I don't want to practice... (a guide for getting back in the flow)

I'll admit. I've fallen out of the grind a bit. My days of waking up, exercising, coffee, and practicing have inevitably gotten harder to maintain.

The harder on myself I seem to be about it, the less I want to do it. So I had to return to some simple points that really helped me develop a practice routine in the beginning.

Honestly, what helps me and a lot of my students, are to have low expectations. Finding 5-10 minutes to do one thing, one simple task - a scale, learning a phrase from a song, or a listening assignment. This helps build the momentum, the consistency of adding music in your day.

I'm not one to push through emotional resistance, I think it's important to look that in the eye and understand where the origin is. But with gentleness, and a reminder to self that pursuing music and getting better is the goal, setting aside time for "low expectation practice" is key.

A dedicated space is so important. Having everything setup, maybe with some trinkets or inspirational posters, is honestly half the battle. Make this easy for yourself (I'm talking to myself through this entire post, just to have you know).

(my old apartment, what my music space looked like)

The rewards and improvement you can see through practice is addicting and self-esteem building. Yes, this takes time, but when you feel yourself get better from putting time into something over and over again, it feels so empowering. Especially in 2025 now, with so many short dopamine rewards set up all around us (phones, sugar, etc), we have to...fight a bit to have those more long-term reward systems. It's much richer, but takes some internal training.

Language is also very interesting. I've started to ask my students to find time to play - not practice. Sometimes that means no exercises or technique, just finding time to sing your song. I frame it in this way for myself as well, just the simple statement I'm going to play today. Inevitably, this has led me to see areas of my playing that need practice. So in my efforts to just jam on a song, I'll end up going deep on some aspect of guitar tone, breath control, or whatever. When it comes from this inspired place where I'm excited to sound/feel better on the song, the practice feels applied and interesting. So in a way, I trick myself into it.

Lately, that's where I've been at. Getting back into old tunes, discovering some new ones, and figuring out how they can feel more expressive, connective, and fun. This past month, I've slowly been getting back into my consistent practice, and when I skip it, my day feels less full, I feel less connected to myself and my goals. It's kind of like exercise, when you know it makes you feel good and get into a good flow, it's almost harder to take that out of your life because of how good you know it makes you feel.

Last thing I'll say is that for a period of time in my journey, I found writing in a practice journal to be incredibly helpful. I took record of goals I wanted to meet on a daily/weekly/monthly time frame and kept myself accountable for writing everyday. Even if that was just, I did lip trills on my walk. Having that place where I had to be accountable made me want to do something of substance.

I'd love to know what helps you develop practice routines, how you trick yourself into doing it, and also honoring seasons of life where it feels too busy and how you get back into the flow. I'd love to share more about how I've framed my big-picture goals and distilled them down into the everyday.