Building a Mini Habit of Practice Piano
Building a Mini Habit of Practice Piano
How to practice piano? - Print out https://bit.ly/MiniHabitOfPracticePiano
Adapted from a book by Stephen Guise
Rewrite by Sue Dibble, piano teacher from mypianojourney.com
“The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” ~ Lao Tzu
When you repeat a behavior over time, your brain learns to automate the process. Repetition is the language of the (subconscious) brain.
Tips 1: Choose your mini habits & habit plan
In this case, we are building up a mini habit of practice piano for lifetime
Tips 2: Define your habit cues
The two common habit cues are time based and activity-based. In a time based cue, you’ll say, “I’m going to practice piano MWF at 3 PM.” In an activity based cue, you’ll say, “I’m going to practice piano MWF 30 minutes after I take my last bite at dinner.”
Tips 3: Create your reward plan
Talk to your piano student and design a reward system. Rewards encourage repeat behavior, and also restore our willpower. Without reward, you will meet stronger resistance!!
Tips 4: Write everything down
Peter Drucker is often quoted as saying, "You can't manage what you can't measure."
Writing something down instantly elevates it above all of your other thoughts. One study found that all thoughts (positive or negative) held greater prominence in the mind when written down on paper. The same impact has not been found for typing. So, don’t use any electronic App to track your practice! You’ve got to handwrite it to amplify it. In the piano student’s case, a practice log can be as easy as following:
Below example is taken from my student Zane -
His first log is Nov 18, 2017 (wow, four years ago!!)
His last log in the same notebook is Jan 5, 2018
I took his log book away because he doesn't need it anymore, he already has the mini-habit-of-practice-piano built in his body!! He doesn't need to log his practice anymore!!! He is set for life!!!
Tips 5: Meet your schedule & drop high expectations
Be happy with all progress -- Being happy with small progress is different from having low standards. There’s a quote by Bruce Lee that sums it up: “Be happy, but never satisfied.” Bruce Lee did more with his limited lifetime of 32 years than two typical people do with 80 years each, so listen to him.
Tips 6: Never cheat!!
Don’t log your practice if you don’t practice!! Lying to yourself is not going to help anything at all!! At the other hand, if you practice, then you MUST log it. Otherwise, it is just another form of lying to yourself!! You are logging your practice for yourself, not for your teacher nor parents. In fact, I would never want you to show me your practice log because I trust you!!
Tips 7: If you feel strong resistance, back off & go even smaller
Common “wisdom,” tells us that we’ve got to push through strong feelings of resistance. Well, that’s stupid. Willpower is limited, and if you’re pushing beyond your means now, it means you’re going to crash and burn later. When you feel resistance to any task, make it smaller. If you are having resistance for 10 minutes per day practice, then go for 5 minutes instead. Problem solved.
The end
Thank you for reading!!
