Willpower Training - Maximizing the Effect

In my post about Willpower Training I suggested that each time you fail to complete a group of tasks you should start again with a group of one task and work back up from there.

But a better way to keep pushing your limits for training purposes would be to drop the number of tasks in the group by two, rather than go right back to one.

So the rules would be:

1. Write a list of tasks which you are fairly confident that you can complete in order.

2. if you succeed in finishing the list, add one to the number of tasks and write a new list. For example, if you complete a list of fifteen tasks, write a new list with sixteen tasks in it.

3. If you fail to finish the list, subtract two from the number of tasks and write a new list. For example, if you fail to complete a list of fifteen tasks, write a new list with thirteen tasks in it.

So your training session might go like this:

15 tasks - succeed

16 tasks - succeed

17 tasks - succeed

18 tasks - fail

16 tasks - fail

14 tasks - succeed

15 tasks - succeed

16 tasks - succeed

17 tasks - succeed

18 tasks - succeed

19 tasks etc.

Comments

[Mike Brown]

My banjo teacher has a similar method to help me build up speed in my playing and identify passages where my fingers fumble.

1. Using an electronic metronome, start at a pace of 100 (say).
2. If you played well at that speed, click the Up button 3 clicks to play faster.
3. Evaluate your performance. If you did well, go Up 3 clicks. Repeat.
4. If you did not do well, go Down 2 clicks to play slower.
5. Bounce between #3 and #4 till you settle in at a tempo that challenges you without overwhelming you.

The end result, even if I go back 2 clicks a couple of time, is that I'm playing faster than I was at the start. And I usually find that I'm more capable of faster playing than I thought I was at the start. The impersonal and external push (and validation) of the metronome is a great tool.

So this Will Power variation is a really clever way of gauging capacity and performance. Even dropping 2 tasks, you're still accomplishing quite a lot.

[Mark Forster]

Mike Brown:

I like the way that you end up playing one click faster even if you don't play well. Maybe that would work with the tasks. Increase by three or decrease by two, or possibly increase by two or decrease by one.

Anyone want to give it a go?