It’s hard to believe that it’s been 10 years since I started learning to play the piano. At that time, I was a different person. Playing the piano has changed me. It’s given me more than I could have even imagined. Back then, I simply fell in love with it. I think I always loved it. I remember admiring it as a kid, but it felt impossible, like it was too difficult or maybe I was just too lazy to try.

It still felt impossible at age 28, when I purchased my Casio keyboard, which I still have today. I spent a year teaching myself the basics. Even this was so enjoyable, I often spent hours on it daily. Then I felt ready for lessons. I took lessons for a year and then ended up stopping them because I moved. But I stuck with it. After a year of taking lessons, I realized most of it isn’t magic or someone telling you what to do. Yes, there’s technique, but most of it is practice on a daily basis and just sticking with it. *Also, I never wanted to be a professional pianist or anything like that, you probably need more guidance if that’s the goal.

These are the things it taught me.

1. Perseverance

This is the most important aspect of learning anything. You have to stick with it and do it consistently over a long period of time to see real improvement. And this isn’t as much of a problem, if you truly want to do it for the right reasons. As long as you don’t expect unrealistic improvement. Many people give up way too early. It takes time and effort, the right kind of practice to master something. It’s just a matter of finding the right thing to focus on for you. It may not be piano, maybe it’s the flute or painting or wind surfing, etc.

2. Patience

I’ve never been the most patient person. I was even born a month early, lol. But you can’t learn piano without some degree of patience. It’s not easy and it takes consistent practice over time (often years) to get anywhere with it. This is probably the most important point. The thing that made the most progress for me on the piano, was doing it extremely slowly at first. Going through a song, lining up the notes, measure by measure, separating the right and left hand parts and then doing it very slowly with both hands, note by note. Once you can play one measure with both hands without making a mistake, you move to the next. Even though it’s the last thing I wanted to do. I just wanted to sit down at the piano and play my favorite songs and this prevented my progress at the beginning for quite some time. But this was absolutely essential and it takes extreme patience. If you think about it, a song is just made up of smaller sections. It’s either one, two or more notes (chords) played together or one note after the other played by the left and right hands. It made me realize that anything worthwhile is like this. It’s a process of mastery that requires patience over time. You will suck at the beginning of any endeavor and it’s crazy to believe it should be otherwise. Expect it and it will be less painful to suck. Compete against yourself and watch your improvement over time. There’s nothing more satisfying. I’ve been able to apply this mindset to many different things.

3. Confidence

This is a byproduct of being on any path of mastery. All of a sudden, the shallow, superficial things in life start to fade away. They lose their power after losing your focus. Instead of wasting time watching TV and mindlessly socializing, I practiced piano. There are so many things we do, because we’ve been told they have value by others. But really, much of what we do, others are profiting off of. Do you really want to be used like that? We undervalue the creative side of the mind, which I’ve learned is one of the most valuable things I have. When I started focusing on piano, it loosened the hold that society has on me just a little, but it was enough to start me questioning many things I used to spend my time on. I cut a lot of that stuff out. You start to think about how you want to spend your time, develop a purpose and it doesn’t matter whether other people value it. I am not asking anyone for validation or approval, I don’t need it. And neither do you. You don’t need permission from others to do what you love to do. While this isn’t easy and requires effort, it gives you a path. You are no longer throwing away your most precious asset, your attention. You have a place to focus it, that you’ve chosen. This, for some reason has given me a confidence I never had before.

4. Focus and The Flow State

That feeling of complete focus, no thoughts, just what you are doing. It often happens to me when I’m doing something like playing pool or ping pong. The times when I know I can get the shot, hit the bullseye. The flow state is magical. There’s something special that happens when you enter the flow state. It’s happened to various degrees many times in my life and it transforms me. It’s this power of focus and clarity that emerges when you really study something for a period of time. The more you enter the flow state, the easier it becomes and the stronger your ability to focus becomes. Focus can seem like a super power, it can help you do amazing things.

5. Creativity / Mind Development

I’m convinced playing the piano also benefits the mind (again the right creative side). I haven’t studied this or anything, it’s just based on what I’ve personally experienced. I started playing piano and shortly after songs appeared in my mind. Original songs. Lyrics. I can’t even keep up with them and write them down when they come to me. After starting to learn piano, I remembered my passion for singing and also started learning that. Then went back to painting and drawing. It’s as if another part of your mind opens up. I think it exercises the right side of the brain, which is so underutilized in our school system. This is one of the most satisfying things to me, just to create something.

So, if you have the desire to learn piano, or anything, go for it! You gave nothing to lose and everything to gain. What else are you going to do in your free time that brings so many benefits? Chances are you won’t regret it and you can always stop and try something else you’re interested in! Stop thinking about it and just do it!