Measuring Backwards

Musical Thoughts

Last weekend I went to a violin recital of my sister’s. It was so much fun!

I sat for 40 minutes and just basked in the beauty of the music being shared by each student.

The weather added to the experience; a chilly, cloudy day with snow falling softly, straight down, in that consistent pattern that feels like a romantic drama set in the Rocky Mountains. You know what I mean?

As Litz, Chopin, and even a bit of Mozart were played, I had two profound, life-impacting thoughts.

I’ll share one today, and one next week in the following email.

We were a third way through the students when this cute little boy (I’d have to guess he’s only 5 or 6) got up from sitting with his family and introduced himself and the piece he was about to play.

I looked over toward his family as his mother pulled out her phone and began to record (in landscape, rather than portrait… THANK YOU).

He began to play, and I’ll be honest, it was a little screechy. But it was super cute. And you could tell he had practiced hours just to produce those humble little notes. *insert chuckle*

Then the thought hit me.

What will be his reaction? 25 years from now, possibly a 1st chair in the Colorado Symphony, dreaming of performing with the New York Philharmonic.

What will he think as he watches that lopsided video (filmed in landscape, mind you) from back when he was 5?

I don’t know about you, but I’ve watched videos of myself as a kid and I can barely last 5 seconds.

It’s awkward!

My squeaky voice. That pitiful skill level. The confidence I had in SO LITTLE.

And that is when I asked myself this: WHY? WHY is it so awkward? WHY do I squirm in my seat watching those videos? WHY might he do the same?

BECAUSE we do not remain the same, instead we grow and become better. We progress.

Think about that the next time you are down on yourself for “not being who you should be”. For not “arriving” or “achieving success”.

You just might be exactly where you had hoped to be just ONE year ago, let alone 10 or 25!

See, we do this thing where we get so fixated on what we could be, that we forget who we have become. And that is a thief of joy and progress itself.

What would it look like if we embraced those silly videos of us as 5-year-olds on the violin as a symbol of progress and growth?

We call that “measuring backward” and it’s when you measure your current self against who you were in the past (say a year ago).

What lessons have you learned? Write them down.

What skills have you learned? Write them down.

Who have you met in that period of time? Write their names down.

What you’ll see is a list of accomplishments appearing before your very eyes. You likely won’t even recognize yourself.

I wager that by embracing the growth and the progress in our lives, we will find the opportunity to embrace an “accelerating structure mindset”.

If you’d like to know more about that concept, I’ve written a short, 4-part, email series on an ASM and how it can revolutionize how we live out each day.

You won’t receive it in your inbox unless you actually subscribe through the link below. So if you’d like to stick with the life observations that I share and leave the in-depth learning to someone else – no action is needed of you.

But if you’d like to learn more and go deeper (and possibly achieve a new level of growth and success in your life) then the link below is for you.

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I’ll see you next week with lesson 2 I learned during the recital.

Keep giving your best – you are loved!

-DC