Piano Challenge With Daughter

Shaan shares a story about his yearly challenge to learn piano with his daughter.

"Jesse Itzler came on the podcast and gave this idea of a misogi. It's a Japanese tradition, and the American translation is one grand challenge a year - specifically, do something so grand that it changes you. For him, it was running a hundred-mile race. He's done this for fifteen years - one year was write a book, another year something else.

I realized I never really do something like that. I have New Year's resolutions, things I want to improve about myself, but I never put out the misogi, the grand challenge for the year. So I made one.

I like that it's just one challenge because if I said 'I want to do this and this and this,' that would guarantee none of them happen. For this year, I decided I want to have more fun in my life. I have fun playing basketball, doing the podcast, in business, with my kids - but where can I dial up fun?

I want to be able to jam out with music because music is like its own little magic potion. Music makes you feel good in thirteen seconds - I can play a song and change your mood in thirteen seconds. There's not much I could say that would do that.

So I decided I want to learn piano, but I wanted the life-maxing version. Not only am I going to learn piano and get good enough to jam out to any song I want, but I'm also going to teach my five-year-old daughter. Now I'm getting dad points while I'm getting piano points at the same time. It's integration - I'm not choosing family or my piano hobby, it's both.

She comes with me to every single lesson and now begs me to do piano every night. Then I thought about what would be the full-send version of this challenge. At first I considered making a song or performing at a theater, but that felt like playing somebody else's game.

A key part is to pick what's real for you, not take somebody else's scorecard. My cousin suggested playing a recital at an old folks home, which would be more meaningful for me. I've been to senior centers - not a lot is happening there, so I could go be their Kanye because nobody else is there. For me, that would be meaningful - I made other people's day brighter."