You have a crazy busy schedule.  Ok, I may not know you, but since most everyone does have that kind of schedule, I’m going to take a guess that you, like so many others, do too.  People with busy schedules usually have a strategy to keep all the plates spinning and balls at the top of the arc (a strategy from juggling). Not having a strategy can be a problem, because – you know – life.  Do you have a strategy to assure you get to play throughout the week? Here are ten things to do on Sunday to be ready for the coming week so that n-o-t-h-i-n-g gets in the way of your harp time!  PS – There’s nothing magic about Sundays.  Do this on the day of the week that you think of as the day before the start of the week.  PPS – if your mother is anything like my mother, nothing on this list will surprise you!  My mother is a master organizer, and this is the sort of thing I learned at her knee.  But if you weren’t raised by a logistical genius like I was, now you’ll know what you need to do, so go do it…

1. Peruse your notes. Whether it’s your lesson notes or your practice journal, figure out what you need to be thinking about while you’re practicing.  The only thing worse than not being ready for your lesson because you didn’t practice is not being ready because you practiced the wrong thing!  And trust me, your teachers don’t write those notes for their own health – use the notes!
2. Review your practice from the previous week. What worked?  What didn’t?  What derailed you?  What do you need to carryover working on?  Did you practice the things you meant to?  If not, why not, and what did you do instead?  There’s good info in reflecting on these questions!
3. Write down your priorities. Even if you’re not gigging, you probably have some place you’d like to go on your harp.  But you already know that you can’t do everything all at once.  And we know that preparing music (from selecting to analyzing to learning to polishing to performing) doesn’t happen in one day or even one week.  Figuring out what you should work on this week to make progress.  Writing it down will help move you along even more.
4. Look at your planner. Which day this week are you definitely not going to get to play or practice? Oh, come on, be honest.  There’s always a day where everything else takes priority and you know you’re not going to get to your harp. Know when that is and modify your plan to fit your life.  I sometimes have days where really, I’m driving all day.  For those days, I plan for “head practice” – load the tunes to be learned and listen listen listen (and sing along to know you’re getting it).  Or use time when you’re walking or running (a great time to think about rhythm while you enjoy your own metronome-ness.  You might not make it to your harp, but you will still get a little bit done.
5. Plan your practice days. If you know what you should do (see 1 above), and what you want to do (see 2 above), and when you have available to do it (see 3 above), then it makes sense to figure out what each day might look like.  This is a concept I stole from body-building – even if you workout every day, you don’t go hard on everything every day (or you will crash).  Which day will be your hard-core technique day?  Which is going to focus on learning and repeating? Which day is your “play date” with yourself?  Don’t wait for the day you feel like doing the thing you need to work on most (or you’ll never do the thing), make a plan.
6. Do the Laundry. No really, get your chores sorted before the week begins.  Maybe you don’t do laundry on Sunday night but having a plan to get all your “responsibilities” taken care of throughout the week means you won’t have to give up your precious harp time to do something uninteresting like cleaning the bathroom.  This stands for everything that might take up time you would rather spend playing and includes all those chores that you know will eat up the time you have if you wait to do them (I’m looking at you meal planning!).  
7. Prep your space. No matter if your studio is a 25 ft x 25 ft room dedicated to your music or a sliver of floor between the couch and the wall, maintain it!  If you need to, neaten it up, make sure everything you will need is close to hand (for instance, I’m currently going through stickie notes like there’s no tomorrow, and all my pens had gone walkabout, so I had to restock –).  Tuner need batteries?  Tuning key under a pillow in the other room? Get it all sorted so you’re not spending the few moments you have looking for stuff.
8. Load your music stand. As in 7 above, make sure the sheet music, notes, or other references you need are on there.  And that the other stuff is not.  By the end of the week, I have so much paper, so many music books, and paperclips, clothes pins, pencils, etc. on my stand that if I didn’t do this, on Monday my first task would always be to pick up all the junk I dropped. 
9. Get yourself ready for Monday. It won’t do any good to spend all this time prepping for playing if you aren’t ready for the rest of your Monday.  Be sure you spend a little time getting yourself sorted to have a good week.  Get your bag sorted, plan your clothes, put gas in the car.  Of course, most of this list will suffice for that as well – just make sure you also have yourself organized and ready to go for the week.  Then you’re less likely to have everyday disasters eat into your harp time.
10. Be nice to you. This is a great time to remember that you need to do something nice for you.  Give yourself a manicure and massage your hands and forearms.  Find some decadent emollient cream (and use it, don’t wait for a special occasion!). Breathe while you do this, relax, and you have a mini-spa session!

This list is not exhaustive of course.  But if you take a little time out of your Sunday to prepare for the week, you will find that you have more time to play and practice.  And because you spend that time on Sunday, the rest of the week’s harp time can be less stressful because you’re ready and not fighting fires during that time.   What do you do on Sunday to prepare for you harp week?  If you don’t have a regular routine, did you give this a try?  Let me know in the comments!