Be Anti-Perfectionist

Naturally, in the end, want to both have fun and to produce good quality results. The trouble is that these two can conflict in many ways. Often if the outcomes of our own efforts does't match up to the professionally produced stuff we hear on the radio, in clubs, or online, we are disappointed and discouraged. This isn't a good thing, most of the time, since it it will tend to discourage effort and exploration.

The thing is, if you are learning a real instrument, it takes years to get good enough to even play confidently in front of friends. If you took stock after a few weeks, noticed that the sound you were getting out of your new electric guitar wasn't as good as what Brian May played on a Queen recording, and felt that you were no good: is that going to motivate you positively to keep practising? Probably not.

Now you don't want to be accepting of absolutely everything. Rather, you want to set achievable goals, and goals which aid your progress. When you do an exercise, be clear as to what bits you are focusing on, and what bits you are not. If the end result sounds rubbish, then make a note of that. But ask yourself: did you have fun exploring and making the sounds you hear? if so then good. Did you learn something new? good. Did you repeat things you already know? again good: repetition reinforces memory.

The thing with the level you aim at is that you want to be able to nearly always achieve that level, and to feel rewarded for your efforts. If you practise regularly and diligently, and regularly achieve the goals you set yourself, then this becomes habit. Once it is habit, you can start to move the goals you aim yourself at, gradually aiming higher and wider, and learning to do the more basic stuff more and more effortlessly.