Priorities, and Time management Options

[PosterBoy]

It's strange I always found it hard to keep any discipline to practice saying I didn't have much free time. Yet I managed to get a 2nd job working from home 10 hours a week and always find the time to do that.

It makes me think that I should be able to find at least another 5-10 hours to do some proper concentrated and purposeful guitar practice

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[Storm Linnebjerg]

Time is an elusive size. I know a lot of people, including myself, used to say and think that they didn't have the time to practice enough or similar. Now the case is a bit different for me at the moment, but at least I've come around to the same conclusion as you: "I do have time!", now the next step is just to utilize that time.

I can't recommend playing guitar for 10 hours straight to catch up though. I'd think you'd be better off finding another 45 minutes a day to practice if you can.

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[Palacios]

Time is such an asset. My job can suck away all my practice time, but even 20 minutes a day can do a lot of good. The guy who first taught me guitar told me to buy a guitar stand, and leave your guitar in a place where you will pick it up and play it often. For me that is next to the kitchen table. While I drink coffee, or work on my computer; I'll play a few licks on my guitar as well.

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[Monica Gheorghev...]

I don't have problems with time management. Even if I'm at office between 9:00- 18:00 and I arrive at home around 19:30, I still have Monday-Friday around 4-5 hours for practice. I sleep less hours and every day I wake up at 5 o'clock AM. If I work for a collab, song or I have something harder to work for my mentoring with Darek, very often forget to sleep but this is my way to be. All the weekend it's reserved just for practice.
I guess the guitar it's more than a priority for me it's a lifestyle. Of course, I was forced to changed many things to be able to do this harsh program. But any passion requires sacrifices

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[Cosmin Lupu]

I think it's less about the time It's more about the energy and the mood and the spirit - do you have what it takes to put that guitar in your hands after work? Even if you KNOW you have time, you will spend it doing something easier Been there It's about knowing what you want mate - if you wanna play the guitar, you know what you have to do. Don't try to cram up 5 hrs a day. Have one GOOD practice hour and you are far better for certain!

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[Gabriel Leopardi]

The best you can do is to build a weekly schedule where guitar has the priority and importance that has for you, related to the other tasks that you add there. We use to occupy our time with less important things so the first step would be to define your goals and the important things for you and have them very clear. Then, create a weekly schedule totally related to it.

And every time you find yourself doing something out of the schedule, ask this question: "Is this the best thing that I can do with my time now?"

It's awesome how much effective you can be if you manage your time wisely.

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[Cosmin Lupu]

And every time you find yourself doing something out of the schedule, ask this question: "Is this the best thing that I can do with my time now?"
It's awesome how much effective you can be if you manage your time wisely.

Spot on Gabi! Basically, the awareness needed to observe yourself whenever you are straying is the very important aspect here. The thing is, some people, if not most, are always battling the constant pressure of: 'Is this what I should be doing right now?' If guitar playing is like a hobby to them, they will most likely feel that 'it's not important enough' and find something else, supposedly more important.. Pfff, what weird beings we humans can be sometimes

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[Gabriel Leopardi]

Spot on Gabi! Basically, the awareness needed to observe yourself whenever you are straying is the very important aspect here. The thing is, some people, if not most, are always battling the constant pressure of: 'Is this what I should be doing right now?' If guitar playing is like a hobby to them, they will most likely feel that 'it's not important enough' and find something else, supposedly more important.. Pfff, what weird beings we humans can be sometimes

Exactly! This is the reason why we must to set out list of priorities based on our wished goals. If we want to become a good guitar player playing on a working band, playing/practicing/studying guitar should occupy more time in hour life that other activities that aren't connect with our goals.

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[Cosmin Lupu]

Exactly! This is the reason why we must to set out list of priorities based on our wished goals. If we want to become a good guitar player playing on a working band, playing/practicing/studying guitar should occupy more time in hour life that other activities that aren't connect with our goals.

Indeed man Another point taken for team Gabi!

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[Gabriel Leopardi]

Indeed man Another point taken for team Gabi!

hehehe we are ready to write our collab book!

