Mind Games

Even with a concrete goal like an audition in front of me, I have to play some mind games to get myself to practice regularly. I've commented before on how my week revolves around Fridays, my lesson day, in terms of squeezing practice in. Since then, rather than thinking in terms of practicing two or three or four or (rarely) more times per week with the entire week looming ahead of me, I break it down this way: 

1. Practice either on Saturday or Sunday. The vast majority of the time, it's Sunday. I have a sense of urgency about a lot of things on Sundays that I do not have on Saturdays, so squeezing practice in on Sundays fits the bill.
2. Practice either on Monday or Wednesday. Sometimes after practicing on Sunday I have a sense of momentum and practicing on Monday comes naturally, without me having to exercise a ton of self-discipline. But if I have a rough Monday at work and feel lazy--Mondays also happen to be the day when I am most tempted to pick up take-out on the way home rather than make something at home--there's always Wednesday. On Tuesdays, I have another commitment.
3. Practice on Thursday. This is non-negotiable. This is my last chance to have the 1-2-3 sense of progression during the week and feel like what I've been working on is fresh in my lesson on Friday. Not coincidentally, I tend to practice longer on Thursday--75-90 minutes--than during the rest of the week, when it's generally an hour.

As long as I abide by this little scheme, I practice three times per week. When I wrote about this last February I was aiming for four times per week, but I have not maintained that. In college I regularly practiced six days per week for 60-90 minutes each time, but that is flat out not gonna happen anymore in my life (barring some crisis that gives me more time on my hands than I actually want). 

Breaking things down this way tends to prevent me from letting time slip away until Tuesday and then beating myself up for wasting half the week. I would rather consistently practice three times per week with minimal angst and self-flagellation along the way than eke out four practice sessions that feel forced. If I practice on both of the "either/or" days--at least one set of them, like Saturday and Sunday--that's a bonus. It's all about the mind games.