My daughter is a piano student. At first, when beginning any instrument, students have to learn a number of things from reading music to understanding tempo to really grasping the emotion of a piece. All of these things to into music. It's not common that a person can hear a piece once and then sit down to play it as if they've been practicing for years.

Even an advanced player learns a piece 'hands alone', as in, learning the right hand separately from the left hand and then, eventually, putting them together.

For most, there's a lot of practice involved between beginning student and Beethoven sonata.

Breaking things down to their element and practicing, practicing, practicing... that's the goal with learning anything, from the piano to persuasion.

I think everything is powerful in its simplicity and when we start junking it up with too much complexity, that's when it goes awry.

There are many people in the world of persuasion who have not succeeded--trainers and teachers, speakers and students. I believe the reason they weren't able to succeed is because they didn't break things down to the simplest form and practice.

The way I have excelled is that I keep things very simple. I continue to go back to the basics until I master the idea, until I can do it backwards and forwards, in my sleep, blindfolded, in the middle of my dreams. . . I want to be absolutely fluent in all the details.

After working and working on the fundamentals, the separate pieces, all of the sudden I noticed huge advancements. More and more complex patterns easily and naturally began to happen.

The most profound things in the world are very simple. When you master the simple things, more and more you'll find the big things come together with ease.

Take a few moments and evaluate the core of what you're persuading people to do. What are the simple principles? Focus on these, and watch your results begin to climb.