HOW TO MASTER ANYTHING: 7 Guidelines of Practice

In this video we discuss the fundamentals of successful practice. Effective practice is by far the most important element to obtaining mastery over your voice. Action is the root of all success and practice is the art of taking action.

Effective practice is less about the specific things you do but more about the mentality and perspective you have while doing things. Practice is an idea you create for yourself. You have the power and freedom to define every aspect of what it means. We have to use this power to design a system which is self sustaining and self stabilizing. To do this we manipulate our perspective on several key elements:

1. The Motivational Feedback Loop
2. The Intensity of Practice
3. The Frequency of Practice
4. Practice Becomes Part of Life
5. Growth Comes from Within
6. Progress and What it Means
7. Experimentation is Necessary

By harmonizing and nurturing these elements, we can generate a self sustaining loop of growth that carries us from our starting point to our goal in a painless, smooth, and enjoyable way. This perspective can apply to anything, not just voice.

Also, this video is my first video ever using a DSLR instead of a webcam. I accidentally recorded it at 1280x720 lol! Expect more significant quality upgrades coming soon! I've got 3 videos I'm extremely inspired by right now but I had to get this one off of my editing desk! Also, this is in my new studio! I'm still setting up lighting and unboxing things but I'm sooo much happier here!

00:00 Intro
00:33 Why?
02:34 Key 1: The Motivational Feedback Loop
04:05 Key 2: The Intensity of Practice
06:48 Key 3: The Frequency of Practice
07:42 Key 4: Practice Becomes Part of Life
09:08 Key 5: Growth Comes from Within
11:45 Key 6: Progress and What it Means
15:32 Key 7: Experimentation is Necessary
16:29 Summary
19:16 Conclusion

warmly,
z

[switchscene]

"Now I don't want to call anyone out"
*Calls everyone out*

I kid, this is the motivation and analysis I needed, and I'm sure I'm not alone.

[electrodesification]

This is actually great advice for anything, not just voice training.

[rainjoubert]

I thought I came here just to learn how to get better at voice training, but feels like I just stepped into a TED talk about how to succeed throughout your entire life. Thanks Z

[lucidhominid]

I practice by narrating what I'm doing while I cook dinner and every time I talk to my cat :D

[MazorKuziaki]

The worst part about practice is that when I practice, I hear my voice. And that sucks.

[chelsea.m.k]

I've been practicing voice for a number of months now. When I started, it was difficult, frustrating, upsetting, and impossible -- it even took me to a fairly dark place, for a while.
I now pass very well over voice coms (to the point of having to prove that I wasn't someone else), phone calls, and even in person.

The first video of yours that I saw placed heavy emphasis on positivity, and I see that message preached in your videos today.


*You were right.*
You were *always* right.

I now also have the hilarious habit of talking to myself all day, annnd that's lead to some pretty funny encounters.

Thank you <3

[TheAlexa]

Me: *Practices 6h a day as a beginner*
Z: 20 min is a lot
Oh ...

[klogaroute]

"The road to the end goal is paved with numerous mistakes. Everybody who gets where they want to be with some skill leaves in their wake a pile of mistakes."

Again, this is all such wise life advice period

[applefairy]

as a tertiary music student it's refreshing, and frankly unreasonable, that i've never heard practice portrayed in this way. your influence is larger than you realise.

[heather]

ah yes, the seven keys of practice: A, B, C, D, E, F, and G

[_adi_shakti]

as a Buddhist, a lot of your perspectives on the theory of practice (and the practice of practice) are really familiar. I forget that the principles I learn from my Buddhist practice can be applied to other things, so you've reminded me that I can take on the same principles in voice training too. In a way, you've also helped me deepen my own understanding of my Buddhist practice by showing me how these principles are common to all practices, indeed of life itself.

[Octoshark]

i wish i could just take a magical pill to change my voice, but i'm just gonna have to practice my ass off. i hope this advice can help! my biggest struggle is getting stuck in the defeatist mindset, and i just need to push through it

[Anonymouss_]

I've been following your channel for two years.
I'm a woman and I'm still learning to change my voice.
Been bullied since a kid for having manly and masculine voice.
I just want to say thank you.

[Chaos-bgnn]

I have no room to practice as the walls in my house are super thin, so I would be easily overheard.

[piusnyakoojo]

[18:43 - 19:14]: "In some ways voice learning is a lot like I give you a completely blank map and there's a red X on it that says 'You are here'. Well, it's completely blank so it's completely worthless. You start to look at the map and you're like 'Well there's nothing here. How does this make any sense? I don't know where I'm at.' So every time you're doing an exercise or an exploration, the goal is to populate that map with landmarks so that you can understand where you are and navigate the terrain by relativity of those landmarks."

Your comment here reminds me of the Artificial Intelligence work that I am doing that has to do with (1) Areas of Interest and (2) Proportionality Metrics

You mentioned the proportional catalogue of ideas: (1) Map Landmarks and (2) Terrain Relativity.

You are very smart. You may be interested in a career in robotics and artificial intelligence.

What kind of Robotics company would you start?

[Aeleas]

One of the things I'm doing is combining practice with learning a language with an app. All the speaking segments get done with some element of fem voice, and the app incentivizing maintaining a streak means I'm doing at least a little bit every day.

[salempeters]

As someone who came out on Trans Visibility Day, practicing this has been one of the most frustrating things I've ever done 😭

[matildatheoboldt]

lol im a musician with ADHD so its so much harder for me to practice for only 20 mins then it is to practice for hours. I have practiced guitar and banjo for 12 hour sessions but i believe there is a thing as overpractice. Straining yourself and burnout doesnt help anyone and i only can play music for such long periods because ive played my whole life

[TheTurbanator]

"Trans people are just crazy"

This video exists teaching all how to practice life better.

[Liboo]

Z how do you just get prettier and prettier! I’m pre-everything and I can’t keep up lol
Edit: watched video and it’s so insightful!
Made me remember how when I was a kid I taught myself to whistle by just practicing throughout the day for a few seconds at a time and got it down in a month or two. Thank you so much!