I learned to luge today.
(Wow, that’s a funny sentence to type.)
The thing I learned about luging is that the right choice is highly counterintuitive. You need to lean back, and tuck your legs in, when your instinct is telling you to sit up and use your legs to steer.
Instincts can be great, but there are times when we need to learn to ignore our instincts to get better at what we want to do.
Learning to perform involves ignoring the instincts most of us feel when standing in front of a large group looking at us. Learning to sing involves shaping, honing, or, yes, ignoring the instincts that we have in how to manipulate our instruments. Learning to teach can often involve recognizing and sometimes ignoring our instincts, too.