Question: Dear Tom Hess! How can I motivate myself to achieve my goals? I know that you are now successful with playing the guitar and teaching as well. How do you develop the right mentality in playing the guitar and in creating music as well? I have goals, a plan of studies and almost any desired possibility at my hands, but I greatly lack motivation (especially if I have to do some dull uninteresting work, like ear training.). How do I make myself work on my skills steadily and regularly? Thanks a lot for this opportunity.

Tom Hess's Answer: Think very hard about your goals and focus on how great you will feel once these goals are reached. See yourself playing the guitar the way you want to. Does this vision excite you? It should…otherwise you need to change something about your goals to strive for something you would be more excited about.

Also, you should think about how each item that you are practicing now (and you may find boring or uninteresting) will DIRECTLY help you with reaching your goals and ultimately to have more fun playing the guitar.

I’ve published many free guitar articles which deal with these issues, you will get a lot of answers there for sure.

If you are unsure about how the things you are practicing will help with reaching your goals, visit my Musical Goals page. Then select the goals that you are trying to reach. I will tell you a full list of things you will need to learn and master in order to reach your goals, and I will also explain in detail why each item is necessary and how each one will help you to learn to play the way you want.

Working with a great teacher is also a great way to keep yourself motivated, since a great teacher will do a good job of keeping you accountable for working towards your goals (in addition to all the other benefits of working with a teacher).  I help many students with my online guitar lessons. You might consider them too if you are serious about becoming a great guitar player.

Want to take your guitar playing to the highest level? Study with me by taking online rock guitar lessons.