When trying to overcome Autopilot, the best thing to do is to break down the passage you are working on into shorter chunks. But how short?
The answer is… short enough to prevent Autopilot from taking over!
Most people try to fix a problem while playing too long a passage. This is not very effective because the longer you play, the more likely Autopilot is to kick in. Autopilot can even take over after just a few notes!
If you break the problem down into smaller chunks, you’ll be able to keep Autopilot off, and it will be much easier to be successful!
So, remember when trying to break a habit or fix a problem area, keep it super short so you can keep autopilot off. Once you are able to establish what you want in your muscle memory, then you can gradually try longer passages.
Life Lesson
Can you apply this to your life too? Of course you can!
Is there a habit that you have that you can’t seem to break? Or a new habit you want to establish?
Most of us take on a new habit, like exercising, by going all out and then eventually quitting. But why does that happen, even when we have the best of intentions?
Because Autopilot doesn’t want us to establish new habits, so it kicks in to make us quit and go back to our old ways.
Instead, start off with micro-habits that are easier to establish, like one push-up a day.
Learn more about this from the book, Atomic Habits by James Clear.