This was in my inbox this morning, and it really spoke to me. Although I am not a musician, this blog by Dr. Noa Kageyama has a lot of good information on being better at what you do.
What Is More Effective -- Praise or Criticism?
The answer it turns out, is neither.
"At the end of the day, we don’t really need tons of mental self-fives for hitting the difficult notes, nor self-imposed verbal punishments and expletives for missing notes.
"Because in the practice room, as on the practice court, it’s less about whether we are perfect or imperfect. It’s more about making sure we’re growing and learning from day to day.
"So what we need is more self-instruction. And to stay relentlessly focused on maintaining a problem-solving, solution-focused mindset."
Does God criticize us? Praise us? Not really. Instead He models how to do something, through His Son, and through His Word. Praise God!
