Getting Yourself (or Your Kids!) to Practice Without Nagging or Guilt-tripping

Practicing – or even just playing – your instrument ideally is a joyful activity you look forward to. And often when you have gigs on the books, tours coming up, recording dates, auditions on the horizon – motivation will be super high and long days of practicing will fly by.

Maybe your musical diary is not quite filled with the above items (yet!) or maybe that’s not even your goal. Or maybe you had a full calendar and are now under shelter-in-place orders (never thought I’d say those words!) and the days are just blending one into the next. You can’t even see your teacher for lessons.

So, how do you keep your practicing routines strong when motivation fails?

Tiny Habits™ method to the rescue! Don’t wait for inspiration to hit. Don’t wait for motivation to magically appear. Instead, follow a powerful, scientifically proven, three-step formula, and make it a habit.

As Dr. BJ Fogg, the creator of the method and behavior scientist who runs the Stanford Behavior Design Lab, teaches us: contrary to popular views, habits do not form through repetition, but rather through good feelings. In fact, BJ shares Emotions create habits. (If you have ever given a smartphone to a teenager, you witnessed a habit form instantly – no waiting on the famed “21 days” for the habit to form – that teen and that phone were instantly inseparable!)

I am excited to show you how to use this simple method to create powerful practice habits. As a Tiny Habits™ Certified Coach I am hosting two Tiny Habits Expert Sessions on Saturday, May 9th. I will be talking about creating music practicing habits for kids (say goodbye to nagging!) as well as adults (say goodbye to guilt-tripping!).