That’s out of tune!
Now you’re rushing!
Why won’t that note speak?!
Effective practice involves spending a lot of time focusing on all the imperfections in our playing. So whether we’re nitpicking finger coordination, double tonguing, breath control, rhythm, intonation, or making nuanced musical decisions, it’s easy to obsess about all the areas in which we struggle.
Working on our weaknesses isn’t all bad of course, and there are indications that the best athletes and performers spend a greater percentage of their time targeting their weakest areas than do intermediate-level athletes.
But some musicians and educators have expressed concerns about the “deficit-based” approach, and argue that we should spend some time cultivating our strongest attributes too. Because it’s our strengths which allow us to stand out and make the greatest contribution to our community and the world at large.
So which is it? Should we focus on remediating our weaknesses? Or enhancing our strengths?
What is a strength?
Let’s say you’re good with numbers. But you enjoy math about as much as you enjoy cleaning the leaves and gunk out your gutters. Would math be considered one of your strengths? Well, maybe not…but it’s not exactly a weakness either, right?
Indeed, a strength is not just something that you do well; that’s just one part of the equation. For something to be a strength, it must also be an activity or skill that you find energizing to engage in. Something that you enjoy doing for its own sake.
Or, more precisely:
“a pre-existing capacity for a particular way of behaving, thinking, or feeling that is authentic and energizing to the user, and enables optimal functioning, development and performance.”1
The Realise2 Model
And when you put these two criteria together, you end up with four categories of activities we could be engaged in (the Realise2 Model, developed by the Center for Applied Positive Psychology).
Your realized strengths are things that you’re pretty good at, and get energy from doing.
Unrealized strengths on the other hand, are things that you don’t get to do as often, but represent the areas in which you have the greatest “upside” or potential for future awesomeness. You find these pretty energizing as well, even if you’re not as strong in these areas quite yet.
Your learned behaviors are those things you’re good at, but find draining. Doing too much of these things can lead to disengagement and feeling burned out, so ideally, you wouldn’t have to engage in these activities too much.
Your weaknesses, are the things you do least well, and perhaps more importantly, also seem to suck the energy and life out of you. In theory, it’d be nice to minimize the time you spend in this area too.
The fundamental idea, is that if you spend too much of your time engaged in learned behaviors and weaknesses, you’ll find yourself underperforming because your greatest strengths aren’t being leveraged. And maybe worse, you’ll be prone to feeling emotionally out of sorts as well, from spending so much of your time engaged in activities that you find draining and unengaging.
So does this mean that it’s better to focus on enhancing your strengths?
Signature strengths and goals
A team of researchers in the UK recruited 240 college sophomores to take place in a goal-setting study (Linley et al, 2010).
Everyone began by taking a strengths-identification assessment to identify their top five “signature strengths.”
Then, they wrote out their top 3 goals for the semester – things like “Attend most of my lectures” or “Make the university football team” or “Stop drinking alcohol during the week.”
Next, they were asked about the degree to which they’ve used their signature strengths so far during the semester, with regards to their life in general.
And then they were asked to what degree they’ve used their signature strengths in working towards their first, second, and third goals.
Six weeks later…
At the six-week mark of the study, the researchers checked in with each participant to see how things were going.
Participants were asked the same questions about their usage of signature strengths and also reported on the progress they were making towards their three goals for the semester.
Ten weeks later…
At the ten-week mark, the researchers checked in again to see if anything had changed.
Lo and behold, the more participants used their signature strengths, the more progress they tended to make towards their goals.
And maybe just as importantly, using signature strengths seemed to be connected with greater feelings of well-being too!
So it seems that achieving success isn’t a matter of gritting your teeth and white-knuckling your way to big goals at the expense of your well-being and emotional health.
It’s about realizing these goals, but feeling engaged and energized along the way too. Which in turn makes you more likely to achieve your goals. Which improves your sense of well-being and life satisfaction. Which helps you persevere and achieve your goals, in an “upward spiral of success.”
How to apply this to music?
So how can you utilize a strengths-based approach to achieving your musical goals?
