In my teenage years, my piano teacher used to say the same things over and over. I think I probably rolled my eyes at the time. But now, more than 30 years since our last lesson together, those seeds she’d planted bloom from time to time.

In written western music, notes are blocked off by measures. Each measure has several counts, each starting with one.

Her saying, “One is king,” refers to the importance of the first beat of each measure. No matter how much you stumble in a performance, if you can hold onto that central beat, you’re likely fine.

Interestingly, you don’t even have to make a noise at One to have things move forward. It’s more the feeling that needs to be there.

Musician Aphex Twin masterfully messes with the beat with wild deviations, while a hidden “one” reveals itself only as an impression. (See below for links to a couple of tracks if interested.)

We can even stretch and pull time this way and that by landing One short and far as I do with this piece of mine that I’d posted not long ago:

We can generalize the concept to work…

By having the central idea of a story in mind, winding this way and that only enhances its presentation. By knowing a central fulcrum of a project, its details are more readily recognized and used. The center may be hidden in detail, but its strength still pervades throughout.

And beyond performance, One is also king when practicing and learning.

Sitting at the piano keys, I might practice section A and section B. But if I miss practicing the transition between them, I’ll surely miss and stumble between them.

For this reason, when wrapping up a practice session, my teacher would always encourage me to end on One. Rather than stop at the end of the section I’d been practicing, we would stop at the first beat of the next.

Hemingway described doing very similarly, even encouraging that one stop writing in the middle of a sentence.

Again, this same lesson applies in our visits in general, be that in work or play. When deciding to wrap up a visit to work, sitting at the edge of action for that next phase primes us. Whether we continue work or not, by simply being there for a moment, seeing and feeling, we expose ourselves to the emotions.

Seeds now planted, the mind stirs, ready to sprout with ideas in the visits to come.

– Kourosh

PS. I’m currently working hard on completing the next module of the ​Waves of Focus​, Module 9 – Buckets and Overflow. More about it soon…

PPS If you’re interested in learning about Aphex Twin, here’s ​one introduction​, ​a more ambient introduction​, and I’ll leave his more intense tunes for the more intrepid of explorers to search for.