Keep a Practice Journal¶
Many, if not all, teachers suggest keeping a practice journal. There are dozens of blog posts etc out there about keeping a practice journal, you may have seen some already. If not, no sweat, here is a suggestions to get started, and you can follow up with more detailed reading later.
Tip
Start with something extremely simple, and refine your system later. 1
By “extremely simple”, I mean something like this:
have a piece of paper or small notebook in your practice area
write today’s date at the top of the page
list the things you’ll work on, with some quick tab as reference if needed
(do your practicing)
for each thing you worked on, write down the time spent, what you tried, how it sounded and felt, and ideas for next time
At the next session – next day, or later in the same day depending on your scheduling, continue the same process, same notebook or paper. You might find that keeping a practice journal encourages you to do some solid reflecting, or helps you articulate your thoughts. It will also be a good record of what you’ve tried.
What gets measured gets improved.
Different people have different systems 2, and you can buy practice journals 3 if you’re so inclined. But if you’re starting out with this idea, it can be overwhelming and paralyzing. So start small, and refine … let your system guide you, don’t be a slave to it.
- 1
The book Atomic Habits recommends this. It’s a super book.
- 2
This one is really extensive: https://www.robknopper.com/blog/2016/6/25/what-my-practice-journal-looks-like … wow.
- 3