Someone commented the other day,
“Hey man, can you lay off the personal development shit and just play the drums?”
No. No I can’t.
In the words of Jeff Buckley – “Fuck off. Just fuck off.”
The biggest mistake you could ever make in life is moving through the world thinking that everything you come across is meant for you.
It’s not.
Some things will resonate. Others won’t. And guess what? You don’t need to comment. You don’t need to critique. You can just let it pass by.
It’s a beautiful concept, and for some, an impossibly hard one to grasp.
Let it be known… MasterMind Drummer is for me! Albeit a younger version of me.
It’s the support I needed when I was grinding without direction.
It’s the mindset I wish I had when I was only focusing on what I was doing on the kit.
It was the North Star I couldn’t find for years, but knew was in me, it just needed to be activated.
And now that it is, I can help activate it in others.
I love this stuff. I live in it daily.
Not because I have to, but simply because I f*cking love it. Thats all. Nothing more.
And I’ll never stop exploring it, refining it, and then sharing it with the ones who resonate, and who get it.
If it’s not for you, that’s cool, but just let it be.
I’m not here to just play drums. That’s not my purpose. I’m here to build a long and fulfilling life. And in turn, help others do the same.
The longer I pursue this daily quest for mastery, both on and off the kit, the more I’m certain of two things…
1: Reps are paramount. Over everything else.
Even a bad curriculum will work (at the end of the day it’s all just 1s and 2s) if you run it hard enough. Because the more you do, the better you get. It’s inevitable. In short… Do more!
And 2: the habits you build off the kit will take you much further in the long run than anything you ever do solely on the drums.
I swear by this approach.
Why does “off the kit” matter so much?
Because what you can do on the drums is only part of the story.
The discipline, quality of your character, depth of your intelligence, true resilience – the stuff that sustains a real career – can’t be built on the drums alone.
Really let that sink in.
You can be a monster on the kit and still burn out.
You can have the best pocket and the best chops, and still never break through.
If all you focus on is your playing, you might make progress, sure, but if you focus on your health, your mindset, your relationships, your discipline, your intention, your confidence, your communication, your business, your visibility…
Then you don’t just become a better drummer, you actually build a life in the process. And that really should be the goal here. A life.
Now, for this week’s deep dive, let’s talk about one of my favourite topics – personal accountability…
I actually want to flesh out a post I made last week, as it seemed to resonate with a few of you. This is what I wrote –
This line gets thrown around all the time.
Sometimes it’s a joke. Sometimes it’s just said in frustration. But it’s always said with the assumption that things should somehow be better than they currently are.
And I get it. You’re not where you want to be.
But the real problem isn’t your ability, it’s simply your mindset.
Because the moment you say “I suck,” you’ve skipped over the most important question – why?
Let me offer some hints…
It’s not your gear.
It’s not your teacher.
It’s not your hands.
It’s just what you’ve chosen to do (or not do) with your time.
It’s the reps. Or in this case, lack thereof.
And I’m not sure why, bu no one seems to want to hear that, even though it offers an immediate solution.
Look… The sticks don’t lie. And the kit doesn’t care what you were ‘meant’ to do.
It doesn’t care how many years you’ve been playing, and it doesn’t even care what your goals are (even though they are important).
The moment you sit down and touch the sticks, the truth shows up wearing a big and bright neon sign…
Your truth.
If your doubles are rubbish, if your groove is sloppy, or if your left hand just folds under pressure – I’m sorry, but that’s not an accident, it’s simply history revealing itself in realtime.
“OUCH!”
It’s everything you’ve done up to that point. And honestly, it’s everything you’ve avoided, too.
And when I say “you’re exactly where you should be based on the effort you’ve put in”, I truly don’t mean that as an attack. I mean it as a reality check and an option to take some responsibility. That’s all.
You are not behind. You do not have a disadvantage. You are simply undertrained. That’s it.
I wanted to dig a bit deeper into the whole idea of reps, and not just from a drumming perspective, but how it actually works in the brain.
So I went looking.
There is quite a bit of data supporting this simple idea, hence why it’s a common talking point in the first place, I guess, but one thing I came across was this study from NYU and Columbia, published in the ‘Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences’.
