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Grant Arnold

Things we want to do - easy or hard?


What makes us think that anything we want to do is going to be easy to achieve, or hard for that matter, or anywhere in-between?

I reckon the chances are that it will be harder than we think, not easier.

And I reckon you can probably multiply the degree of difficulty by at least 5, maybe more, because once you get started on a project, any number of things will happen. Maybe the computer will break down, someone will get sick, you won't quite have the skills you need, or you will find that something or someone you were relying on isn’t available any more ….

And also there's nothing to say that anything should have a right to be hard or easy.

Even if you’ve done it before, you can’t be sure how hard it will be, as you can’t control every aspect. There is always the unknown. Things keep on changing around us, many times without us knowing.

Of course the less experience you’ve had in doing something, the more likely you are to underestimate the difficulty. E.g. a younger person might be more idealistic and less realistic.

We are immersed or surrounded by media that promotes a product or service in a way that suggests that your life will be made so much easier, with minimal effort on your part, if you just buy this or do that. Everything is glossy smooth. All you have to do is just ‘take a few quick easy steps etc., and in no time, you’ll be able to….. play the piano like a pro, be a whiz in the kitchen, lose lots of weight’ etc. etc. It’s all so easy!

If only it was really like that! The trouble is that we don’t see the massive amounts of hard work that goes on in the background enabling it to look easy to others. One example is that of internet courses that promise to get you playing piano nicely in a matter of weeks. It just isn’t possible. And we don't build muscles just by reading about exercising or having someone else do the ‘heavy lifting’ for us. We might have some idea of the amount of work required to achieve something, and we start working on our project. Then we see people doing amazing things on YouTube that are completely out of the question for us to achieve. And we get discouraged.

We shouldn’t let ourselves be discouraged by what we see others have done. We should just realize that it is ‘their world’ not ours. We can still become ‘good’ at what we do. Just not in the same way as others. And it’s no good trying to imitate others as it won’t feel right for you, or be right for you. Just make improvements in ‘your world’ that mean something to you.

Of course definitely look for more efficient ways to do things, such as getting expert help or finding better technology. Some careful planning never goes astray either.

Well I should take my own advice now and get back to actually doing things, now that this blog is finished! Composing and scoring piano pieces is really hard work, but I love it (well most of the time anyway) and worth it in the end. That is if I actually finish them. YES I WILL FINISH THEM!!!

I’d better go.

Bye!

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