Why Your Musical Goals Are Failing (And How to Fix Them This Year)

Every January, music studios fill up with students setting ambitious goals. As part of our structured New Student Onboarding process, we have students (and parents) define clear goals that they want to achieve, and record them in our system so that students see them on their dashboard.

Here are some real examples from the 8,200+ goals I analyzed from our students:

• "Play her favorite pop songs like Taylor Swift"
• "Memorize every single note on the flute so that Rashad can express himself"
• "Feel comfortable with the violin again, so that I can join a violin ensemble"
• "Learn to play both hands together on the piano because it will sound like the real song"

These are beautiful aspirations—authentic desires straight from our students.

Here's what didn’t surprise me: nearly every single goal is outcome-based. Students knew exactly what they wanted to achieve. They could picture themselves on stage, hear themselves playing that favorite song, imagine the applause.

But here's what I've learned after 19+ years of owning music schools, and 3 decades of teaching: outcome goals alone rarely get you there.

Don't get me wrong, knowing what you want to achieve is essential. If you don't have a destination, any road will take you there (or nowhere at all). The problem isn't having outcome goals; it's having only outcome goals.

Think about it this way: "I want to play Bohemian Rhapsody" tells you where you want to go, but it doesn't tell you how to get there. It's like saying "I want to visit Paris" without buying a plane ticket, booking a hotel, or learning basic French.

Outcome goals are dreams. Process goals are the roadmap.

Big goals don’t drive success. It’s the tiny, daily - or even minute by minute - choices you make that get you to your destination.

Here's the uncomfortable truth: you can work toward an outcome goal every day and still fail if you're working on the wrong things. I've seen countless students practice diligently (meaning they put in a lot of time) for months without making real progress because they were focused entirely on the outcome ("I need to play this song") rather than the process ("I need to practice small chunks slowly").

Often, when students focus on the outcome, they keep trying over and over again to play some music they are not yet capable of playing. They are excited by the music and so they play large chunks of the music, but with poor quality. They are repeating over and over trying to “get it”. And that faulty repetition starts to build bad technique, and habits of insecurity or confusion.

Process goals focus on the actions you take rather than the results you achieve. Instead of "I want to perform at a recital", or “I want to pass an audition”, a process goal might be "I will practice performing in front of someone three times per week." or “I will practice small chunks of music slowly and under control, twice daily”

The difference is control. You can't control whether you'll pass the audition—that depends on too many variables. But you can control whether you practice performing regularly, and practice in a way that leads to sustainable results. And here's the magic: when you focus on the right processes, the outcomes take care of themselves.

The science backs this up. A 2022 meta-analysis published in the International Review of Sport and Exercise Psychology analyzed 27 studies on goal setting in sports and found something remarkable: process goals had a large effect on performance (effect size of 1.36), while outcome goals had essentially no meaningful effect (effect size of 0.09).

That's a 15-fold difference in effectiveness. And to put those numbers in context: in research, an effect size of 0.2 is considered small, 0.5 is medium, and 0.8 is large. An effect size of 1.36 is extremely large—the kind of result that makes researchers sit up and pay attention.

In other words, focusing on what you do each day matters infinitely more than just dreaming about the end result.

There's an old martial arts parable that captures this perfectly. A young student approaches his master and asks how long it will take to earn a black belt. The master replies, "Maybe ten years."

The student thinks for a moment, then asks, "But what if I try really hard?"

"Twenty years," the master says.

Confused, the student tries again: "What if I put in extra effort and try really, really hard?"

"Thirty years."

Frustrated, the young student asks why it would take so much longer if he worked harder. The master's response: "With one eye focused on your destination, you only have one eye left to focus on your journey."

The lesson? Focus fully on what you're doing right now, and the results will take care of themselves.

Here's why process goals consistently outperform outcome-based goals:

1. They create consistent action
   
   Outcome goals are motivating at first, but that motivation fades when progress feels slow. Process goals keep you moving every day, regardless of how close or far the outcome feels.
   
   A student who sets a goal to "practice 20 minutes daily" will do exactly that—and six months later, they'll be shocked at how much they've learned. A student who only sets a goal to "play Flight of the Bumblebee" might practice intensely for a week, then give up when it seems impossible.
   
2. They build the skills you actually need
   
   Every impressive outcome in music requires dozens of smaller skills. Process goals force you to identify and develop those skills systematically.
   
   Want to play that complex jazz piece? You'll need process goals around learning harmony and substitutions, rhythm exercises, improvisation drills, and ear training. The outcome goal tells you what you want; the process goals tell you what skills to build.
   
3. They provide immediate wins
   
   Outcome goals have a delayed payoff. You work for months or years and then, maybe, you achieve the outcome. Process goals give you a win every single day.
   
   Did you practice your scales today? Win. Did you record yourself playing to check your tone? Win. Did you learn two new measures of that difficult passage? Win.
   
   These daily victories create momentum and confidence that outcome goals simply can't provide.
   
4. They're more motivating than you think
   
   This seems counterintuitive. Isn't focusing on the boring process less exciting than dreaming about the amazing outcome?
   
   Actually, no. Psychology research shows that people who focus on process goals experience more enjoyment and less anxiety. Why? Because process goals are achievable every day. You're in control. You're making progress. You feel competent.
   
   Outcome goals keep you focused on what you haven't achieved yet—which can feel discouraging when the goal is big and far away.
   
5. Outcome goals can be discouraging.
   
   Here's an important limitation in psychology research: for decades, most studies were conducted on college students. Why? They're convenient and readily available to graduate student researchers on campus. But college students represent just one narrow demographic, and what works for them doesn't always apply to everyone else.
   
