How to Practice. Part 1: The Artistic Vision

This guy is great.  I'm doing some of this already. I listen to other recordings. I learn the melody. I know the musical form and phrase structure. I can start conducting the piece away from the piano and some of the other hints here.   I've learned to have an "artistic vision" even though I still am not a good or even mediocre player yet.  You might say I have "delusions of mediocrity," to use a phrase I invented once.  My goal is to play a very easy piece and make it sound like a very good pianist would play it.

I need to get any piece up to a place where it is as easy as playing "Mary had a little lamb" with one hand in C major.  Then all my attention goes into the expressivity and dynamics. If I can do that with a slightly moderate piece in terms of difficulty then I will have achieved my mediocrity.