Jenius Creations

Category: Goal Setting

  • Welcome in!

    It’s the beginning of another year that we get to play the harp! YAY!

    This is that time when subtle (and not so subtle) forces attempt to push us around with talk of resolutions, goals, words, and more to define our upcoming year. In fact, in the past I have shared ways to set goals, define resolutions, and denote focus for the upcoming year. I’m not so sure how helpful or important any of those have been.

    Why? Mostly because they start by implying (or stating) that you’re not complete or sufficient as you are. The implication is that you aren’t good enough and require a structured, stoic, grinding path to get there.

    Bah!

    Because we are, each of us, good enough. Are we perfect? No. Are we fully defined? Not yet. Do we have work to do? Of course! But that’s because one of the reasons we play is that we are actively seeking to grow!

    So, what should we do then? If goals, words-of-the-year, and resolutions are flawed approaches to our growth, what we really need is to find the small, consistent steps that will help move us toward where we would like to be.

    That does mean that we need to have some idea of where we would like to be – where we’re going. That is, we need to name what we intend to do with the time we spend making music.

    Then we need to have at least an inkling that we need a path. What that path might look like can be fuzzy – and it will likely change. Where we would like to be can be outwardly grand or simply important to oneself. The size of that intention is not so important as having some sort of waypoint so we can check that we’re moving forward.

    The first step then will be to look back, even before we put a name on what we might intend to do with our time. What are looking back at? How about:

    • What are we happy with from the past year?
    • What successes can we count?
    • What was hard?
    • What was discouraging?
    • What felt harder than we expected?
    • What just flowed out our fingers, over the strings, and directly to the hearts of our listeners?

    We have a long stretch of time with which to work (got a year? Yup!). So be gentle and thoughtful. There’s no rush. Take your time. Find moments of silence to reflect. Think about not just what but why, when, how, and who (nothing happens in a vacuum).

    Knowing our historical elements can help us formulate projections that align with our interests. Then we can define the small consistent steps we need to take to get there.

    That was a lot of words to say, “when you know where you’ve been you can see clearly how to get where you want to go”. So here in the first week of the new year, spend a little time reflecting on your musical past and pull the threads to help define who you are and who you want to become or what direction you’d like to explore. Make some notes and don’t be too quick to seize the first thoughts that come to mind. And don’t worry about evaluating your thinking – just capture your ideas – you have time. Welcome in – here we go!

    You know I love to hear from you…

    Name

  • Next

    I know it’s nearly Christmas, so you’ve probably already learned all the holiday music you are going to for this year. So, the next likely question is, what next?

    How do you select the music you should work on next? You can, of course, simply ask your teacher to point you in the right direction. This is a great idea if you are a beginner or low intermediate – you’re at the stage in your harp life that you may not be ready to go without some guidance.

    But if you’re a super independent beginner, or a more advanced student, you want to be selecting your own next tunes. How do you do that? Well, here are seven suggestions to point you in the right direction:

    Go with your Heart – If you L-U-R-V some tune – learn it! This is also true for arrangements by someone you simply adore playing. Don’t worry about whether you’re ready. Tunes can be simplified, arrangements can be flattened, you can learn new techniques, and/or you can invest more time into learning. I never tell a student they can’t play a tune – they may not be ready to play it, but we can work our way there!

    Go with your Head – maybe you know that you are weak at something – rolled chords? Harmonics? Whatever your weakness – find a tune (or arrangement) that requires that thing and work on it until you are good at the weakness. Two birds, one stone – you correct a weakness and learn a new tune to boot!

    Go with your Gut – if you feel like you are missing something, you probably are. Seek out tune types you might be light on. Do you have all the different tune types you need to make a well-rounded set? Do you have fast tunes and slow tunes? Major and minor (and other modes)? Can you build good sets from the tunes you already know? If not, your gut is pointing out to you that you need to fill some gaps.

    Go with your Reach – like going with your heart – what tunes do you not necessarily lurv but every time you hear them, you think, “I should learn that”? Learn those. These can be a little slippery because these are the tunes that you like enough to want to play but not enough to lurv. So, keep a list and learn these along the way.

