At a family celebration for my 8-year-old son’s birthday, I asked him, “So now that you’re 8, what have you learned about life?” He replied, “Have good expectations. Like, if you get excited about going on the swings at a new park and there aren’t any swings, you’ll be upset. Instead, say to yourself there might not be any swings. And then you won’t be upset.” I paused, with great pride beaming from my eyes, and said, “Wow! That’s really good, dude.” What a profound thing to say. He was totally right. Expectations carry a lot of weight. Every time I see a movie and have lower expectations because of a few bad reviews, I end up actually enjoying the movie. My hopes for it were really low so my level of joy at the end was much higher.

This applies to learning the guitar. If your expectations are too big, you will most likely feel the heavy burden of not living up to that dream. Instead, start small by getting a few chords down or working on a new technique. Don’t have a timeline attached to those goals; learn them when you can. The timeline expectation can add unnecessary pressure. Don’t get me wrong—pressure is great, but if you don’t have a solid foundation, pressure will squash you.

Instead, align your goals with your life’s reality. If you work 40-50 hours a week and can only spare 10-15 minutes a day, start there! It’s the consistent, little things over time that add up. A great way to make practicing fun is doing monotonous activities while watching TV, like picking exercises, finger exercises, chord transitions, fingerpicking patterns, etc., which are crucial for learning the guitar but can quickly become daunting.

So, instead of spending your short practice time on these tasks, focus on more enjoyable activities like playing your favorite songs 🤘🏼😝🤘🏼