from an email from a pianist friend

…I feel this need to focus… I don’t even want to have a talk with somebody about what they did last weekend. I can’t think about anything. I just let it expand till it takes up everything. That’s not good and I don’t think it makes you play your best. It feels pure though, like you’re some kind of priest or Buddha or something, 14 hours of meditation, the ascetic disciplines, yadda yadda. It’s really not more real or pure. It just feels that way. Ultimately, the only thing real is how well you do what you’re doing.

I think with doing anything hard, you just have to jump off and trust you’ll land okay. You acquire the skills along the way.