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[Becca]

Time.. ticking away the moments that make up a dull day.. I WISH!! Where does the time go? Palacios makes an excellent suggestion. Have your guitar always to hand in an area you will be sat for a while. I am typing this with my guitar on my lap so I can have a strum while I am browsing.. I still have an old Zoom pedal that I used to practice when my children were small. Guitar in Headphones out. Its not perfect but it meant I could still practice at anti social hours. Even now, with the kids all grown I still struggle to put the work in to get my old form back.

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[Cosmin Lupu]

Time.. ticking away the moments that make up a dull day.. I WISH!! Where does the time go? Palacios makes an excellent suggestion. Have your guitar always to hand in an area you will be sat for a while. I am typing this with my guitar on my lap so I can have a strum while I am browsing.. I still have an old Zoom pedal that I used to practice when my children were small. Guitar in Headphones out. Its not perfect but it meant I could still practice at anti social hours. Even now, with the kids all grown I still struggle to put the work in to get my old form back.

I usually stay away from multitasking, or at least I am trying to. If you are playing the guitar - keep your mind to that and that only Browse later You will find out that you can have a MUCH more productive experience, in a relatively short time span. You don't have to practice 4 hours non stop. I for one am trying to shoot 30 minutes and then a little 5 minute break and then again 30 and so on A session lasts 2h15 minutes but it feels ok I am trying to have two of these sessions/day. It's hard sometimes because I have a ton of work to handle, but I am 90% of the times managing things

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[wrk]

It's strange I always found it hard to keep any discipline to practice saying I didn't have much free time. Yet I managed to get a 2nd job working from home 10 hours a week and always find the time to do that.

It makes me think that I should be able to find at least another 5-10 hours to do some proper concentrated and purposeful guitar practice

Yes, the thing with work is that other people often expect results from you in one way or an other. Even if not motivated, tiered, sick or whatever else, the job usually has to be done in a certain time frame. As long guitar playing is not your job, to keep a practice schedule can be difficult as nobody else as yourself puts pressure on you.

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[Cosmin Lupu]

Yes, the thing with work is that other people often expect results from you in one way or an other. Even if not motivated, tiered, sick or whatever else, the job usually has to be done in a certain time frame. As long guitar playing is not your job, to keep a practice schedule can be difficult as nobody else as yourself puts pressure on you.

It doesn't have to involve that much pressure - it is not a competition. Usually, work related things are NOT a matter of urgency I daresay - 85% of the cases. But human beings, hehe, we are so prone to procrastinating and delaying things, that we have to be kept under control. So a boss will tell you - THIS is urgent, it has to be ready YESTERDAY! You work your behind off to make it happen and then he says - great job! The client called and said he will come to check it out next week It's how things go in the business environment.

Why? You will ask - as I said, we do not have the necessary discipline to make things happen without pressure and some people invented this sort of practice. As long as it works and as long as people will lack discipline, this is how things will roll.

Keeping a practice schedule, doesn't involve 8 hours of playing a day It involves being disciplined with the time you have. I have caught myself way too many times, wasting time. That's why I won't ever say, I don't have enough time - I sometimes don't want act disciplined. That's a better and a more honest answer.

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[wrk]

It doesn't have to involve that much pressure - it is not a competition. Usually, work related things are NOT a matter of urgency I daresay - 85% of the cases. But human beings, hehe, we are so prone to procrastinating and delaying things, that we have to be kept under control. So a boss will tell you - THIS is urgent, it has to be ready YESTERDAY! You work your behind off to make it happen and then he says - great job! The client called and said he will come to check it out next week It's how things go in the business environment.

Why? You will ask - as I said, we do not have the necessary discipline to make things happen without pressure and some people invented this sort of practice. As long as it works and as long as people will lack discipline, this is how things will roll.

Keeping a practice schedule, doesn't involve 8 hours of playing a day It involves being disciplined with the time you have. I have caught myself way too many times, wasting time. That's why I won't ever say, I don't have enough time - I sometimes don't want act disciplined. That's a better and a more honest answer.

