428 - 11 Simple Habits That Will Overhaul Your Piping (Dojo Conversations Episode 98)

What if 11 small changes could make an enormous difference to your piping progress?  This week, Andrew and Jim dive into the 11 commandments of mastery – Andrew’s blueprint of habits that lead to great bagpiping, but are applicable to all mastery-oriented pursuits. They look at the importance of mastering fundamentals to achieve creative freedom, common pitfalls that learners face, and why a growth mindset is essential to any form of progression.  Here’s what we cover in this episode: 00:00 Setting Up the Scene 00:53 The 11 Commandments of Bagpiping 01:11 Universal Concepts in Mastery 02:05 Disagreements in the Bagpipe World 04:20 Finding Reliable Advice 05:29 First Principles and Growth Mindset 12:00 Parenting and Teaching Analogies 21:13 Empowering Through Fundamentals 24:14 Discovering the Power of Chords 24:41 Applying Chord Theory to Bagpipes 26:01 The Trap of Linear Learning in Bagpiping 27:36 The Role of Fun in Learning 28:22 Photography and Bagpiping: A Creative Parallel 31:32 The Golden Rule of Creative Freedom 34:28 Specialization vs. Generalism in Bagpiping 40:30 The Danger of Goal-Oriented Mindsets 42:47 Overcoming Common Pitfalls in Bagpiping 48:18 Introducing the 11 Commandments of Mastery