The "3P Principle" to get you unstuck
Works like a charm every time :)
Lately, I’ve spent a lot of time in front of my laptop. I’ve been planning this year, organizing videos, talking to sponsors, scripting, and brainstorming new ideas. It’s exciting work, and I love it. But I noticed something: even though I plan a lot, sometimes days go by without actually following through. Last week, I caught myself thinking, huh, this could be interesting to write about.
Writing these newsletters every week helps me in more ways than I ever thought it would. It brings structure to my thoughts and values, but more importantly, it helps me understand myself better. When I put my feelings into words, things become clearer. I think it even has a name, it is called affective labeling maybe? There has been researches on how putting our fears into words will make them feel smaller and help us overcoem them.
Now, back to this paradox—planning but not always doing.
That’s where the 3P Principle comes in. It’s a simple idea I came up with to help me focus on what really matters in my work, my music, and everything else I do. But before I explain it, let’s start with something basic.
To succeed at anything, you need knowledge. Duh. But knowledge alone isn’t enough—you also need action. (DUH! :D ) Lately, I’ve been stuck in the thinking phase, but sometimes people have the opposite problem. So in short:
Success = thinking + doing
Now when we think, we’re usually in one of two modes:
Planning (looking ahead, figuring out what and how to do something)
Reflecting (looking back, analyzing what just happened)
Or simply put:
Thinking = planning + reflecting
I first developed this principle while trying to improve my guitar practice. But I soon realized it applies to many areas of life. Here’s how it works in guitar practice.
To learn something on guitar effectively, you need three steps:
Plan your goal and movements (decide how you’ll play a section, both in general and in detail).
Play with focus and intention.
Ponder what just happened—was it aligned with your plan? Use that insight to improve.
Or simply:
Practice = planning + playing + pondering
That’s the 3P principle :)
If one of these elements is missing, things feel off-balance. And when that happens, creative projects (or anything important) can feel frustrating. But once I realized this, I knew how to fix it. If I ever feel stuck, I check in with myself: Am I doing less of one of these? Usually, that’s all it takes to find my way forward.
When you use the 3P Principle in practice, you build skill, understanding, and confidence. And the best part? It keeps you moving forward with clarity and purpose.
YouTube
I wanted to share the latest video I uploaded with you. This is such a beautiful and soothing song, I love playing it. Unfortunately the video is performing worse than any of my videos in the past few month, with all time low views. I don’t stress much about it, it happens, though I was hoping it would reach more people. If you feel like sharing it with someone, I’d really appreciate it :)
My favourite things from last week
Last week, I spent a lot of time listening to podcasts, played board games a few evenings, and enjoyed some music. Here are a few things I found valuable—I hope you do too! :)
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My YouTube channel: If you want to learn some useful tips/tricks, you'll find 300+ free videos here.
My Favourite 11 Exercises is an easy to follow booklet including several exercises suitable for advancing beginners to advanced level players.
Private lessons and my availability can be found on my website.
