I was chatting with one of my piano students recently. She has been coming for just over a year now. She told me that she had recently listened back to some of the recordings she had made of herself when she was starting off, and she couldn’t believe how basic it sounds compared to how she can play now.
You see when you are consistent with the time you put into something, you might not necessarily notice the gradual improvements you are making, but that doesn’t mean that you aren’t making them. It’s only when you look back at a snapshot of yourself at a certain point and realise how far you have come that you can see the benefit of showing up day after day, week after week to practice.
What we didn’t speak about, but what is equally true, is that her ability today is also only a snapshot in time. If she keeps being consistent with her practice, some day in the future she will listen back to recordings of how she is playing today and she’ll think how basic it sounds compared to how she can play at that moment.
If you are looking to make improvements, consistent action trumps short bursts of activity every time.
