Try a Motivation Ritual

Introduction

Establishing a practice habit seems like it should be pretty simple. If you’ve already established this habit, you realize that it requires just time and place. How do you get started, though, if you haven’t established the habit? James Clear’s Atomic Habits explains many ways to build new habits. One of the most effective for me is the motivation ritual.

What Is A Motivation Ritual?

A motivation ritual is a device that leads you to establish a new habit. Perhaps you want to get in the habit of reading the Bible or some other devotional book. You have some time in the morning, and you decide the kitchen table is the perfect place. Your best hope of establishing this habit would be to connect it with a kickoff activity.

You prepare a cup of coffee or tea and sit down at the kitchen table. Your books are right there, in front of you, so why not start reading?

How Can It Be Applied to Piano?

You can create a motivation ritual for piano practice as well. Although a beverage or snack might also work, I typically choose something more aligned with practice. The key is to choose a time that works, and to be seated on the piano bench. Ideally, you sit down to play your favorite piece, or a maybe a scale or other technical exercise to warm up. Practice naturally follows.

If you’re really resisting getting started, try sitting on the bench and listen to your favorite song on your phone. Then, decide whether you want to start practicing since you’re already there.

Getting Started Is Usually Enough

The beauty of the motivation ritual is that it makes practice possible without being heavy-handed. There may be some days where practice doesn’t follow the kickoff activity. Maybe you’re not in the right head space to make progress on new works, and you just need to play through some of your repertoire.

Or, you convince yourself you’ll just work on one page of a piece, and that’s it. You make an improvement to a phrase, and you want to do the same to the next phrase. You realize you have other work to do on the next page, and you all of a sudden find that you’re in a flow state. You can’t get there if you don’t get started.

In Conclusion

As a professional musician, I don’t have the luxury of waiting for inspiration. But I still often need a motivation ritual to get started, too. Sometimes I skip the motivation ritual and just do the work, then have a reward afterwards. What motivation ritual works best for you?