Slow and steady wins the race

Six years ago, I opened an account where I put aside ~50 EUR every month. The purpose of this account was to slowly build up a buffer so that I can buy musical equipment whenever a I come across a good deal of something I desire. I have been looking at a pair of Finnish Genelec studio monitors for about 15 years. They are called the 8050 and they are ridiculously expensive, and they are also quite rare on the 2nd hand market. I have been scanning the trading sites for years and have only seen them a couple of times and when I did, I wasn’t fast enough and someone else grabbed them before me. But if you keep your eyes on the target and are consistent, there are only two options: Either you will find a used pair, or you will save up enough money to go and buy them brand new.

Music, HabitsRikard ÖqvistMarch 6, 2021studio, home studio, genelec, loudspeakers, sound, consistency, habits, patience, goalsettingComment

Extreme goalsetting

What happens when you take on an extreme goal? I have found there are many benefits with this approach that can maximize your development in any discipline. First, you will never surpass the level of your greatest expectations. An extreme goal will quickly filter out most of your options until you are only left with one way forward, thus making the problem well-defined and thus easier to solve! I tried this approach out in 2017 for the first time and this was my goal “I am going to sing Nessun Dorma at least as good as Jussi Björling” and these were my constraints “and I shall do it within one year by practising 15 minutes/day.” The results blew my mind.

Habits, MusicRikard ÖqvistMarch 7, 2020goalsettingComment

Visualisation of Fear

You will never surpass the level of your greatest expectations. This is valid for fear too. Your fear will never surpass the level of your greatest expectations either. I have tried to come up with examples where I was afraid of something I was about to do – and then did – where it turned out reality was even worse than my imagination. I couldn’t find a single example. No matter how much fear that grips you in your imagination, reality will turn out better.