A Boring Foundation Is The Catalyst to Fulfillment

When I was 9 years old, my parents forced me to take piano lessons.

We had a teacher who came to the house and taught me the fundamentals.

I loathed these lessons in a way that I’m not skilled enough to describe here fully.

After a year of crying about it, my parents finally caved and let me quit.

After about a year of avoiding the piano as if it were a contagious disease, I slowly gravitated back to it on my own.

I had a foundation in place that helped me get to the fun stuff.

I knew the absolute basics, like how to sit up straight and hold my fingers properly to not muddy up notes. Things I’d never have taught myself.

I could read sheet music, so I’d download and print off the scores for things I wanted to learn.

A 9-year-old teaching themselves the mnemonic “EVERY GOOD BOYS DESERVE FUDGE” to remember the notes of the treble clef from bottom to top or “GEORGE BUSH DRIVES FAST ALWAYS” for the bass just isn’t going to happen.

Being forced to form this foundation is something I’m extremely grateful to my parents for now.

My wife and I now adopt a similar approach with our kids. We make them do things long enough to know the basics. If they hate it after that, they can quit.

I try to keep this in mind in my own work as well.