What my ‘Jimi Hendrix’ taught me

In my late teens I decided that I wanted to play the guitar. I bought a guitar, found a tutor and started working on my skills. Often, when starting a new hobby you start talking to people about it and can find yourself surrounded by people who share the love for the same activity, this was definitely the case for me as I met a new bunch of musician friends.

Because I was so new to playing, anyone who had been playing longer than me seemed like they were Jimi Hendrix. There was one guy in particular who could blast out some impressive songs with ease that was far outside my reach at that time. One day, another one of my musician friends made an offhanded, negative, comment about this particular new found Hendrix in my life, he said ‘every time, same songs’. I’m not someone who puts people down so I reflected more on the person making the comment than my friend playing the songs. In my mind this negative comment probably came from jealousy and his own insecurities about his ability. While there was probably truth to my reflection over time I did discover that this negative comment held some truth. After hanging out with my Hendrix for a couple years I discovered that he never learnt anything new, he had around 20 songs that he could master to the highest level but that was it. He didn’t add to his repertoire, it turned out that ‘every time, same songs’ was accurate after all.

There’s a concept I want to introduce here called your Learning Point. Your Learning Point is where you stop learning in certain areas of your life, in my friend’s case he had obviously spent a lot of time mastering those 20 songs but from there he stopped learning which meant he never really evolved as a musician.

I see many examples of the Learning Point concept in fitness, there are people who have learnt a single type of training philosophy years ago and their current training is still replicating it, even when they aren’t creating any change. If they were to spend some time learning about the latest training philosophies they would most definitely have a completely different training plan which would lead to better results.

Sometimes our lives move in different directions so our Learning Point will reflect a certain time from our past when we moved away from a specific activity. This is the case with me, I moved from guitar playing to piano playing so my guitar skills now reflect what I learnt fifteen years ago (with the added regression of not playing that much anymore). Moving away from something can be a reflection on the way your life shifts in different directions along it’s journey, we need to be aware that we have created these Learning Points in our lives and when an activity is still important to us, we need to continue to put energy into it so we don’t become stagnant, we need to keep developing.

Can you think of areas of your life that you are still actively involved in that are using Learning Points that you created a long time ago? Maybe it’s a hobby, an aspect of your career, your sport, or in an area of learning interest. When we think about the most stimulating times in our lives they often sit alongside learning and growth. The challenge of learning provides many positive personal benefits but more importantly when you learn you open yourself up to new possibilities and a deeper understanding of how to function in the areas that are important to you.

My life has drifted away from my old musician friends but as I write this piece I wonder what my Hendrix is doing with his guitar playing, is it still ‘every time, same song’ or has he learnt to keep pushing his Learning Point forward. Ideally we should be trying to evolve our Learning Points in the important areas within our lives so that we can continue to be stimulated and gain the benefits that growth and evolution provides, I know that’s what I’m aiming for.

Bevan James Eyles

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