Lessons from the piano: We need to do more

I play the piano.

Or perhaps I should say that I play AT the piano. Any piano instructor would quickly point out my many bad habits which prevent me from playing with more expression or skill. 

I enjoy playing worship songs in church as part of a band, but it is really obvious to me and most listeners that the other pianist on our team has far more skill with her instrument than I do.

And guess how much I practice?

About once a week – if that.  I have not sought out instruction or tutorials to improve my skills. And I have not dedicated time to breaking my bad habits. So my piano playing is just mediocre.

To be truly good at the piano I would need to dedicate hours every day of intentional practice of my craft. I would need to learn from those better than me and doing the drills to train my fingers on the correct patterns. 

But I don’t, so I will never be excellent. 

And I am okay with that.

I have chosen to do less, and daily piano is one thing I have allowed myself to let go of.

But it’s not an excuse to be lazy or unintentional.

I didn’t cut out the piano so I could play more video games. I didn’t replace that time with television or shopping.

I replaced it with reading, writing, and time with my husband and children. (Although to be fair I will point out that spending time with my family does actually mean video games sometimes.)

The point is, I let go of the piano so I could spend more time on my true priorities.

And the whole reason to do less in the first place is so that we can do more.

More in our relationships, more in our homes, and more on our primary priorities.

We prune out activities so that we can do focus on our purpose and build relationships. We exchange mediocrity in a wide variety of activities for excellence in a few.

And doing something more means doing it intentionally

The piano is just a hobby, so I don’t practice a lot.

But personal growth matters to me.  Relationships matter. Writing and communicating matter.

So I practice. 

I schedule dates with my daughters and husband. I schedule lunches and movie nights with friends. I lead a church discipleship group. And I write.

I write a couple of hours every day. I seek out knowledge and examples from better writers. I read. A lot.

And now my relationship, writing, and teaching skills outpace my piano skills because I have done MORE.  As long as I continue to do more, they will continue to improve. 

So I encourage us all to do more.

Simply pruning out other activities isn’t enough if we don’t also intentionally focus on the things that matter most. How many of us have ever said, “I have always wanted to do X, but I have never had the time?” 

That’s kind of like me saying “I want to be a concert pianist,” but then never doing more than fiddling with some chord patterns a few times a week. 

If it doesn’t really matter, let it go. Just prune it back or remove it complete, and stop regretting it.  

But if it matters to, do it.

Do it intentionally, with focus and with drive. Do it more, every day.