Daily Practice Management Strategy

Since my post on efficient practice (http://sensibleflutist.blogspot.com/2010/07/efficient-practice-tips.html), I've been exploring Burt Kaplan's strategies in his book, "Practicing for Artistic Success."

I have just completed Day 2 of his 3 day prescribed practice management strategy. The theory is that by pre-planning your practice and coming into your daily session with a schedule, a strategy, and a kitchen timer, you will be better able to realistically guess how much time you need to reach your goals. Included in the book is a nifty Daily Practice Organizer that you can copy and use for this exercise.

Managing your practice time effectively and efficiently is a little like how you shop at the mall. Some of us are very focused with a mental shopping list. We do well managing our time (for the most part) so that we don't waste time; however, we sometimes get unfocused and distracted especially when we just can't seem to find the item we want. Others just spend a lot of time and money on impulsive purchases with no evident goal. Our shopping personalities give us a glimpse into our practice personalities, and taking three days to create a daily practice schedule will help you better manage your time and focus.

Kaplan's ideas of practice management are similar to what I have developed and use in my own practicing. The intent of his exercise is to easily plan out your available time in a way so that you're not creating a regimented practice schedule, but building a schedule that has "free" time incorporated for when we want to just play for fun or we want to work further on something we left earlier.

But what about those days when we plan for that extra 20 percent, but other things are getting in the way? Creating a schedule with twenty percent less time than what we think we may have on any particular day safeguards us from unexpected life crises that require our attention but take away those precious minutes. Practicing in less time than what we have also shows that with a focused plan, we can get our work done in less time than we think we need in order to achieve our goals. The actual and expected times will begin to mesh much more easily, and the stress that usually accompanies thinking about everything we must prepare will begin to dissipate.

After two days of regimenting my practice a la Kaplan, I realize that my own problem doesn't lie in an inability to plan but my inability to effectively strategize how I'm going to work on my priorities. My personal goal in this exploration is to transform my practicing into a super efficient vehicle through which I can achieve my short term and long term goals while having time for other pursuits.

Stay tuned for more self-discovery.