The first step is to identify your strengths. Because while you can probably rattle off a list of at least a few of your “areas for growth” without a moment’s hesitation (and no, the ability to instantly generate a list of your weaknesses probably doesn’t count as a strength…), try to name 2 or 3 of your biggest strengths.
Not so easy, eh?
No worries! I have a couple things for you to try…
Step 1: Identify your strengths
Below are a couple examples of questions you can ask yourself from a study (Gordon & Gucciardi, 2011) which looked at developing mental toughness in cricket from a strengths-based perspective (and in the off chance you’re a cricket fan, cricket-centric answers from the study are included):
Question #1: My strengths are… I feel strong when I am…(doing this)
Answer: “My strengths are my hands, slip catching or catching in general”
Question #2: What is your best delivery? How do you get most of your wickets? (Or in more musician-friendly terms, What is your best attribute? What is the most compelling aspect of your playing? What kind of music do you care about the most/feels like it was written just for you?)
Answer: “By building pressure on batsmen and executing my bowling plan. Reading batsmen and their game plans. Breaking partnerships.”
If you’re having difficulty answering these questions, another option would be to try something that clarinetist Jason Shafer described in his podcast episode. The gist, is to listen back to a recording of yourself, and write down an equal number of positive and negative critical observations. So for every critique you have of your playing, you must write down one thing that also sounded pretty good, or is getting better.
It may not be obvious at first, but over time, you’ll start to see some trends in terms of the things that may be your strengths.
Step 2: Brainstorm ways to use these strengths more often
Then, brainstorm some ways you could feature or leverage these strengths more frequently. Here’s a prompt from the study for this step:
Question: Things I can do to build on my strengths, or put myself into situations where I am in my element are…
Answer: “Ritualize my pre- and post-delivery routines through simulated pressure practice at the nets.”
Takeaways
At the end of the day, I think these studies suggest that the question of whether we should work on our strengths or our weaknesses is not an either/or proposition. It’s one of those both/ands. And a matter of finding the right balance.
Given that we only have so much time in each day, trying to be awesome at everything is going to leave you feeling exhausted, burned out, and lacking in many areas. So it sounds like the more optimal path is to target your weaknesses and showcase your strengths.
To invest your limited energy in those areas that are going to give you the most return on investment. Not just in terms of the level of your playing, but also in how engaged and energized you feel by working on aspects of your craft that you find inherently meaningful and which are truly and authentically you.
Want to find out your signature strengths?
BTW, you can take the same survey that the participants in this study took! It takes about 15 minutes, and it’s free (there’s even a different version for ages 10-17).
The VIA Survey of Character Strengths
References
(2011) A Strengths-Based Approach to Coaching Mental Toughness, Journal of Sport Psychology in Action, 2:3, 143-155, DOI: 10.1080/21520704.2011.598222
Linley, P. A., Nielsen, K. M., Gillett, R., & Biswas-Diener, R. (2010). Using signature strengths in pursuit of goals: Effects on goal progress, need satisfaction, and well-being, and implications for coaching psychologists. International Coaching Psychology Review, 5(1), 6–15. https://doi.org/10.53841/bpsicpr.2010.5.1.6
There are three quotes :
1.
The power is with the silent ones, who only live and love and then withdraw their personality. They never say “me” and “mine”; they are only blessed in being instruments. – Swami Vivekananda
2.
“We are what our thoughts have made us; so take care about what you think. Words are secondary. Thoughts live; they travel far.” -Swami VIvekananda
3.
The great secret of true success, of true happiness, is this: the man or woman who asks for no return, the perfectly unselfish person, is the most successful.
4.
“I find that whenever I have made a mistake in my life, it has always been because of self entered into the calculation” -Swami Vivekananda.
The entire text by Swami Vivekananda
RECORDED BY MISS S. E. WALDO
(A DISCIPLE)
WEDNESDAY, June 26, 1895.
Our best work is done, our greatest influence is exerted, when we are without thought of self. All great geniuses know this. Let us open ourselves to the one Divine Actor, and let Him act, and do nothing ourselves. “O Arjuna! I have no duty in the whole world”, says Krishna. Be perfectly resigned, perfectly unconcerned; then alone can you do any true work. No eyes can see the real forces, we can only see the results. Put out self, lose it, forget it; just let God work, it is His business. We have nothing to do but stand aside and let God work. The more we go away, the more God comes in. Get rid of the little “I”, and let only the great “I” live.
