Keep your eyes on the prize

When I became active on social media a couple of years ago, I discovered the phenomenon of so called “haters”. They exist both in real life and online, but it sure seems as if they are more common online. The pattern often repeats like this, the first weeks or months (depending on your virality), the comments section usually becomes active with people who try to bring you down. My best example is when I have been documenting my progress of learning how to play the drums. Negative comments were more common in the first year, but from year two and onwards, it feels as if they have vanished. I guess it is not that fun to harass someone who couldn’t care less even if he tried.

Personally, I like these haters. I think they are quite funny in that “barking up the wrong tree” kind of way. You would be hard pressed to find anyone more stubborn that me once I have truly committed to something. My drum story is a bit unusual, so it can be appropriate to tell it again for those of you who don’t know about it. When I started playing, I decided to throw conventional wisdom out of the window and start with arguably one of the most difficult drum songs in the world. When I have mastered that one, my hypothesis is that almost any other song (in similar genres of course) will feel easy in comparison. That way, I reckon I can cut a couple of years of practice and make a quantum leap to elite level drummer in a very short time. The downside is that I won’t be playing any concerts for the first years, because I can only play this one song. But I am not in a hurry, I am in it for the long game.

Another equally important reason, is to demonstrate the immense power of consistency. For the past decade I have developed my own method of ultra-learning that I call “The 15-minute method”. The trick is to practice 15 minutes every single day, no matter what happens. I believe that this results in maximum gain in the shortest possible time. And the method becomes even more powerful when you choose an impossible target, like playing Meshuggah – Bleed. By choosing an “impossible” goal, rest assured that you will always know exactly what your weakest link at any given day is. An extremely difficult song will reveal what you must practice in a brutally honest way. That is what speeds up the process. Choose an easier song to practice, and chances are quite high that you might spend time practicing something that is not your weakest link. And that slows down your growth process. Now, back to the purpose; If a beginner drummer like myself can learn to play Bleed in perhaps five years using the 15-minute method, them imagine what your existing bad habits will do to your life? It is mind-boggling.

In July 2023 I will begin my fifth year of daily practice on just one single song. It is physically impossible to fail at anything, if you keep on moving towards it with incremental steps every single day. This is very obvious to me. That’s why I find it extremely funny when someone in the comments section tells me to “go back to basics” and give up on my little drum project. Considering the level of inaccuracy, flat-earthers come to mind. Now, whatever you do with these “so called” haters, don’t be rude to them. Answer as politely as you possibly can, and be truly grateful for their feedback. A good idea is to kindly ask for clarification on what area they think could benefit from improvement. When someone tell you that “you suck” (which might be true by the way), that is not really helpful. There are infinitely many ways to do something the wrong way, but very few or perhaps only one way to do it correctly. You must know why and where you suck, to do anything about it. Also, when I say you should be grateful, I mean it. Any comment will boost you in the algorithm and if you answer politely, that might create even more engagement. So, even if these haters try to bring you down, all they achieve is actually to boost you. That’s why you should always reply to every comment if possible.

This past weekend Meshuggah visited my hometown Umeå, and obviously I was there. They did not play Bleed however, and rumor has it that they thought it was too difficult and required too much practice and thus removed it from the setlist, even if Bleed can be considered Meshuggah’s “Final Countdown”. That gives you an idea of how extremely difficult of a song we are dealing with here. On this concert I met an old friend Tony Westermark, the drummer of Soreption and without a shadow of a doubt one of the best drummers on planet Earth. He knows about my crazy project and checks out my progress videos from time to time, and told me he was very impressed with my consistency and focus and had been inspired by it. That is remarkable, because I have always looked up to him as my own source of inspiration when it comes to consistency and the importance of daily practice. This comment by Tony, is something I will carry with me, because this comment really means something. Honestly, I don’t know anything that could hit bullseye more with me, except perhaps if it came from mr. Thomas Haake himself.

Keep your eyes on the prize and focus on the right kind of feedback. The one that matters.