Do you enjoy setting goals? I’ll be the first to admit I’m not one who usually writes down a specific list, such as New Year’s Resolutions. However, when I’m talking about setting goals within my music, I love them! I find they really help me stay on track when deciding where to focus my attention with practicing.

I think it’s really useful to begin by thinking about your 1-year goals - where would you like to be with your playing in 1 year’s time. Now, what are the steps you need to take to get there? By breaking down a big goal into smaller chunks, you start to a) make it more achievable, b) not get overwhelmed by it and c) start to see what you need to be doing on a monthly basis in order to reach you final goal.

Many harpists have very vague goals like “get better at playing fast” or “improve my sight-reading”, and these are certainly worthy ambitions, but the problem is, they are not very specific, which can lead to not feeling a sense of progress and it can be difficult to layout an effective plan to accomplish your goal.

So how do you make goals that you can actually achieve?

By being S.M.A.R.T.

SMART goals are ones that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Timely

SPECIFIC

When you’re setting a goal, it should be as specific as possible. For the harp that could mean playing a certain song or scale at a specific tempo.

Having specific goals will help you evaluate whether you have achieved them.

And if your goal is specific, that means it will also be:

MEASURABLE

Having a measurable goal means that you will be able to tell if you are on the way towards achieving it. If your goal is not measurable, then how will you know if you’re getting closer to it? How do you EVER achieve it?

For example, if your goal is to play the E major scale at 80bpm. You can track your progress towards achieving it. You might start out at 60bpm, and after a couple of weeks be up to 70bpm.

That’s measurable progress! You KNOW you’re getting better and closer to the goal. It’s also a great way to stay motivated.

Speaking of motivation, this next point is very important, because it’s probably the biggest reason why people fail:

ACHIEVABLE

Your goal has to be possible. It’s as simple as that. It can be challenging for sure, but it needs to be within reach.

If you set wildly unrealistic goals, most likely you’ll end up disappointed and frustrated, and ultimately feel like you failed. And if you feel like a failure, you’re not going to want to practice, which means you’ll never achieve your goals.

RELEVANT

This is a big one, and it’s another thing I see people get wrong a lot of the time. Try to make sure that everything you do on the harp is RELEVANT to your goals.

If your goal is to play Celtic Music, then spending days and weeks learning pop pieces is probably not the best use of your time. If you want to get better at playing fast then you need to choose some fast repertoire rather than slow pieces.

What you practice should align with your end goals.

TIMELY

The final point. Your goals should have a time-limit attached to them. That means setting yearly, monthly, weekly and even daily goals.

It helps to break the daunting tasks down into manageable pieces, and it allows you to see progress much quicker.

These are not new concepts, but knowing something and doing it are different things. Now is such a great time to take a step back, evaluate what your goals are, and then make a plan to achieve them.

And if you’d like help at any stage, just let me know.

Have fun!