We are what our thoughts have made us; so take care of what you think. Words are secondary. Thoughts live, they travel far. Each thought we think is tinged with our own character, so that for the pure and holy man, even his jests or abuse will have the twist of his own love and purity and do good.
Desire nothing; think of God and look for no return. It is the desireless who bring results. The begging monks carry religion to every man’s door; but they think that they do nothing, they claim nothing, their work is unconsciously done. If they should eat of the tree of knowledge, they would become egoists, and all the good they do would fly away. As soon as we say “I”, we are humbugged all the time; and we call it “knowable”, but it is only going round and round like a bullock tied to a tree. The Lord has hidden Himself best, and His work is best; so he who hides himself best, accomplishes most. Conquer yourself, and the whole universe is yours.
In the state of Sattva we see the very nature of things, we go beyond the senses and beyond reason. The adamantine wall that shuts us in is egoism; we refer everything to ourselves, thinking. “I do this, that, and the other.” Get rid of this puny “I”; kill this diabolism in us; “Not I, but Thou” — say it, feel it, live it. Until we give up the world manufactured by the ego, never can we enter the kingdom of heaven. None ever did, none ever will. To give up the world is to forget the ego, to know it not at all — living in the body, but not of it. This rascal ego must be obliterated. Bless men when they revile you. Think how much good they are doing you; they can only hurt themselves. Go where people hate you, let them thrash the ego out of you, and you will get nearer to the Lord. Like the mother-monkey, we hug our “baby”, the world, as long as we can, but at last when we are driven to put it under our feet and step on it1 then we are ready to come to God. Blessed it is to be persecuted for the sake of righteousness. Blessed are we if we cannot read, we have less to take us away from God.
Enjoyment is the million-headed serpent that we must tread under foot. We renounce and go on, then find nothing and despair; but hold on, hold on. The world is a demon. It is a kingdom of which the puny ego is king. Put it away and stand firm. Give up lust and gold and fame and hold fast to the Lord, and at last we shall reach a state of perfect indifference. The idea that the gratification of the senses constitutes enjoyment is purely materialistic. There is not one spark of real enjoyment there; all the joy there is, is a mere reflection of the true bliss.
Those who give themselves up to the Lord do more for the world than all the so-called workers. One man who has purified himself thoroughly accomplishes more than a regiment of preachers. Out of purity and silence comes the word of power.
“Be like a lily — stay in one place and expand your petals; and the bees will come of themselves.” There was a great contrast between Keshab Chandra Sen and Shri Ramakrishna. The second never recognised any sin or misery in the world, no evil to fight against. The first was a great ethical reformer, leader, and founder of the Brahmo-Samaj. After twelve years the quiet prophet of Dakshineswar had worked a revolution not only in India, but in the world. The power is with the silent ones, who only live and love and then withdraw their personality. They never say “me” and “mine”; they are only blessed in being instruments. Such men are the makers of Christs and Buddhas, ever living fully identified with God, ideal existences, asking nothing, and not consciously doing anything. They are the real movers, the Jivanmuktas, (Literally, free even while living.) absolutely selfless, the little personality entirely blown away, ambition non-existent. They are all principle, no personality.
^The mother-monkey is very fond of her young, but if an iron plate is heated under her feet and it becomes unbearable, she throws down the baby and stands on it to save herself.
Noa,
Thank you as always for these fantastic posts – and for referencing me as well! I love how you incorporated this research into such clear and useful takeaways for all of us. You’re right that it’s hard to see the idea of working on our strengths versus working on our weaknesses as a both/and rather than an either/or. Love the advice to “invest your limited energy in those areas that are going to give you the most return on investment” – I’ve never heard that idea in reference to this specific topic, but it makes great sense. It seems that some days, we might best spend our time capitalizing on a strength, and some days, we can hammer away at a weakness. But for those of us prone to only hammering at the weaknesses, it’s a revelation that time spent on strengths can actually be time well spent.
Thanks as always!!