Little and often

Supposedly a good way to start to pin down a habit rather than going for a big commitment straightaway, little and often seems a good way to get back to the blog.

It’s so easy to doubt the value of what you when you have no feedback, or when you’re at the intermediate stage that creative/learning people will recognise: there’s no obvious standout progress or things haven’t yet ‘clicked’. That doubt becomes corrosive and can take you into a spiral of despondency and bad results, but checking in with someone and hearing positive reinforcement makes all the difference.

I’m reminded of an organ teacher I really enjoyed learning with and whose methods were challenging (all good as far as I’m concerned) – they reckoned that five minutes in every practice session could be given over to something fun and would in fact be valuable even in such short doses. I certainly need to rediscover that in my organ practice!

Seeing Max little and often feels frustrating and often gives me serious doubt about the possibilities we have, but the wonderful feedback from our jumping lessons last week have reassured me that we’re on a good track and if it’s what we can manage then it’s a good use of our time after all. Watching a short video from a dressage trainer earlier gave me an idea (and the self-confidence to carry it out) to try with Max today and so we enjoyed a productive session like an island in the middle of a busy week.

Here’s our belated new year’s resolution then: little and often for the best progress we can manage. Anything else is a bonus!