#148: 10 Surprising Benefits of Practice Bursts

Call me crazy if you want. I know your ideal day might be a day at the spa, or sitting on the beach with a good book, or going for a hike in the mountains. Although those all sound good to me, my ideal day - or at least one of my ideal days - would be a day when I could practice all day. A day when I only had to practice would be a true luxury for me. That's really not that crazy. I think a lot of harpists would feel that way. Maybe you would too.

Of course, the reality is that most of us are too busy most of the time for that ideal practice day. Usually we are sandwiching practice in between the other parts of our lives and often our harp playing ends up taking a back seat to tasks that are more urgent or the care we give to others. And when we do have time to practice, we don’t feel that we have time to get to everything on our practice list. 

It’s not uncommon to feel a little frustrated that we can’t spend the time we would like to with the harp. We sense that our progress is hampered by a lack of consistency or time. On the flip side, too much practice can actually be physically damaging, but it still would be nice to have an uninterrupted hour to really focus on our work or even just enjoy playing.  

The solution seems to be to use the time we have, to practice in those small chunks of time in between other tasks or obligations. Achieving focus and getting something accomplished in fifteen or twenty minutes isn’t easy, though. Being realistic, these small steps are often all we have.What I’d like to talk about with you today is how to stop thinking of your short practice spans as a practice compromise. 

Rather than thinking of these practice sessions as too short, we are going to give them a makeover. We will call them “practice bursts,” and they can be valuable practice opportunities when we use them strategically. I’ll show you how to get in gear and focus more quickly so you can feel that you are still on the path to progress, even if you have to take small steps. And I will show you 10 ways to make your practice bursts effective, fun and satisfying. 

Links to things I think you might be interested in that were mentioned in the podcast episode: 

• Our “Jigging It” Hub Challenge is in Week 3! Join us!
• Get your copy of “Fifteen 15 Minute Practice Ideas” PDF
• Related resource Yes You Can! 12 Things to Do When You Can’t Practice blog post  
• Harpmastery.com