Ivan Turgenev on Waiting for Everything to be Ready

Tuesday Quotes are short explorations of music, life, and the daily endeavor of practicing classical guitar. Enjoy!

“If we wait for the moment when everything, absolutely everything is ready, we shall never begin.”

Ivan Turgenev

Thinking we’re not ready: this is one of the most common stopping points in any new endeavor.

“I don’t have the time this study deserves…” “I don’t know all the details…” “I need a different instrument….”

These may all be true, but that doesn’t mean we should wait. The progress we make in the meantime is well worth living with the imperfect situation.

It feels good to spend quality time on meaningful work. It feels good to discover new things and witness personal growth. And it feels great to show up and fulfill the promise we made to ourselves.

We can recognize that everything is not quite perfect, and jump in anyway. We can choose to accept the current reality and still take the next step.

And later, if and when the situation becomes more favorable, we’ll enjoy our time even more.

But for now, we can do what we can do with what we’ve got, and let that be enough.

Hi, I’m Allen Mathews.

I started as a folk guitarist, then fell in love with classical guitar in my 20’s. Despite a lot of practice and schooling, I still couldn’t get my music to flow well. I struggled with excess tension. My music sounded forced. And my hands and body were often sore. I got frustrated, and couldn’t see the way forward. Then, over the next decade, I studied with two other stellar teachers – one focused on the technical movements, and one on the musical (he was a concert pianist). In time, I came to discover a new set of formulas and movements. These brought new life and vitality to my practice. Now I help guitarists find more comfort and flow in their music, so they play more beautifully.
Click here for a sample formula.

I appreciate the organized, well thought out progression of each level, as well as a measurable means to determine when to proceed to the next level. I had burned myself out by pushing too hard and playing beyond where I was comfortable. This course is just what I needed, and I am happy to be back on the road to playing again.

~ Susan Kidney

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As I said before, I think your site is outstanding. I have spent my life teaching adults difficult stuff that they really wanted to learn but didn't have the time to learn at the speed we teach university students. Thus I understand only too well how many hundreds of hours you must have spent perfecting your lessons to make my learning as quick and easy as possible.

~ Mike Barron

-Mike Barron