A bit of a mouthful, I know, and the science is pretty heavy too, (especially for a dummy like me lol), but the takeaway is actually simple and really worth taking the time to understand.
What they found was that repetition doesn’t just help you remember something, it literally rewires your brain to make that thing stick.
When you repeat a movement, or a skill, or even a pairing like sound and motion (eg. drumming), your brain starts replaying that information even after you’ve stopped practicing.
That replay process happens in the cortex, so the area responsible for control, timing, and execution, and it’s how the brain starts turning short-term reps into long-term, locked-in skills.
What’s wild too, is that your hippocampus, which handles short-term memory, doesn’t actually do much here. I was surprised by that. It’s the cortex that takes over when the reps are consistent. And the more consistent you become, the stronger the signal becomes.
So when I say reps are everything, I don’t mean it as a throwaway motivational line. I mean your brain actually needs to see repetition to even bother storing and refining a skill.
No reps? No imprint.
No imprint? No improvement.
It’s that simple!
The kit doesn’t lie, because your brain doesn’t lie. It’s only holding onto the work you’ve shown up for, and nothing more. It can not pull progress out of thin air.
Want that groove to feel better? Those doubles to move quicker? The timing of the 16th note linear fill to land clean every single time?
Cool. Just run the reps. That’s literally all you have to do.
And then you can just sit back and let your brain do its thing. Easy peasy!
The main point here is that everything is completely in your control.
And guess what, you don’t need five hours a day, and you don’t need to learn 37 new concepts.
You just need to show up, consistently, and do the right reps on the right things. Focused, and with intention. The body and brain will do the rest.
That’s how you shift your playing. And it starts with dropping the story that you “suck.”
You don’t suck, you just haven’t done the proper work yet.
There’s a big difference.
The second you accept that and take responsibility for where you are, the whole game changes.
Because now you’re no longer waiting for some external fix that doesn’t exist. You’ve taken the power back.
That’s what accountability looks like. That’s what mastery looks like.
And not just on the drums, but in life.
You’ve probably heard this quote before, but it’s worth repeating here:
“The obstacle in the path becomes the path.”
– Ryan Holiday, The Obstacle Is the Way
Yes. You are the obstacle. BUT! That also means you are the way forward, too. It’s powerful stuff.
The version of you that avoids the hard stuff is always going to be frustrated.
The version of you that chooses to face it, daily, even in small and manageable doses, that’s the one that breaks through.
The feel of that groove that isn’t sitting right? That’s the one you lock in to and do not move away from.
The fill that keeps falling apart at speed? That’s the one you slow down, do the work, and build up.
The left hand that’s always behind? That’s the one you train until it leads with ease.
Now look, you’ll either read this and feel empowered, or (most likely), you’ll feel a bit called out.
To be honest, either response is useful, and I’m not too concerned which one it evokes.
If it hits you hard, cool. Sit with it. Hopefully it triggers a respones that creates change!
And then… ACT.
Don’t spiral. Don’t overthink. Just get on the kit and do the work.
If it lights you up, good. Use that spark before it fades. Because it will. Use that spark to lock in the routine.
Here’s my challenge to you – Pick one thing today. One area. Just one hole in your playing. And address it. Thats it.
You’ve actually always known all this. Of course, you have. I know I’m not sharing anything new here. It’s just a matter of doing it.
And here’s the thing…
You are not just building a better drummer. You’re building a better you – on and off the kit.
Someone who shows up, without question. And someone who puts the work in, no matter what’s going on around them.
Someone that prioritises their health, well-being, relationships, confidence… all of it.
It’s all connected.
That’s what MasterMind Drummer is really about. Not just playing better, but becoming better in the process, too.
So next time that voice comes in, the one that says you’re not good enough, or you’re behind, or it’s too late, just respond with immediate action.
Take ownership. Take control. Break the cycle. Pick up the sticks. And most importantly, start doing the reps!
Let the kit reflect the truth back to you, and then use the truth the start moving forward.
Because, as mentioned right at the top of this –
The biggest challenge that you actually face… is simply you.
YOU are where all the solutions always lie.
Stay hungry (and healthy),
Stan