• grahamenglish.net – Blog
  • grahamenglish.com – Artist Site

Graham English Blog Archives

Musician, Author, and Entrepreneur

  • Blog
  • Consulting

“I Can Do That” Syndrome

June 2, 2008 By Graham English

You’re listening to a piece of music and it sounds so simple and easy that you say to yourself, “I can do that.” But can you really? And if you can, how come you haven’t yet?

Taking a first person perspective of someone else’s perspective can be both good and bad. It’s good that you can step inside another person’s experience, an ability that can foster compassion and empathy. But it can be bad when you don’t differentiate between the two perspectives, yours and the other’s, resulting in an almost narcissistic view of the world.

“I Can Do That” Syndrome also shows up when someone has “book smarts” but no actual experience. When you’ve read a great book about how to write lyrics and you think the work has been done.

This applies to more than just music too. A business person reads a book about copywriting and thinks, “I can write a sales letter and make a million bucks.” But great copywriters study a long time and do something else that business person hasn’t done yet, they write… A LOT.

Great songs are written by songwriters who have written lots of songs. Great voices come from people who sing all the time. Timeless symphonies are composed by musicians who have written a lot more than one symphony.

It’s a trick of the mind to experience something remarkable and believe that we too can do that. It happens to me all the time. “I could write a funny TV show. I could direct a blockbuster movie. I could cook this restaurant meal.”

Well, maybe I could. But not the first time. Probably not the second either. It may take longer than I have patience for.

The point of the story? There’s something to be said for people who specialize—who find something they love and stick to it, gaining the wisdom only time can bring.

Maybe you could sing, dance, compose, direct, paint, cook, be a successful serial entrepreneur, get washboard abs, play in the NBA, design a hot line of clothes, write a novel, run for office, raise a happy family, be a great spouse, start a non-profit, end world hunger…

But the hardest thing to do is to commit to one thing and stick with it until the very end.

Share on Pinterest
There are no images.

Filed Under: LifeHacks, Prose Tagged With: commitment, experience, expertise, focus, goals, mind, perspective, perspectives, Psychology, specialization, wisdom, work

About Graham English

Graham English is a musician, author, and entrepreneur.

Comments

  1. David Niall Wilson says

    June 2, 2008 at 12:30 PM

    Too true. I long ago said this about publishing a magazine. After thirteen issues, I found that I COULD do it, but it wasn’t my “one” thing – which has proven to be writing, though I play guitar and sing and write songs…I never fool myself into thinking it’s something you just DO…and if it was, what fun would that be?

    D

  2. Graham English says

    June 2, 2008 at 12:52 PM

    You bring up a good point, David. Sometimes you don’t know what that “one thing” is until you try other things. And we shouldn’t beat ourselves up over it. But we could speed up the process—try to fail fast—to find that one thing.

  3. Rich says

    June 3, 2008 at 7:06 PM

    Excellent article and a great reminder for all of us! I think what you are describing is the effortlessness that comes from practice, persistence and the subsequent excellence of someone dedicated to their craft. They are effortlessly performing something and the ease at which they execute it (i.e. their mastery of it) creates the illusion that’s it’s easy. Deceptive indeed!!

    Thanks for this one Graham 🙂

    Rich

  4. Jonathan says

    June 4, 2008 at 4:35 PM

    the whole art of music is to make it seem easy as if anyone could do it! If you are preforming and you are showing a great struggle to make music how could anyone enjoy it. they would be to busy trying to empathize with your struggle to enjoy anything the music had to communicate. practice and do well!

  5. tinkugallery says

    July 23, 2008 at 10:48 AM

    I own a contemporary art gallery and encounter this often when someone comes in and looks at an abstract piece. It drives me mental.

Graham English
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
image title

Crank your sound up to X with Apple's premier recording software and Logic Pro X For Dummies

Read the blog
Listen to music

Archives

  • September 2014
  • July 2014
  • March 2014
  • June 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • April 2012
  • November 2011
  • April 2010
  • March 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • November 2009
  • September 2009
  • August 2009
  • July 2009
  • June 2009
  • May 2009
  • April 2009
  • March 2009
  • February 2009
  • January 2009
  • December 2008
  • November 2008
  • October 2008
  • September 2008
  • August 2008
  • July 2008
  • June 2008
  • May 2008
  • April 2008
  • March 2008
  • February 2008
  • January 2008
  • December 2007
  • November 2007
  • October 2007
  • September 2007
  • August 2007
  • July 2007
  • June 2007
  • May 2007
  • April 2007
  • March 2007
  • February 2007
  • January 2007
  • December 2006
  • November 2006
  • October 2006
  • September 2006
  • August 2006
  • July 2006
  • June 2006
  • May 2006
  • April 2006
  • March 2006
  • February 2006
  • January 2006
  • December 2005

Follow me on Twitter

My Tweets

Follow me on Facebook

Follow me on Facebook

Recent Posts

  • Final Score
  • iGrahamEnglish is just GrahamEnglish
  • Cleaning Up My Act
  • Logic Pro Mixing, Metering, And Loudness Explained
  • Attention Musicians: Comfortably Avoid Hearing Loss With Custom Fitted Earplugs

Graham is a singer/songwriter and jazz-trained keyboard player, music producer and studio musician, best-selling author of Logic Pro X For Dummies, and serial entrepreneur.

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • YouTube


  • About
  • Contact
  • Wiki
  • Legal Policy
  • Privacy Policy
  • Living Room Rules

Copyright © 2023 Graham English