Great Tip For Motivating Yourself, Practice more, better, and longer! Options

[ConnorGilks]

Just thought I'd share a few things that have helped me with my practicing!

1) When you don't feel like picking up the guitar, and you feel guilty about not practicing, pick it up! It sounds weird but just tell yourself "I'll play for 5 minutes and if I don't want to practice by the end of that, I'll go back to playing video games/watching TV etc." I found that I have practiced way more these days by picking up the guitar for a few minutes even when I don't feel like sitting down and practicing, the next thing you know I've practiced for an hour!! It's weird how our minds work.

2) Keep a YouTube playlist of videos that make you want to practice! Everything from live footage of bands you like, to workshops from your favorite players, whatever inspires you! Then when you feel lacking in motivation or inspiration, go through the playlist and watch a few videos, and maybe you'll get inspired to practice or write something! I've got a playlist of tons of lessons and performances that I look at whenever I'm just "not feeling it", it works like a charm!

3) Keep some posters/pictures of the players you like somewhere you'll see them. Put up posters in your room or make a computer desktop wallpaper of players you dig. Every time I look at a picture of a player I think about the techniques they use, the songs of theirs I like, good memories of when I first heard them or learned a song of theirs... lots of positive energy and brain power in those associations! I find myself forgetting about players I used to love, then rediscovering them and practicing their stuff a ton for a few weeks. This is just a way of making that feeling happen more often, and controlling it to be more beneficial for you.

4) Create something that happens/is for when you practice, and for no other time. For me, what I did was I got a lamp for the corner of my room, one of those lamps that stands tall and shines up on the ceiling. Whenever I practice, I turn off the normal light in my room and turn on that corner lamp. It creates this association in my mind that says "Okay, now it is time to practice." I've found it helps me focus more when I practice at home, yet does not have any negative impact on my practicing outside of that environment without that lamp.

These have helped me out a lot! I hope they help you as well, let me know how they work for you and feel free to offer some tips of your own.

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