    Go with your Smarts – If you have loads of tunes but they aren’t in the right keys to make good sets, work on learning the tunes in different keys. This could be dedicated time to learn tunes in new settings OR it can be deep work on transposition on the fly. Both of these will be good for your brain, good for your tune list, and good for your playing!

    Go with your favs – Not everything you play has to be work. Make sure you have some playful tunes in there too! If you love Taylor Swift, you can play that. If you love Mozart – have at it. Just because you may have made yourself a niche doesn’t mean you can’t get out of it every once in a while. Holiday tunes are sort of like that, n’est pas?

    Go with your hunch. Be honest, are you working toward your Julliard audition? No? Then pick music that is a little bit challenging to learn but is engaging enough to keep you playing. If you don’t like it (no matter what it is or who assigns it to you), you’re not going to play, so don’t pretend. Move on to something you will play.

    For adult (and more experienced younger) players, you can step up for these choices. A good teacher will, of course, make suggestions to move you forward. But in the end, you’re the one who has to decide. Don’t push the peas around the plate – take a little time to determine what you should play next.

    Let me know what you pick – can’t wait to hear! Share with me know in the comments!

    Name

  • The Sticky Approach

    It’s the week before Thanksgiving here in the US. This used to be the indicator that Christmas was coming. Now it’s more like Halloween starts the holidays countdown (but that’s a different diatribe!). I don’t know how you’re coming along in your preparations for playing throughout the holidays, but I find myself wishing I had an extra three weeks!

    You might wonder how I know I need an extra three weeks – not two, not four, but three.* It’s because I can see where I am, where I want to be, and where I had planned to be at this point in time. (I originally typed “should be” but went with “planned” because should is such an evil, subversive word!).

    How do I “see” this? I have a sticky system. Literally!

    My system allows me to track each of the tunes I need to have ready for a holiday program(s) as they develop. It also allows me to see if something is just not going to be ready so I can replan for something that I will be able to play better. After all, the point of holiday gigs is to spread cheer and comfort – not to terrorize yourself trying to wow people with your brilliance! Save that for another time like competition or audition!

    This graphic gives you an idea of what it could look like. And here’s a shot of mine just now.

    You may have seen similar systems in your travels – this is much like kanban or scrum. Not surprising since I am a systems engineer when I’m not being a musician**, so of course I cross my tools between domains (goose/gander, etc.). The differences are that this is just for you, not a group (although you could use it for ensembles!), it is not as rigorous because we’re not building bridges (except ethereally) and we only need as much rigor as is required and not more, Finally, while on the one hand preparing music is a “project” on the other hand, it’s more than that – we’re making art not planning to pour cement or launch wonky code.  

    If you’re eager to start, you might want to know – what do you need to use this? Well…

    First – you need sticky notes! You need as many colors as you think you need. Lined or unlined? It’s up to you!

    Next, you need enough space for you to keep track of your work over time. I like the little stickies because I write small but if you need more room, use the bigger ones (they do come in sizes from 1.5 in x 2 in all the way up to 25 in x 30 in). Use the size that lets you write comfortably and fits in your usable space. I use a variety of spaces – a wall, the side of a bookcase, that photo shows one panel of a room divider and when I need to, I switch to a sheet of paper – depending on my mood and where I happen to be at the time (and if I need to take it with me). I write the name of the tune (and maybe the source if I’m reading) but you can put whatever else you decide to put there (maybe the key you’re playing in, etc.).

    Now, you need a scale for time. Use whatever type of calendar you work best with. If I have a long time (e.g., tunes I might teach next year) I will use a monthly calendar. If it’s something more imminent (like the holidays) I use the week. I used to use a daily, but I found that kept me too focused on checking the box rather than learning the music. Frankly, for daily progress I use a journal so I can capture details that would just get lost on my big sticky board.

