Don't Cancel—Reschedule
Schedule your practice sessions and put them in your calendar. The second part of that is the important part that most musicians skip.
You should never leave the practice room without having your next session in your calendar. The final thing you should do in every practice session is either schedule the next one, or confirm when it is scheduled for if you've already put it into your calendar.
This is maybe the most important thing: Don't cancel. Reschedule.
Life happens. Reschedule without judgment. But do not cancel.
There are times when it feels like life is coming at you all at once, like you are being bombarded with obstacles and “real life” problems that are serious. It happens to all of us, and when it does, cancel without hesitation and with zero guilt.
This post is not about when we are sick or helping a loved one navigate something difficult. This is about when life gets busy, which for most of us is most of the time.
Under normal circumstances, if you have been intentional about scheduling how much and how frequently you should practice, you should always reschedule, never cancel.
Planned days off feel infinitely better than days when I just don't get around to practicing. And it is worth noting: days off are a good thing. They are healthy. But days off when I feel like I should be practicing and just don't? Those feel awful.
I've seen this over and over again with myself and my students over the years: when my stated priorities don't align with my actions, there is tension.
When my stated priorities—what I tell myself or others—don't align with my actions, there is tension both in my head and in my heart. If I am telling myself that practicing a certain amount is important to pursuing my goals as a musician, and I'm not doing it, it is the worst feeling in the world.
I can feel like a fraud and I feel unsettled, and it actually leads to me practicing even less because I kind of go into a shell. It kills my momentum.
Scheduling my sessions a week and a month in advance helps me make sure that my actions and my stated priorities are in alignment. Scheduling them ahead of time and then never canceling, but rather rescheduling if needed, helps me to be in alignment.
Don't cancel. Reschedule. It is the key to momentum with your practicing.
🎯 Learn 6 easy strategies to get momentum that will propel you forward by creating consistency in your practicing system.
