A lesson in playing the lute from cricket

It seems unlikely but it's true that I found some inspiration for learning the lute from an unlikely source: a documentary on cricket. Of course the transferrable topic is performance. They don't play the lute while playing cricket. Could be disastrous.

As I was watching the documentary, The Test, I picked up on a discussion in the locker room after a game when one player spoke of his negative mindset which ultimately was the undoing of him.

After the batter speaks of his fear of getting out (failing) then he was no longer in the game. He usually goes out, eager to play to make runs with a desire to win. Once his mind feared failing, he failed.

Ricky Ponting, a legendary Australian batter, then gives his advice. I've already written about Ponting in another post, highlighting his 'fighting spirit'. Here, though it is more subtle. IT's about the idea that when we embark upon a task with the idea of having everything to gain by doing so then our minds are charged for success or at least 'reward'. We can be thirsty for the idea of reward or for glory, or for the satisfaction of being able to make music, or runs in cricket. These ideas of what we can win or gain creates an attitude. 

If we pick up the lute fearful of the mistakes we might make in the coming session then we will fixate on that and at worst spiral into those errors. 

I promise to think about what I can gain by picking up my lute.