    Now, you need a metric. I typically use what I have shown in the graphic – whether the tune is coming along, practically done, ready to go. This not only tells me how the tune is developing, it also helps me plan my practice – if I haven’t actually learned something at this point, it gets more attention so it can get “caught up”. You will always have some tune in this category of disrepair – how much you stress over it depends on how important it is (relative to the time you have to prepare). It’s important not to stress over these – if you’re not learning you’re not living!

    You need maintenance. This tool will only help you if you set aside a little time to review and update it. In the graphic example, that would be once a week so you can see, identify, and enjoy your successes, replan your practice as needed, and keep your sanity. If you review too often, you’ll get lost in translation. This is a tool but it’s not a cudgel!

    And finally, don’t forget to… Breathe.

    Give it a try, play around with it. It’s not rocket surgery, but it also didn’t come down a mountain on stone tablets, so feel free to modify it so it can work for you! Then, let me know how it goes when you start. I’d love to hear what changes you made for yourself and how prepared you think you are for the holidays! Let me know in the comments!

    * PS – I just learned that the em-dash is the exclusive province of AI…and me! I probably taught the model that. And I assure you, for good or bad, this is all me and NI (natural intelligence)

    ** Ha! I’m not sure I could be one without the other – being a musician makes me better at thinking systemically and being a systems engineer certainly informs how I think about, work with, and play music. Yet, I persist in pretending like they’re not on the same spectrum.

  • Have great vision

    You might have noticed that at the turn of the new year, I assiduously avoided talking about setting goals (except to encourage you to plan on coming to Ireland and Scotland with me in October!). But that doesn’t mean that we can’t still have some idea of where we’d like to get to as we keep learning and growing throughout the year (and beyond). A vision board might be just the tool you need to keep focused!

    A vision board is really just a collage made of graphics, photos, words, and any other visual elements that help you keep in mind where you’re going. No matter how you put it together, making yourself a board gives you an opportunity to think about your playing and progress in a very different way. Because how often do you think of a visual to represent your music? It is relatively easy to speak of it, but what visual would symbolize where you’d like to go?

    How might you go about making a vision board for your harping? I thought you’d never ask! First you have to choose a couple of parameters – you can make your board virtual (online) or physical (on paper). Then the hard work begins! You need to ask and answer a few questions –

    > Where are you coming from?

    > Where are you going to?

    > What would show your thinking?

    Once you’ve asked and answered these questions (and any others you dream up), then you can get started in a series of steps.

    1. Collect pictures and other ephemera that will display those thoughts.

    2. Organize these items to reflect your thinking.

    3. Using those organized items, generate a collage that shows your thoughts (as well as dreams and desires).

    4. Look at it – every day – and remind yourself what you’re working toward.

    5. Change your collage as needed – so that it continues to stand for your thinking. Nothing about making the board is “permanent”. You’re not stagnant and your vision shouldn’t be either!

    You can make a vision board as simple or as complicated as you like – after all, it’s yours. What matters is that you know what you mean when you look at it.

    You may find that coming up with ways to show your thinking helps you get clearer on what you want to do. Or you might find that trying to find the right photo helps you refine your thinking as you try to capture your thoughts visually*. Keep in mind that it will be dynamic and that you have to leave yourself room to grow and change.

    Will you give a vision board a try? What do you think will be the most challenging part of putting it together? Would you be willing to share yours? Let me know by leaving a comment!

    * I’ve really focused on visual representation, but don’t feel like you must use only one sense – if you want to include audio, do it! Want to put your vision in smell-o-rama, use it! It’s your vision and your reminder!

  • Welcome to the new

    Hope you had a peaceful and relaxing holiday season. You either? Well, here we are at the beginning of a new year (I’m chuckling as I write because that originally came out “eww year”).

    That makes this the week when every other article you see is about resolutions, how they don’t stick, goal setting, how those goals have to be the right shape otherwise they won’t stick, planning and organizing, how a poorly thought out plan or substandard organization won’t stick.

