Creating a routine is tough. Usually a routine is created, not by you, but by your circumstances. Right now most of my students have no schedule because of the Coronavirus shut-down. After that, they still won’t have a schedule because of summer break. We’ve been in this situation for about a month, and schedule-wise, it feels like July.
I feel like I’ve struggled with this concept all my life. As a child during the summers, I saw the days slip by, with nothing done. Same with weekends. I saw how Sundays were much more productive than other days because I had to get up for church.
As I got older and had jobs from my teen years on out, I saw how much I could accomplish when I had somewhere to go or a task list for the day. As a teen, I read Jane Austen and Louisa May Alcott, who touched on this subject and gave suggestions on how to get past the doldrums of no routine. They both talked about how much happier people are when they have a schedule and tasks to do.
How does this have anything to do with music? It’s easy to forget to practice when you don’t have it scheduled into your day. Creating a routine will help with that. So, let’s take a look at some different ideas on how to create structure in your life.
Daily Routines
Back in 2002, I stumbled upon the Flylady system (not an affiliate link). One of the premises of the program is to have a routine that goes with each meal. We already subconsciously do things related to each meal – incorporate getting ready for the day with breakfast, doing the dishes for the day after supper, etc.
Her philosophy is that you can add anything you want to these normal routines. For example, my lunch routine is to eat, fold a load of laundry, then practice. This way you’re not creating a routine from scratch, but you’re building on several small routines that are already in your life.
Louisa May Alcott alluded to this system in Little Women. She mentioned that Beth would find herself cleaning up after herself without realizing she was doing it, and she was happier for it.
Have a To-Do List
If you have a to-do list, you can make sure that you have things like practicing on that list every day. In the process of doing your list, make sure that you’re doing like with like. For instance, computer stuff can be done all at the same time.
20-Minute Chunks
This combines well with a to-do list. Set the timer at 20 minutes throughout the day. Switch between the different tasks on your to-do list. I go into more detail about it here. I’ve discovered over the years that it’ll cut your homework time down by half.
Scheduling Out your Day
This can be taken in two ways. Elon Musk uses the time blocking technique where he takes his to-do list, estimates out how much time each item will take, and puts it on his calendar. This works great when you have a ton of stuff to do.
On the other hand, many of us have too much time on our hands, and so are forgetting to do the important stuff. Jane Austen suggested in Sense and Sensibility to divide your day out into sections and do certain things at certain times. Her examples were practicing music, reading, writing, needlework, and taking a walk. This is a system designed for people of leisure.
Alarm Clock
Sometimes it’s easy to get wrapped up in a project. All of a sudden you look up, and it’s been 6 hours. There goes your day, and you haven’t even eaten. I like to have several alarms go off throughout the day to remind me to do certain things. For a long time, I had an alarm go off at 9AM to remind me to write music.
Conclusion
It’s harder than most people realize to go through life with no structure, no routines, and no schedule. It makes some people cranky. It makes most people forget to do that one thing they were supposed to do today. I hope these suggestions help you get out of the funk of the doldrums and into happy, productive days.