How to stop procrastinating your practice

WHAT MEANS PROCRASTINATE?

Procrastinating means: To put off till another day or time / to defer action / delay / Lying yourself

Yes, I know that you know it…so why are you continuing to procrastinate?! There are 2 ways to procrastinate: Active procrastination is spending your time on activities that are more easy for you, like spending time on WhatsApp with your friends instead of doing your practice. Passive procrastination is when you sit around doing nothing at all.

WHY WE PROCRASTINATE

The real reason we procrastinate is behind these kind of feelings:

•Feeling like you won’t play good enough

• Frustrated

• Bored (scale, arpeggios, staccato, legato exercises, long notes, tuning …)

•Scared of what other people will think (maybe your teacher, or classmate, orchestra colleagues, audition/exam jury…)

•Feeling overwhelmed from your big/huge task (a concert, technical studio, theory exam?)

•Stressed (OMG, that’s too much for me!)

•Feeling self-doubt (all the other are better than me, it’s useless!)

Most of all we procrastinate because we don’t want to experience negative feelings.

HOW TO STOP PROCRASTINATING YOUR PRACTICE?

1. STOP USELESS EXCUSES / DISTRACTIONS :

Just be honest with your self & take the moment

2.STUDY WITH A SCHEDULE :

Normally I’m a mess woman, I tried to schedule my life since I was 17. Thanks to my Agenda I really started to understand how something like this is SOOOOO important! So I made for you a free PDF with a worksheet schedule “how to stop procrastinating your practice”, where you will be able to fill with:

- 3 main tasks of the day, that you need to divide in other little tasks 

- The Hack that I will explain below 

- Weekly practice schedule (you are able to fill freely) 

- Reflection questions 

Why is importart choose 3 main tasks and divide them in subtasks? Because if you have to think about your HUGE practice (that can be a concert score, a scale, a studio, etude, solo etc…) you will never work with a positive mind. In conclusion, you need a positive behaviour to complete your task. What is better then a little task more easy to complete?
All the time that you complete a subtask you just but a ✓ ! In this way your feeling will be motivate to archive your goals of the day!

THE HACK:

I think that this trick is the best for procrastinate people. On my worksheet  PDF you can organise your Hack in just 1 min (click below to download it). Choose 5 most important things that you need to do absolutely during your practice day. During your breaks, choose something that makes you relaxing as much as possible and put your mind out of the practice (but not too much then 2 min!! use an Alarm to help you).

3. REIGNITE YOUR MOTIVATION :

It’s so hard for everybody to keep high own motivation! You need to Reenergize your mind:

- listen to something that inspires you! 

- Watch a video of your best musician and think how to archive his/her /their level! ( like the Nike slogan : Nothing is impossible).  

- Take your time to think how you improve and what are you able to do after your practice! (this girl recorded herself for 360 days of practice, watch the video here ) 

- Practice with a friend who is able to motivate you, or motivate together (be honest with your self-it’s useless procrastinating together, right?) 

- Search & Read experiences!

Check these videos:

Maria Joao Pires expecting another Mozart concerto

The classical singer Jonas Kaufmann mistakes at his performance

Ray Chen breaks string during performance

Just to remind you that we are human and also the best can make mistakes sometimes.

 

4. FIND THE PERFECT PLACE :

It’s important that the place where you practice gives you a good feeling. I make over my studio for this. Go to the conservatory, to your friend or member of the family, to a special place, in the garden, etc…

Find the perfect place where you feel comfortable.

Check this video:

One day in a practice room

5. PRACTICE TO THE PRACTICE :

Seems stupid but you need to practice to the practice. (???????????)

Be kind to yourself 

You’re not going to magically stop procrastinating overnight that takes time and self-awareness, because you must change a habit and keep working on it.  All you need to do is practice feeling, instead of avoiding.

When you’re prepared to endure a little discomfort you’ll be able to achieve anything you dream of. 

 

I look forward to hearing from you! Let me know your opinion, If the Hack and the Pdf are good for you! Or let me know if you have another way how to stop procrastinating your practice! Leave a comment or send me a private message HERE !

 

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