No motivation!?

Over the past few months I have to admit that I’ve reeeaaally struggled with my motivation to practice. With very few concerts on the horizon, and an increase in distractions at home with my 2 kids bouncing off the walls, I can’t say it’s been the most productive stretch of my career to date! 😩

Even though I’ve tried and fit in some practice each day, I’ve generally found it pretty tough to pick up my trumpet and get started. It’s always the first few minutes that are the worst for me! But I know that once I get going I’m fine, and end up doing some decent work.

Recently I came across a couple of little strategies that helped me get into my practice, especially on the days where I had precisely ZERO motivation to pick up my horn! 🙄

The first one is a little 5-minute “challenge.” I call it a challenge because when someone says “I challenge you to do this…”, it generally perks my interest and gets me going a bit better. A 5-minute “task” or “exercise” makes me think back to my primary school days! 👦

Firstly, set your countdown timer on your phone to 5-minutes. ⏰

Grab your instrument, and turn the timer on.

Play absolutely ANYTHING you want! 🎶

When the 5 minutes is up, ask yourself if you want to keep playing. If you do, then turn your phone off and go through your normal practice session – success! 👍

If you’re not sure, put on another 5 minutes and repeat. ⏰

If you want to stop, then just stop - no pressure to continue!

The point of this challenge is just to get you to start playing your instrument, yet give you an option to stop if you’re really not in the mood. 5 minutes is just enough time to get the ball rolling, so you’ll hopefully turn more unmotivated days into productive days when trying this out.

It is important to play ANYTHING you want, rather than play something that you “should” be practising. Quite often I’ll pick up my flugelhorn and play through some jazz standards for fun, or play some nursery rhymes to my daughters. This means that I’m doing something that is purely for my own sense of fun, enjoyment, and creativity. Preparing music that I “should” be playing generally carries a bit more seriousness and focus, so this way helps to get the creative juices flowing and starts the session in a fun way.

The second strategy is even easier – put your instrument in a place in your house where you can easily pick it up and play whenever you like!

For me, having my trumpets packed away in the bedroom means that it takes a bit more effort to get them out and ready. So instead, I leave my case unzipped in the living room, making it really easy to get access and start playing. 🎺

When I had a piano in the house, I would often sit down and play a quick tune if the lid was left open. But if it were closed, I would generally walk past without even thinking about playing. Just having the lid up made it much more enticing to play! 🎹

So if you’re feeling really unmotivated this week, try out these 2 tips and hopefully you’ll be firing on all cylinders in no time!

Do you have any quick and easy suggestions to improve your motivation to practice? Add your ideas in the comments below!