Sure, in reality nothing is really urgent in most jobs. I work as freelance and when the client tells me it’s for yesterday then it’s not on me to question this. It really is stupid most of the time

I work this way since 15 years and i’m actually half-convinced now deadlines are helpful to progress and push things a bit further as usual. I guess it depends on the work, but i find my mind focuses differently when something has to be done fast as if i would have plenty of time. Distractions are automatically eliminated … if deadlines are realistic of course, which is mostly not the case


Time is maybe not the issue, but as Becca said above, with a family it becomes difficult to find undisturbed time for yourself. A practice routine often seem to not pass the warm up phase.

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[Cosmin Lupu]

Sure, in reality nothing is really urgent in most jobs. I work as freelance and when the client tells me it’s for yesterday then it’s not on me to question this. It really is stupid most of the time

I work this way since 15 years and i’m actually half-convinced now deadlines are helpful to progress and push things a bit further as usual. I guess it depends on the work, but i find my mind focuses differently when something has to be done fast as if i would have plenty of time. Distractions are automatically eliminated … if deadlines are realistic of course, which is mostly not the case


Time is maybe not the issue, but as Becca said above, with a family it becomes difficult to find undisturbed time for yourself. A practice routine often seem to not pass the warm up phase.

I totally agree with you - I am also a freelancer and have always been so. But since I don't have a wife and kids, life is pretty simple for me from this perspective. I don't plan on getting married to soon, because I don't have anyone to marry So, for me, finding time and peace of mind is still affordable

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[Gabriel Leopardi]

Sure, in reality nothing is really urgent in most jobs. I work as freelance and when the client tells me it’s for yesterday then it’s not on me to question this. It really is stupid most of the time

I work this way since 15 years and i’m actually half-convinced now deadlines are helpful to progress and push things a bit further as usual. I guess it depends on the work, but i find my mind focuses differently when something has to be done fast as if i would have plenty of time. Distractions are automatically eliminated … if deadlines are realistic of course, which is mostly not the case


Time is maybe not the issue, but as Becca said above, with a family it becomes difficult to find undisturbed time for yourself. A practice routine often seem to not pass the warm up phase.

Family distractions are something difficult to manage. Some ideas that come to mind to avoid this are:

- Practice in a part of the house where nobody goes.
- Practice while everybody sleeps (very early or very late).
- Practice in another place. You can rent a rehearsal room, or maybe you can go to a friend's house or place that isn't being used. Set up your practice room there and then set the practice time in your schedule.

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[Cosmin Lupu]

Family distractions are something difficult to manage. Some ideas that come to mind to avoid this are:

- Practice in a part of the house where nobody goes.
- Practice while everybody sleeps (very early or very late).
- Practice in another place. You can rent a rehearsal room, or maybe you can go to a friend's house or place that isn't being used. Set up your practice room there and then set the practice time in your schedule.

Great advice here from Gabi If you live on your own and you don't have a huge ton of responsibilities, you can schedule your practice time as needed. If you live in a big house, you can arrange a room for yourself and schedule chunks of time to get quality practice. But if you are not in any of the two situations above, rising up early is usually the first option coming to hand - one hour in the morning and one in the late evening gets you 2 hours of solid practice a day. That is NOT little thing

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[wrk]

Yes, definitely good advices, using the morning and evening hours is what we family guys try to do i guess

Reality is a bit different thought, with kids everything is changing from day to day, lets not speak about them being sick as they carry home everything they can get in school. Kids are full of exceptions which add so many variables to your life that something like a routine has to be adjusted everyday
The only solution i found so far is to work on your mental flexibility to get yourself quickly in different moods.

All this is actually a good thing as life gets boring IMO if everything is planed out with priorities, routines and schedules.

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[Cosmin Lupu]

The only solution i found so far is to work on your mental flexibility to get yourself quickly in different moods.

Ah, good one mate Now, being able to do that, will basically get you through almost anything in life I am working on not getting into the states of mind that I dislike, such as being angry and not able to control thoughts or that kind of thing. Complicated

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