Write Out the Steps
Our focus follows our eyes.
When you want to get something done, write it down and stare at it for a few seconds and see if your focus starts to follow.
Our focus also needs direction.
Don’t just write down what you want to get done, write down how you will get it done by listing a few steps.
Practicing Guitar sounds so simple to add to your list. Yet when it comes down to actually do it, I might be better off reading a list that looks more like this:
Locate the guitar that I warm up the best on (it has the softest strings)
Remove the pile of clothes that is always on the chair that I sit on to practice
Locate the sheet music for the songs or exercises that I have not only been working on but have been paying money to review with my teacher. It’s not unheard of for me or anyone to spend a few hundred dollars to study one piece of music.
Locate any notes from the last lesson which spell out exactly what I’m supposed to be working on
Play a few notes and don’t be judgemental the moment you do. I know you’re going to be judgemental but today just do me a favour and quiet down Mr. Critic.
Play a scale or an arpeggio to stretch your fingers out
Someone else might look at this list and come up with an acronym to remember what the appropriate steps are.
Or you can print the steps out on a sheet of paper and remember to look at that sheet when it’s time to practice.
This might sound overly specific or even prescriptive, but it’s kind of funny how the things that matter the most to us are continually shuffled under the rug.
We find time to run the silliest errands, yet when it comes to doing our Most Creative Work, something that is often free because we’ve already bought our supplies, we become disobedient.
Write out those steps, look at this list. Think about it carefully.