or so. This makes me wonder how good I would be at playing the violin if I had put the same effort into it.