    That’s a lot of not sticking. So, what’s the point? After all, a new year starts every 365 days (or so), so what’s the big deal? Maybe it’s not a big deal after all.

    If it’s not a big deal, maybe take the pressure off. Rather than focusing on what you “should do” think about what you have done and what the next logical step (or steps) might be. Nothing outlandish or excessive. And certainly not some ridiculously high number of goals/resolutions/foci.

    In years past I have encouraged you to set goals, to make vision boards, to identify your resolutions. But not this year (I’m learning as we go, just like you). Instead, I’m going to suggest that you take a beat. Spend a moment reflecting on where you are – what you have learned, what you’re good at, what you still need to work on, what you know and what you don’t and how you might close that gap. In other words, just take a little time to consider what has gone before and what you can do next.

    Why this new approach? It’s easy to get caught up in the details of all the shoulds of the beginning of the year. But getting caught up in those details also might derail you from taking the opportunity to skip pondering. What have been your successes, your stumbles, the holes you need to fill, the music you need to branch off into? It probably won’t take you a long time to give a thorough assessment of you – as you are now. Then you can decide what you might do next. One thing. No grand plan. No extended network of activities with untenable timelines. Just one thing.

    You might be thinking, “Just one thing”!?! Well, that won’t take me long. What would I do next? I better make a plan for that.” (or something like that). But here’s the thing. Since this isn’t a big fancy goal setting/planning strategy – we can just keep repeating it. Think about the just one thing to do next and then do it. Lather – Rinse – Repeat.

    I’ll admit – this takes a little getting used to. We’ve got lots of practice making big resolutions that we can’t (typically) execute. This might feel like traveling a little too light. But before you get too giddy, remember that it won’t be 365 days until you do it again – you might do it tomorrow (or next week, or Spring – whatever). When you’ve completed just one thing, then you can again take a beat, look around, and suss out what might be the next thing. And don’t sweat figuring it out. If you’re less experienced, ask your teacher. And if you don’t have a regular teacher, book a lesson with someone you admire for a coaching session.

    Finally, don’t forget to write it down! What’s the point of figuring out the thing if you don’t have it on hand to refer to later? So tell me, when will you take a beat? If you’re willing, let me know what you’re next thing will be! If this is too off-putting or you need a little help focusing you can book with me – I love a challenge! Let me know in the comments!

    Here are the comments from this week’s post – I look forward to hearing from you!:

    Eby wrote:

    Happy New Year dear Jen. I wish you the best in the coming year.
     – Eby – Happy New Year to you! Thank you so much for reaching out! Let’s have a wonderful year of harping!

    Kay wrote:

    Jen! I love your blogs! I just read the one about hosting a harp circle. It actually helped me understand that they are social, not a structured rehearsal where we all are supposed to improve and play together with one teacher telling us what needs to be better. I have been expecting the gatherings to be more like the hand-bell choirs that I have been part of! Whenever I read your writing, I visualize your fun cheerful self speaking, like at OSAS. Hope to see you again in June!
     – Kay – I’m so looking forward to seeing you in June – and before!
    Robin wrote:
    I don’t set goals at the beginning of the year. Instead I make little ones all year long. I’m very happy I decided to do a mini holiday concert with my husband for our neighbors and we hope to do another this year. We’re going to Sunita’s Tuscany harp retreat so I’m preparing two solos and a couple of duets to share with everyone. And maybe a new arrangement to work on with her. That’s it so far but I’m sure there will be more.
     – Robin – You have some really great plans and I’m excited to help you get there. I know you’ll have a wonderful time with Sunita and will learn so much from her! Can’t wait to hear how your holiday concert went!

  • Wrapping up?

    Wrapping up?

    The end of the year is rapidly approaching. You’re probably busy with social engagements, family time, practicing, decorating, work commitments, school holiday pageants, gift buy/wrap/giving (and maybe gift making?), and all the other stuff that makes up the end of year holiday swirl (miasma?).So, it is reasonable that you might not have gotten to a point where you can spend a few minutes sorting through the detritus of the last twelve months. I know it can be scary – at first blush you might think you haven’t gotten anywhere – I often feel like that about this time of year.

