Make a decision
to practice or not. Commit,
and then just do it.
(Why the haiku? TMQ)
It’s reasonably easy to stick with a consistent practice routine during the parts of the year where a regular class or work schedule is there to keep us honest. The routine becomes a habit, and for the most part, we just go along with it.
But holidays and breaks throw a monkey wrench into our established routine and our practice habits can suffer.
I remember those days where I’d wake up, tell myself that I really ought to practice, but put it off until later. “I just woke up” I’d say. “After breakfast” I’d promise myself. Pretty soon it’d be lunchtime, and I’d tell myself that it made more sense to practice after lunch instead of practicing hungry. Of course I’d feel too sluggish to practice after lunch, and since I wasn’t practicing anyway, decide I might as well watch some TV. One show would lead to another, and I’d keep rationalizing until pretty soon it was time for bed and all I could do was kick myself for being so unproductive.
Sound familiar?
I once worked with a mixed martial arts fighter, who as intensely motivated as he was, would occasionally feel like he needed a day off too. But he could not give himself permission to take the day off. He’d fritter the day away doing this and that until it was too late to get in a good workout. Of course, that would just make him feel guilty about how unproductive his day was.
When we fail to take a stand and make a decision, we’re wasting the day in more ways than one. Not only are we not practicing, but we’re not getting the full mental, emotional, and physical benefit of a true day off either. And the guilt certainly isn’t doing us any good.
Take action
With the holidays now upon us, there will probably be a few days here and there where you won’t feel like putting in your hours. Rather than going back and forth about it all day, set aside a few minutes in the morning to think about what you want or need and what’s realistic. Take a stand, and make a definitive decision one way or the other. If you’re going to practice, set a time, a place, an agenda, and just do it (setting a specific time, place, and agenda will increase the likelihood that you’ll actually follow through).
On the other hand, if you’re not going to practice, give yourself permission to take the day off and avoid second guessing yourself or dwelling on it any longer. Stick with your guns, and lock yourself into your decision so you have no choice but to really make the most of your day off. Do something fun, relaxing, whatever it is that you feel you need.
Bonus application
This also applies to folks who are trying to make it a habit to wake up early and work out.
Most of us wake up to the alarm, and then get sucked into a dialogue with that voice in our head, which at 5am, has some awfully convincing reasons why we ought to hit the snooze button and go back to bed. Thing is, 5am is a crappy time to make a decision.
Why?
Because you’re not even awake yet, sleepyhead! You can barely figure out how to turn the alarm off, let alone win a debate with the other voice in your head.
Make all your decisions about working out before you go to sleep the night before. If it’s already 2am, and you know you need at least 6 hours to be functional, don’t kid yourself. You’re not going to the gym. You’ve already made the decision to stay up late instead of working out.
But if you went to bed plenty early and did decide to go to the gym, ignore the voice when the alarm goes off. The voice almost always wins if you engage it in a debate, so if you want to have any hope of getting to the gym, keep your mouth shut, turn off the alarm, and do whatever you have to do to get out the front door. Make it that far and you’re probably not going to turn back until you’ve finished your workout.
The one-sentence summary
“Decisiveness is a characteristic of high-performing men and women. Almost any decision is better than no decision at all.” ~Brian Tracy
Related Posts
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{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
This is one of my favorite “practice” posts Dr.Kageyama. I work in the school district and we have 2 weeks off for the holidays. This is the best time for me to get in a lot of practice time. However, I am a mom and a wife so practice time often gets pushed aside for some last minute gift and grocery shopping. I can’t be in the holiday mood without a clean house. So I keep my music and my instruments in the kitchen. When I feel I must practice, I take my flute out and have my music on the stand. Everything is ready to go so that at least I am inspired to practice when I am running the vacuum. Once I get started it is hard to stop. Practice is really the best part of my day eventhough I don’t practice everyday. Practice is also a good way to plan dinner. I prefer to cook something that is hearty but doesn’t require much attention on my practice days.Then I pull out the crock pot. Later today, I will be cleaning the upstairs so my gear will be with me. I am prepring for a jazz competition and a lot of what I practice is my improvisational skills and memorization so practice is a must if I want to be successful. Practice is not debateable, I must do it regardless of what the voice says.
Thanks for this post. I find that intention is the key. If I’m intending to practice, rather than trying to fit it into my already overscheduled hectic day, it will more likely happen. Totally agree about scheduling as well, especially when practicing with bandmates. I’ve always had trouble practicing alone, starting at an early age learning Suzuki violin. But orchestra rehearsals that were scheduled always seemed to go smoother once I was physically there.
Hi Tom,
I like your point about how important intentions can be. In fact, we would probably benefit from intending things more often in other areas of our life; e.g. what kind of phone conversation do we intend to have with our mother-in-law? What kind of meeting do we intend to run? What kind of experience do we intend to have on the drive back from work?
I must practice today which will take place while hubby is having a root canal. I hope he’s gone a long time so that I can practice a long time.
While on Winter break, I decided that it will be imperative to practice in prepearation for a jazz competition which I probably mentioed before. Not only have I scheduled practice but I am set up so that I can get to my play-along CDs, sheet music and axe easily. If I have to look for anything, I won’t practice, so why wait to begin looking for my materials. I had my music opened to the pages I intended to practice. It was sitting on the stand. My playalongs were sitting next to the computer ready to plug in. So after doing my schuduled chores and reading all I had to do was do it. That is how lazy I am and laziness must be taken into consideration when planning to practice. When I go to teach flute lessons, the break time will be spent on technical issues I came across during my practicing. Mainly octave jumps that i want to improve and perfect and my tone quality,
Good point about laziness, and nice tip on finding ways to make starting practice easier. Hmm…this seems deserving of a whole post of its own someday.
Yes, Dr. Kageyama, I do agree. So much to take into consideration when it comes to practice. Everyone has their own obstacles when it comes to scheduling practice time. I do not have a practice studio in my home which limits my practice time.Laziness, as I have mentioned makes it difficult to focus on the opportunity we call practice. Dinner time, laundry time, vacuuming and other tasks cannot be skipped because a messy house dulls my creativity. However, being a proud owner of a crock pot helps to free up some creative juices. You see, I am also a lazy chef. So having helpers like a crock pot or a diswasher…things that require practically, no attention from me. We must consider our short comings when it comes to practice time.
I can relate to your martial artist, as I am usually intensely motivated. I have days, once every week or two, that are a lost cause due to medical issues. On these days, I cannot think and focus to my normal standard, and this makes practice and study very difficult. I can’t predict when these days will occur and up until now they have been road blocks and momentum killers. Extremely frustrating.
Thinking about the intentional aspect you raise, and giving oneself permission, I have begun labeling some tasks in my to-do software as ‘fog work’. These are tasks that I can do in without concentrating; things that do not require precision. Now when I hit one of these bad days, I am prepared with tasks to work on, and I am able to count the day as productive and successful.
Thank you for the perspective and inspiration!
That’s a great idea, Karen. Thanks for sharing!
I love this post – and I agree completely. The days that you decide are going to be ‘days off’ are so much better than the days when you keep putting off practice and end up just not doing any.
I’m not a morning person, I struggle to get up every day. But, practice I do in the morning is always better than practice later on, plus I feel good for having got it done early. Plus, I’m increasingly seeing it as an escape from things that are stressing me out at any particular time.