Occasionally I am faced with a student who fights to hold on to their vocal limitations. When introduced to a new vocal technique they proclaim incessantly, "But it's so HAAARD!" As my friend Richard Bach put it in his book, Illusions, "Argue for your limitations and you get to keep them."
While pondering the subject of limitations this evening, I was reminded of the Japanese word "ichinen." And doing a little research on the subject, I found the following excerpt from a blog article entitled, "Ichinen Covers It All" by Anupadin, which I will quote below:
"Being good at something isn’t just about talent, it’s about having the desire, in your heart, to make it happen. Ichinen is a Japanese word meaning determination (amongst other things). If you have a strong Ichinen, you are far more likely to reach your goal. You still have to put in the effort and in fact, the more talent you have, the more effort is needed, because your end result might be far more exacting than a less talented person.
"If you think you will fail, you will fail. You must embrace your goals, your targets, with every fiber of your being. Strive with all your might, night and day, towards that goal and you are far more likely to succeed. And actually, only you decide when you have failed ... [it's] when you give up trying."
Consequently, instead of fighting for your limitations, embrace your challenges as adventures over which to triumph. Like a Knight in days of yore, you are on a quest; a quest to succeed! As the old adage goes, "Anything worth having is worth fighting for," so slay those dragons and then celebrate your accomplishments!