Our daily practice commitments start small, but you may find that your commitment grows with time. The more ambitious your goals become, the more likely you’ll have to make sacrifices to achieve them.
You may end up having to say “no” to drinking on Friday nights with friends. You may have to watch less television, and you may have to turn off the TV and your phone at night so you can get quality sleep.
It all comes down to what you most want out of life. If you want lots of time for friends and video games and TV at night, you may have to reduce your practice time and downsize your goals accordingly.
Stretching Out
Escalate your investment of time slowly, so that your mind and your life can both adjust. I suggest that if you can show up for ten to twelve sessions over two weeks, and manage to stay fairly focused and on task during those sessions, only then should you consider increasing your session length. Add 10 or 15 minutes each time.
As practice sessions get longer, you’ll have to start taking breaks to keep your mental energy up. Most songwriters and instrumentalists I’ve spoken to seem to do well with either a five minute break every half hour or a ten minute break every hour. Getting up and stretching your legs is always a good idea.
What Does it Take to Become World-Class?
You may have heard of the 10,000 hour rule, popularized by Malcolm Gladwell in his book Outliers. When you look into the background of outstandingly successful people, you’ll find a great deal of deliberate practice: at least 10,000 hours of it. That’d be about two hours and forty-two minutes of practice every day for ten years.
The 10,000 hour rule isn’t actually ironclad; logging that many hours is no guarantee of stardom or greatness. But it does illustrate an important point: those who dedicate more effort tend to acquire greater skills.
Studies by Anders Ericsson state that world-class experts in various fields, including music performance, spend 50-60 hours of their time on things related to their domain per week. Half of that time, twenty-five hours per week, is spent on practice activities designed to stretch and advance their abilities. That’s about three and a half hours of difficult, challenging practice every day.
That’s a lot of time and energy, but it’s not entirely out of reach even for those of us who work full-time. The average American spends about three hours watching television each day, according to a report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Surely a determined person could use some of that time to practice.
Every songwriter ends up developing a unique set of skills, and each will develop each of those skills to a certain extent. Some will reach a stage where they feel they’re satisfied, and will mostly just work to maintain what they’ve already learned.
Others, though, will continue working hard at the craft day after day for decades. These types will achieve mastery, and they have a rare shot at writing world-class songs and giving performances that impact their listeners’ lives.
Whatever your particular set of talents, I wish you much focus, energy, and luck. Thank you for joining me for this edition of “The Art of Daily Practice”.
References:
“On the Role of Deliberate Practice in the Acquisition of Expert Performance”, Anders Ericsson & colleagues,