5 STEPS TO JUMP-START A NEW PRACTICE ROUTINE

Maybe you have been hacking away for years. You’ve been meaning to get better, and finally decided this is the time to get serious. Or perhaps you thought this would be a great time to try a completely new thing you have always wanted to do.

Either way, you need to jump-start a practice routine and get the electricity flowing while you’re still fired up!

Here are 5 quick steps that will get your practice headed in the right direction.

1. GET CLEAR

Get clear on what you want to accomplish by practicing. This isn’t exactly the same as goal setting, although like goals you want to focus on what the ultimate outcome will be. However, our real priority here is to just look at the immediate objective for why we are about to start practicing.

Say you want to practice Tennis. Depending on what level you are at and what you want to do, you could get clarity on how to proceed by selecting one of these:

Stating the reason that you are going to start practicing will help you refine what you need to do in order to get to that point.

2. RESEARCH OTHERS

Look at a handful of people who are at the next level up from you. Just the next level up. In other words if you just picked up a golf club for the first time, don’t look at Tiger Woods, but rather look at someone who plays a little better than you. Looking for the steps to just get to that next level is a great way to assure you will not get discouraged and quit when you don’t win the Masters next year!  

Pick 3 or 4 things that they are doing that you are not. Maybe it is something that you simply haven’t learned yet, or maybe they have skills that are just at the next level above you. Whatever you discover, put those few things on a list. This is where you will focus your practice time.

The key with doing this kind of research for jump-starting a new practice routine is to not get bogged down in it. Don’t do so much research that you end up never actually starting! 

So pick a few things that you see you need to do to get to that next level. You can always go back and re-evaluate once you get your practicing underway, but the important thing to do now is keep moving!

3. DEVELOP A SYSTEM

Once you have a clear idea of what you want to do, and have picked out 3 or 4 things you see others who are more advanced than you doing, it is time to dig in.

Having a practice system and an organized way to work on these skills will keep you from floundering or spinning your wheels.

A good practice system should include ways to prioritize your items to work on, a way to schedule your time, a method for working on things in small chunks, and of course a way to review and get feedback on what you are doing.

While diving into the details of a complete practice system is more in-depth than we have time for here, if you simply get started with your list of things to work on, and schedule some practice time, that is a good start. Building a good practice system is important in the long run if you want to practice in the most effective way.  

4. ASSESS, ANALYZE AND MEASURE

Once you are practicing on your material it is important to continually evaluate where you are and what is working or not. Take good Practice Notes!

It may seem that if you are “jump-starting” your practice you shouldn’t worry about stopping to analyze it but rather just keep doing it. However, if you are doing something that is not working, or worse yet is teaching you bad habits or taking you in the wrong direction, we want to stop that as soon as possible, so assessing what you are doing is crucial.

Recording yourself and watching your practice session is the best way to get a snapshot of how things are going.

Set up some measurable milestones such as “I will do this until I can nail it five times perfectly,” or “My goal is to do this in X amount of time.”

Using some markers that you can measure will help you check your progress.

5. DON’T GET STUCK IN A RUT

I know, how can you get stuck in a rut when you are just starting? It is actually easier than you think!

The beginning of a new practicing routine is one of the most dangerous times to get stuck in a rut.

It is not just a bad rut we need to worry about. Sometimes you can be stuck in a “good” rut that keeps you from the “best”.

We all want to get in the groove right away so we tend to gravitate towards set patterns that feel comfortable. Sometimes these feel that way because the are “right” and working, but other times they are just…. comfortable. They may not push us where we need to be pushed.

I had a Chef from the Culinary Institute tell me;

“Sometimes that old family recipe is awesome, but maybe it could be awesomer!”

Questionable grammar aside, he is on to something. We can easily fall into the practice trap of just doing the same thing over and over while just around the corner there may be a more effective way to do it if we would just try.

So even though you are starting out, don’t be afraid to test what works for you. We are all different, and a strategy that works for me may not be the best way for you. This doesn’t mean you should constantly skip from one thing to the next, but just be aware of the possibility of trying something new even in a routine that seems to be working.

You just might end up “Awesomer!”

Using these 5 steps to jump-start your practice will get you moving! Once you are on your way, you can delve deeper into various methods and explore some other techniques to help you keep improving. As develop and refine your practice system, you will find it is easier to jump-start other skills along the way!

Remember, we can ALL get better at anything!