We all have goals in our lives. A lot of the time they are pretty big: travel, make a lot of money, buy land, get that promotion, etc. And those are important to have, but sometimes we forget how important the smaller goals are. Nowhere is this more true than with music. Learning to play guitar like the “Greats” is a fantastic goal! But there are countless musicians who put in hour upon hour of practice time, but fail to reach that “Greatness.” You don’t have to fall into this trap. Whether you’re just at the beginning of your musical education, or you’ve been playing all your life, mapping out your strategy and goals is the best way to make your dreams come true! Just follow these 5 simple steps to help you plan out and work towards your musical (or any other) goals.

1. Know What You Want

The very first step in achieving your musical goal (or any goals for that matter), is knowing why you are doing something, and what you want to get out of it. Imagine practicing your music as an epic quest you’re just about to set off on. If you head out without knowing where you’re going, you’ll quickly find yourself lost, wondering through some evil forest enchanted with the blackest of magics. You could luck into finding the right path, but you’re just as likely (or even more likely) to be going in a completely wrong direction.

You wont know.

On the other hand, if you know where you’re going, prepare for your journey with a map and carefully consider a strategy, you’ll be able to find the best route forward.

As you begin, you’re goal might be “I want to be better.” Great! But what do you want to be better at? Just like heading off in the wrong direction, you might not know it, but this kind of vague goal might actually be holding you back. Instead, picture your final, end goal:

• Are you playing with an orchestra?
• Are you singing in a local performance?
• Are you playing for an audience?
• Do you have a recital coming up?
• Have you mastered your art?
• Or are you simply playing along with your favourite artists recordings?

Your goals are your own, and they can be as big and grand, or and as small and simple as you want them to be. But it is always important to know where you want to go before setting off on any journey.

2. Set a Realistic, Reachable Goal

Now that you know where you’re going, it’s time to make a strategy. Begin making that end goal a reality by creating a realistic goal that you can definitely reach. This goal should be well defined enough that you will know for sure when you have reached it, and how much further you have to go to get there.

At this point some people may set the goal “be an accomplished musician.” Sure, this might match your end goal, but how do you measure its progress? How do you know when you’ve reached it? A better goal to consider might be the ability to play a song recognizably, but in your own style, after only a few listens. Smaller goals are great too, like simply learning a new song by a certain date, like a Christmas carol for example.

3. Decide on a Timetable

Now that you know what you want, and you’ve defined it as a specific and achievable goal, you need to decide when you want to complete it by. This can be difficult. If your timetable is unrealistically short, you’ll get frustrated when you don’t meet it. On the other hand, if you set your deadline is too long, you may not challenge yourself enough, and lose interest well short of your goal. You need to find a realistic and balanced “happy medium.”

4. Set Milestones

No one jumps from novice to expert in one great step, no matter how long it takes. Mastering any skill requires breaking it down into much smaller steps that build on one another, allowing for progress to be made slowly. Every journey has its milestones. Sometimes the milestones have their own milestones.

This is why it is so important to set smaller goals for your own musical journey. If your goal is a simple one, like learning a new song in time for a recital, your milestones might be as simple as learning each section of the song, one at a time. It could be mastering one chord progression per week until you know each one in a given song or album. It could even be as simple as learning all your scales or chords by simply studying them one at a time. Your milestones should be specific to your end goal, but remember to keep them small, incremental, and achievable within a realistic timetable.

5. Get to Work, And Be Kind to Yourself

You’ve set your destination and mapped out your strategy. Now it’s finally time to actually set off! Get to practicing, and work towards your first milestone. Regardless of how dedicated you are to your goals, remember to have fun along the way. Music is supposed to be a fun and beautiful form of self expression.

It is also important to try to remember to go a little easy on yourself. Try to be patient if it takes you a bit longer to reach your milestones than you predicted. Don’t get discouraged, everyone gets bogged down once in a while. Be flexible and don’t be afraid to revisit your plan. If you need to adjust your timetable, or even your milestones, that’s okay. As the old proverb goes, “Rome wasn’t built in a day.” Just take your time, and whatever you do, don’t give up!

In order to reach your final, end goal you will need to be able to adapt. You may need to try new approaches or new techniques along the way. The path to your end goal may change before you get there.

Sometimes ogres show up and it’s easier, and more strategically sound to simply go around them.

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