   Early goal-setting research, which heavily sampled college students, suggested that ambitious outcome goals could be highly motivating for certain personality types, particularly those who thrive on big-picture thinking and competitive achievement - like those in college. And that's true for some people, like some college students who are motivated to participate in a long-term study. If you're energized by thinking "I'm going to learn this entire Chopin piece in three months," and that fires you up every day, then outcome goals might work for you.
   
   But here's what later research revealed: for most people, outcome-based goals are actually demotivating. When the gap between where you are and where you want to be feels too large, the goal becomes intimidating rather than inspiring. You look at that Chopin piece and think "This is impossible", and you give up before you make real progress.
   
   The 2022 meta-analysis confirmed this: while outcome goals showed essentially no average performance benefit (effect size 0.09), process goals showed massive benefits across all populations studied (effect size 1.36). Process goals don't rely on you being a certain personality type or having a particular motivational style. They work because they focus on achievable daily actions rather than distant, uncertain results.
   
   So even if you're someone who finds big outcome goals exciting, add process goals to support them. And if you're someone who finds outcome goals overwhelming, you can let them go entirely and focus exclusively on the process—the research shows it works just as well, if not better.

Here's a framework I use with our students:

Step 1: Start with your outcome goal

Be specific. "I want to get better at guitar" is too vague. "I want to play Stand By Me by Ben E. King on the guitar" is clear and measurable.

Step 2: Identify the skills required

Break down what you'll need to achieve that outcome. For Stand By Me, you might need:

• Arranging the song to include both the chords and bass line on guitar
• Playing the chords (A, F#m, D, E)
• Playing the bass line
• Fingerpicking patterns that allow you to play the bass and chords together
• Performance confidence

Step 3: Create process goals for each skill

Now you can set specific, actionable process goals based on how much you have or have not already developed those skills.

Here are examples of what these process goals might look like:

Process goal #1: Daily practice (6 days/week, Tuesday-Sunday) Complete two short practice sessions each day focusing on:

• Fingerpicking pattern on open strings
• Moving between each pair of chords (A → F#m, F#m → D, etc.)
• Bass line by itself with correct fingering
• Best practice techniques (interleaving, chunking, mental rehearsal)

Process goal #2: Weekly lesson Attend my Wednesday music lesson for feedback and support

Process goal #3: Weekly performance practice Join one Performance & Practice class to perform small chunks of music in front of others

Note: These are all actions you can control, and you can achieve them regardless of whether you've mastered the song yet.

Step 4: Track your process, not your outcome

Don't ask yourself "Am I ready to perform Stand By Me yet?" The answer will be "no" for 100 days (or more) until it’s a "yes". That can be demotivating.

Ask yourself "Did I practice my fingerpicking today? Did I show up to the performance class to play a small manageable chunk of the song each week?" The answer will be "yes", for 100 days (or more) until you can play the whole song. That’s a lot of little wins that will always feel good.

When you consistently hit your process goals, the outcome becomes inevitable.

Here's what I want you to do this January:

1. Write down your biggest musical goals. If you are a current student, please review your goals in your student dashboard, so you can confirm your goals or update what might be outdated. What do you really want to achieve? Be specific.
2. Identify all of the skills or actions that would directly contribute to those outcomes. What do you actually need to practice or develop? What do you need to change in your practice, or your routine?
3. Set process goals. Make them specific, measurable, and controllable. "I will do X , Y times per day, Z times per week." If you are a current student, get those recorded in your student dashboard so your teacher can support you.
4. Track your process goals daily or weekly. Use a simple checklist, journal, or habit-tracking app. Don't track the outcome yet—just track whether you did the process.
5. Review after one month. Are you hitting your process goals consistently? If not, are they too ambitious? If yes, is your playing improving? Adjust as needed.

Much of our process at Sage Music is set up to support this:

• we record both outcome and process goals on your student dashboard where you can always see them
• weekly music lessons to provide you with regular feedback, information, and support (think inputs, learning new things)
• performance and practice classes to help you learn music more effectively, get comfortable performing, and apply the skills you are learning. (think outputs, doing the thing)

If you are not a Sage Music student, our Performance and Practice Classes are often free and open to the public. Our students will always have priority for class seats, but unfilled seats are yours to try.

I already know you have outcome goals and weekly lessons, we already guarantee that.

The two most important things you can do this year to achieve more are:

1. Create specific process goals and get those added to your dashboard with the help of your teacher.
2. Join the performance and practice classes, which focus on doing rather than learning new things. These classes are not about giving you more content or information, which I understand you crave and want more of. And I understand a class with no content might feel a little strange or weir. But these classes are designed to help you apply what you already know and are learning, no matter how small it is. This will have even more impact on your goals than new information. Trust the process, and sign up for the performance and practice classes today.

The beautiful irony of process goals is this: when you stop obsessing over the outcome and focus entirely on the process, you often achieve the outcome faster and with less stress.

Your favorite song, that performance you've been dreaming about, the technique you've been chasing—they're all waiting for you on the other side of consistent, focused practice. Not someday. Not when you "feel ready." But through the daily, unglamorous work of showing up and doing the thing.

This year, don't just dream about where you want to go. Build the habits that will take you there.

What's your biggest musical goal for this year? And what process goal will you set to help you achieve it? Share in the comments below, I'd love to hear from you.

Williamson, O., Swann, C., Bennett, K.J.M., Bird, M.D., Goddard, S.G., Schweickle, M.J., & Jackman, P.C. (2022). The performance and psychological effects of goal setting in sport: A systematic review and meta-analysis. International Review of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 17(2), 1050-1078.