    But there is plenty of irrefutable proof all around if you think to look for it. Let’s take stock, shall we? Here are some questions that bear consideration (they are multi-part questions):

    What did you learn this year?

    I know you learned something! First, what did you want to learn? Whether it was a new tune, to read better, to adapt music to your instrument, or whatever you wanted to learn – were you able to learn it? Were you able to learn more than one thing?

    Now – what did you want to learn that you didn’t get to? Why was that? Are you disappointed or do you feel like you did well getting where you did? In addition, what did you learn (in everyday life) that you can apply to your playing, and what did you learn from playing that you can apply to your everyday life?

    What did you practice this year?

    First, what did you intend to practice? Did that align with what you wanted to learn? Did your practice serve you?

    Second, were you able to meet your practice goal? Did you practice as much as you meant to? How did it work for you? How did it not? What could you have done differently? When should you have made changes? Practice isn’t a purgatorial punishment (really!). And you only have limited time, so it needs to be useful and efficient. Otherwise, you aren’t going to get anywhere.

    What did you achieve this year?

    First, what did you want to achieve? Was that realistic? How’d you do (maybe as a percentage, not just a yes/no)?

    Second, how well stated was your achievement? Did you set yourself up for success or for failure? How could you frame it so that you could see (and assess) your progress throughout the year?

    What did you overestimate this year?

    First, it’s easy to make big sweeping goals but actually achieving them can be a bit of a bugaboo – it’s likely you overestimated something in your playing goals for the year. Were you able to correct along the way? Do you feel ok about your progress where you might have been too optimistic?

    Second, how do you feel about the gap between where you are and where you thought you’d be? How does that make you feel about yourself? (BTW it should only help you understand about overestimating not undermine you!) Anything you underestimated? What is the difference between the things you over- and underestimated on (e.g., you overestimated reading but underestimated total number of tunes learned)?

    What next?

    Once you review yourself, you can ask yourself what’s left to do and how you might go about doing it. Remember that there’s nothing magic about mid-December – it’s an artificial boundary, but it is useful for taking stock of our progress and our direction.

    No matter how you went about the process of practicing and playing throughout the year, you can reflect on it. But now it might be very clear why I’m always suggesting you write it down. Because if you had, now you could be looking at your notes throughout the year, your thoughts and feelings about not only the music you were playing but also about the music you would like to be able to play, the technical things still kicking your metaphorical butt, and the little joys that happen at your harp (but which recede from memory so quickly, and often before confronting the next challenge).

    So, if you’re willing, please share how it went. I’m particularly curious about your gaps and the things that got in the way! And what questions we should add to this list. As always, I’d love to hear from you in the comments.

  • Word

    Word

    Happy New Year and welcome to 2024! It’s the time of year that our thoughts turn to new endeavors, self-improvement drives, goal setting, and making plans for our days. Some people craft  rigorous goals. Some others make vague guesses. Meanwhile still others select a word of the year as a guide star. I’m (uncharacteristically) not going to bang on about goal setting (I’ve done that here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here) as a nod to those who are not “Team S.M.A.R.T. goals”. If you are, you’ve probably already set your goals. But if you’re not, you might be floundering.


    Let’s focus on what you told me interests you. Thank you to all of you who completed the survey (if you missed it, go here – I’d still love to hear what the rest of you have to say). Your inputs definitely helped me see what we should be sharing here! Your thoughts seemed to fall into two broad categories – Personal Development and Playing Better.

    Personal Development includes learning, memorizing, performing, and managing how you deal with each of those. Playing Better encompasses specific techniques, theory, theory in practice, and figuring out what to practice. We’ll talk about these things throughout the year and I’m looking forward to your thoughts, questions, and experiences!

    Maybe we should take the Word of the Year approach. One thing all these topics have in common could be captured in a word. This would be a single word to help us quickly get back to what we think is important and bring our attention to what we think is essential. You could write it on your mirror, put it on the fridge (or, if you’re like me, IN the fridge!), or tape it to your steering wheel. Put it where you will see it so that you can remind yourself of what it means – to you, to your playing, and to your progress. 

