The 6/7 Rule: Why Perfect Practice Kills Progress

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The 6/7 Rule: Why "Good Enough" Beats "Perfect"

When I introduce new material to students, I use a simple scale:

10/10 = Impossible. You have no idea what's happening. 1/10 = Easy. You could play it in your sleep.

Where do I aim for?

6 or 7 out of 10.

Not 9. Not 10. Six or seven.

Why?

Because that's where learning actually happens.

This isn't my invention—it's based on psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's research on flow states. He discovered that deep learning occurs when you're working at the edge of your current ability:

• Too easy (3-4/10): You're bored. Your brain disengages. Limited growth.
• Too hard (9-10/10): You're anxious, overwhelmed, frustrated. Your brain shuts down. No growth.
• Just right (6-7/10): You're challenged but succeeding. Your brain is fully engaged. This is where growth happens.

Think about it: if you're nailing something 10/10, you've already learnt it. There's nothing new to encode. You're just repeating what you know.

But if you're struggling at 6/7—making mistakes, self-correcting, trying again—your brain is actively problem-solving. That's where the neural pathways get built.

Perfect practice doesn't create progress. Challenging practice does.

Why "Right vs Wrong" Is the Wrong Framework

Here's where most students (and teachers) get stuck:

They think in terms of right vs wrong.

• "I played it wrong."
• "That was the wrong sticking."
• "I missed the cymbal—that's wrong."

But here's a better framework: intentional vs unintentional.

What's the Difference?

"Right or wrong" is a judgement. It assumes there's a correct version and you failed to execute it.

"Intentional or unintentional" is an observation. It asks: "Did I mean to do that, or did my body do something else?"

Let's say you're practising a fill and your left hand hits the floor tom when you meant to hit the snare.

Old mindset: "That was wrong. I'm bad at this."

New mindset: "My left hand went to the floor tom unintentionally. Why? Was I looking at the wrong drum? Did I start too far left? Let me adjust and try again."

See the difference?

One shuts down learning. The other creates a feedback loop where you can actually improve.

In Learning, There Is No "Wrong"—Only Data

When you're practising, every unintentional movement is just information.

Your left hand hit the wrong drum? That tells you something about your spatial awareness or hand positioning.

You rushed the tempo? That tells you something about your internal pulse or listening habits.

You tensed up halfway through? That tells you something about breath control or mental pressure you're putting on yourself.

None of this is "wrong." It's all data you can use to adjust.

Now, in a performance setting, yes—unintentional movements are mistakes. By that point, your body should be executing automatically, and deviations from the plan matter.

But in practice? You're supposed to be making unintentional movements. That's literally the point. You're training your body to make intentional movements more consistently.

Reframing mistakes as learning opportunities isn't just feel-good nonsense. It's how skill acquisition actually works.

"Everything You See Was Once a Mistake, Now a Success"

Think about every great drummer you admire.

Every technique they've mastered? They messed it up hundreds of times first.

Every groove they make look effortless? It felt clunky and awkward when they started.

Every fill that sounds smooth and musical? They played it badly, adjusted, played it badly again, adjusted again, until eventually it clicked.

Everything you see as "success" in drumming was once a "mistake" in practice.

The difference between drummers who improve and drummers who stay stuck isn't that the good ones make fewer mistakes. It's that they reframe mistakes as part of the process instead of evidence of failure.

When you stop judging yourself for unintentional movements and start treating them as useful feedback, progress accelerates.

Stop Saying Sorry for Learning

Here's a pattern I see constantly in lessons:

A student plays something. It doesn't go as planned. They immediately say, "Sorry."

Why are you apologising?

You're not wasting my time. You're not doing anything wrong. You're learning. That's literally what you're here for.

Saying "sorry" for making mistakes in practice is like apologising for sweating at the gym. It's a sign the work is happening.

If you're not making mistakes, you're not pushing yourself hard enough. You're staying in the 3-4/10 comfort zone where no growth occurs.

Mistakes = evidence you're working at 6-7/10 difficulty = exactly where you need to be.

So next time you mess up in practice, don't apologise. Just notice what happened, adjust, and try again.

That's not failure. That's the process.

How to Use the 6/7 Rule in Your Practice

Here's how to apply this in real life:

1. Check Your Difficulty Level

Before you start practising something, ask yourself: "On a scale of 1-10, how hard is this right now?"

• If it's 3-4/10: Increase the challenge. Speed it up, add a complication, combine it with something else.
• If it's 9-10/10: Decrease the difficulty. Slow it down, simplify it, isolate one piece of the pattern.
• If it's 6-7/10: Perfect. Stay here and work.

2. Notice Unintentional Movements Without Judgement

When something doesn't go as planned, ask:

• "What did my body do?" (Observation, no judgement)
• "What did I intend to do?" (Clarify the goal)
• "Why did my body do something different?" (Investigate the cause)
• "What adjustment can I make?" (Create a solution)

This turns every "mistake" into a problem-solving opportunity.

3. Embrace Struggling

If practice feels easy and comfortable, you're not learning—you're maintaining.

If practice feels challenging and you're making frequent unintentional movements, that's actually a good sign. It means you're working at the edge of your ability.

The goal isn't to eliminate struggle. The goal is to stay in the productive struggle zone (6-7/10) long enough for your brain to adapt.

For Parents: Why Your Child's "Mistakes" Are Progress

If you're watching your child practise and thinking, "They keep getting it wrong, shouldn't they have this by now?"—here's what's actually happening:

Your child is working at 6-7/10 difficulty. That's exactly where they should be.

If they were playing everything perfectly, their teacher would move them to harder material. The fact that they're making mistakes means they're being challenged appropriately.

The question isn't "Are they making mistakes?" (They should be.)

The question is "Are they learning from their mistakes and self-correcting?"

If yes—great. The process is working.

If no—they might need help developing self-awareness (noticing what their body is doing) or problem-solving skills (figuring out how to adjust). That's something their teacher can help with.

But the mistakes themselves? Those aren't the problem. Those are the evidence that learning is happening.

The Bottom Line

Perfect practice is a myth.

Chasing perfection keeps you stuck in easy material (3-4/10) where no growth happens, or pushes you into impossibly hard material (9-10/10) where you're too overwhelmed to learn.

The sweet spot is 6-7/10: challenging but achievable, uncomfortable but manageable, making mistakes but self-correcting.

Stop thinking in terms of "right vs wrong." Start thinking in terms of "intentional vs unintentional."

Every unintentional movement is data. Every "mistake" is feedback. Every moment of struggle is your brain building new pathways.

That's not failure. That's how learning works.

So next time you mess up in practice, don't apologise. Don't judge yourself. Just notice, adjust, and keep going.

You're not getting it wrong. You're learning.

Need help staying in the 6/7 zone and reframing mistakes as progress? Let's work on building genuine learning habits that actually create lasting improvement. Contact me for drum lessons in Bristol.