6 Ways to Avoid Procrastinating When You Should be Practising

We know no matter how much you love playing your musical instrument sometimes you just want to be watching Stranger Things rather than practising your scales. But if you don’t practise you won’t improve, so to help we have put together a list of things you can do to avoid procrastinating and get practising.

1. Choose what you will be playing ahead of timeHaving a set plan for what you will be playing during your practise will leave you with less time to get distracted. Deciding ahead of time what you will be playing will also allow you to get right into your practise and avoid wasting any time.
2. Set a time frameSetting a time to practise and a length of time to practise for will mean you are you are more likely to devote yourself to that time than if you just say to yourself that you will practise at some point during the day.
3. Have a routineThis ties in well with the first two points. If you have a set routine for your music practise you are less likely to deviate from it. Set your practise (where possible) for the same time each day and for the same length of time. By having your music practise as part of your daily routine it will become second nature.
4. No phone zoneLeave your phones, tablets, laptops, and computers out of the room you are practising in. If you do need them with you for any reason turn off your notifications and put them on silent, this way you are less likely to get distracted by them. 
5. Give yourself a breakAllow yourself some time to procrastinate. We know that giving yourself regular breaks is good for focus and concentration. So set yourself a break between 5-15 minutes during your practise and use this time to refocus, rest, and check Facebook.
6. Take it easy but not too easyTo progress we have to challenge ourselves but if you are trying learn something too difficult your mind is more likely to wander out of frustration. The same issue will arise if you keep practising what is easy, you will get bored and your mind will wander. Be realistic, choose something that challenges you, something that is out of your comfort zone but isn’t impossible.
   

 

Do you have any other helpful tips on how to avoid procrastinating?