    I’m going to nominate Consistent as our Word of the Year. Because we know that consistent is what we need to be to get there (wherever we have decided there is). And being consistent will help us with both Playing Better and Personal Development. It is through being consistent that we can best find what you need to work on, what you want to work on, and applying your progress to your practice.

    Consistent isn’t a sexy word. It brings ongoing hard work and it dribbles out small rewards. However, it will be in these little, activities with tiny feedback that will, given the chance, pull together over time to yield results you might be awed by! But you’ll never know unless you are consistent in your attention, practice, journaling, and analysis.

    We’re going to have a great (if sometimes wild) ride – thanks for consistently reading and letting me know what you think!

     

  • I’ll be Bach

    I recently started reading daily posts from Arnold Schwarzenegger – known for his movie line,

    “I’ll be Bach” 

    What do you mean that’s not what he said?

    I’m impressed with him because he demonstrates a single-minded focus on achieving things he thinks are important.  Now, whether you agree with him on his choices or not, it’s difficult to argue with his successes.  I admire that he works hard, doesn’t pretend that the work isn’t work, faces challenges head on, thinks before acting, owns his successes, moves onto other goals once he has achieved the current goals, and is relentlessly upbeat (sound familiar?)*.  I’m pretty sure that if he had an interest in playing an instrument, he’d be quite good at it – for all the same reasons.

    But the one thread to which he frequently returns is the importance of consistency.  He champions the reality that, no matter what your focus (weightlifting, acting, authoring, playing an instrument) you have to put in not just hard work but consistent hard work.  He highlights that it is the small gains that accrue day after day that are behind success.  And that these daily small achievements build on each other to become what we often think of as “real success” – achieving big goals. 

    He doesn’t discount that these small daily increments are sometimes challenging to detect. What does he suggest? Capturing them (dare I say, in some sort of journal?). Why didn’t I say that (except maybe here, here, here, and here)?!

    Consistency doesn’t have to be huge, BTW.  Consistency is exactly what it sounds like – do small things with extreme regularity.  It means practicing every day.  Making some routine for your time at the harp so that you can complete the consistent behavior.  Acknowledging that you have been consistent (whether that’s giving yourself stars on a wall chart or giving yourself a cookie – well, that’s up to you!).  And don’t forget being grateful for the outcome of consistent small progress.

    You can become consistent by making the commitment to yourself.  You can help yourself along with a calendar reminder, a schedule, a process, a cookie (if needed. I’m sure I’m not the only one that is big on external rewards!). Keep in mind that consistent is not the same as perfect.  If you mess up or get sidetracked, don’t beat yourself up, just get back on it – consistently.  You don’t need excuses, just get back to it.  If it helps, at the end of each practice session, tell your harp, “I’ll be Bach”.Could you benefit from increased consistency?  What do you do to keep consistent?  What might help you to be more consistent?  Let me know in the comments!

    * if you want a daily dose of relentless optimism that’s nearly as relentless and almost as optimistic as this blog, you can get it from Arnold here in his latest thing of bringing positivity to the internet.  Not an affiliate, just a fan.

  • 100 Days

    I’m not sure what it is about big round numbers, but they are kinda captivating.  Like this little bit of inspiration – there are about 100 days left in the year!  Woohoo!

    Then the question is what should you do with them?  I mean – come on – just think of all the things you could do with that time!

    You could convince yourself that the year’s nearly over so you might as well coast.

    Or you could dig out your goals for the year, take their measure, and decide the year is wash and maybe next year you’ll start over.

    Or you could dig out your goals for the year, take their measure, and decide that you crushed that and you can cruise until January.

    Or you could see that opportunity of having all that time remaining to do more cool stuff.  For you. To make even more progress. How great is that?!

    So what could you do in 100 days?  How about:

    1 Commit to learning one new thing each day (doesn’t have to be music, but that’s probably a sure bet!).

    2 Commit to practicing every day.  Actually practicing.  It doesn’t have to be a full blown, formal practice, it could just be for fun.

    3 Commit to paying a compliment each day – to yourself.

    4 Commit to identifying what you’d like to do in the following 100 days after this (ok, that’s just a nice way to say get a head start on your goals for the next year).

    5 Consider making an “activity board” so you don’t get stuck in a rut and can leverage your creativity!

    6 Think about what you would do (differently?) if it was the beginning of the year rather than most of the way through it)

    You can focus on music (after all, why are you here?) or you could take an even broader view and approach to enjoying the remainder of the year. 

    Which of these will you do? What did I forget to include? Let me know in the comments!

  • What’re you doing?

    What’re you doing?

    Do you ever feel like your practicing has fallen into the trap under the sink. It can be really easy to get caught in the comfortable swish of the U joint.  Just be and don’t move.  Don’t practice, or barely practice, or practice but don’t actually change or learn anything.  Loll here in the dark and wait.

    Maybe you don’t fall into that trap, but I sure can – especially in “between times” like now – too early for the holidays but after the buzz of the summer.  It could be so easy to stay in the trap because there is so much stuff that needs to be practiced that it can be daunting.  Stuff to be dwelled upon.  To think through.  To work out.  To review.  So much stuff! 

    Or maybe we’ll just stay here in the dark (so little motivation). 

    Fortunately, playing is more like a diamond ring.  When it’s caught in the trap, it isn’t as enjoyable!  It is totally worth the work of disassembling the drain to rescue it so it can glitter and sparkle. 

    No, staying here in the dark isn’t ideal, but sometimes we just need a push to get moving out of the trap. How do we get moving? Well you could start by asking – what’re you doing?  If there’s no succinct answer to that question, the right answer is focus!  On what? Well, how about:

    Start small.  Settle on one thing to work on.  Maybe it’s sight reading? Or counting? Or refreshing stuff you were playing but set aside?  The point is to focus on one thing rather than trying to work on everything all at once.

    Count the things.  Figure out what needs to be done.  Maybe this should be the first thing – how can you focus on just one thing if you haven’t figured out what the pool of all things is, prioritized them, and then selected one?

    Set an end.  After all, you’re breaking out of a trap so while you’re going to focus, it’s not an unending focus!  Figure out how long you want to work on the thing you selected to be first.  Will it be a timeline of a week or a month? Or will it instead be an accomplishment like playing at tempo or steadily or accurately? When you define the end, you will know when you are going on to the next thing.

    Keep track.  You knew I’d get around to this.  You won’t know you’ve gotten to the end if you’re not tracking your progress.  This doesn’t have to be elaborate, just note what you did and how you did it.

    Compare.  This one can be tricky.  Because you’re not going to compare your progress to anyone else, only to YOURSELF.  You will never know how someone else got to what you’re looking at, but you can know where you were yesterday (or the day before or the last time) and compare yourself to the you before, not someone else ever.

    Be consistent.  Pick your timing.  Help yourself by not only doing the thing as you decided (every day, every other day, whatever you determined) but also by sticking to the same time of day every day.  Or tie your time to another event (for example, always practice right after you walk your iguana (or some other event of your day)).

    Be nice. You’re not striving for perfection.  In fact, if you do it perfectly, you won’t learn anything.  By the same token, by remembering that mistakes help you learn, you can be your own biggest cheerleader!  (bonus tip – I find that sometimes I need to let the mistakes I make simmer before I can really figure out what I’m learning there, so I write them down so I don’t forget what happened)

    Focus!  Don’t “task share”, don’t pick up your phone (unless you’re adjusting your metronome app!), don’t pet your fish, don’t drink your tea.  Just focus on what you’re doing while you practice.  You can do all those other things when you’re done.

    What’re you doing?  Do you ever get caught in that sink trap?  If so, how do you get yourself out?  If not, how do you maintain your equilibrium?  Let us know in the comments!