The Mind Over Finger Podcast - 071 Motivation with Dr. Renée-Paule Gauthier

Episode Date: May 6, 2020

Everything you need to get you in the cycle of motivation! And for the best practicing summer of your life:   Dr. Renée-Paule Gauthier invites you to join : THE MUSIC MASTERY EXPERIENCE A TRANSFORMATIONAL JOURNEY TO LOVING THE PRACTICE ROOM, ROCKING THE STAGE, WINNING THE JOB, AND TAKING YOUR CAREER TO NEW HEIGHTS A 3-month experience for all musicians, starting June 1st, 2020 BOOK A CALL AND LET'S SEE HOW WE CAN GET YOU RESULTS!   Commit to Ten blog: https://www.mindoverfinger.com/post/commit-to-ten   And don't forget to join the Mind Over Finger Tribe for additional resources on practice and performing!   THANK YOU: Most sincere thank you to composer Jim Stephenson who graciously provided the show's musical theme!  Concerto #1 for Trumpet and Chamber Orchestra – Movement 2: Allegro con Brio, performed by Jeffrey Work, trumpet, and the Lake Forest Symphony, conducted by Jim Stephenson. Also a HUGE thank you to my fantastic producer, Bella Kelly!   MIND OVER FINGER: www.mindoverfinger.com https://www.facebook.com/mindoverfinger/ https://www.instagram.com/mindoverfinger/  

You're listening to The Mind Over Finger Podcast, episode number 71. Welcome to The Mind Over Finger Podcast. Discussions on mindful music making, efficient practice, and building a purposeful career. And now your host, Dr. Rene Paul Gaultier. Hi everyone. I hope you're finding moments of joy and peace these days. This is a little bit of a departure from what I usually do. If you've been following the podcast, you know that I usually have guests and give you interviews. And if this is your first time listening to the podcast and you haven't had the chance, go back and check some of the previous episodes because I've had some incredible guests, musicians of all backgrounds and different instruments. I've

had composers, authors, administrators, talking about really important topics in our field and offering tons of wisdom, information and insights. But today, it's going to be just me. And I wanted to do this because I've heard from and spoken to so many of you about motivation lately, and about how difficult it can be to stay motivated in the current circumstances, with all of the canceled concerts and all of the education happening online and with this loss of our usual structures we don't have our usual incentives right we've lost all of our carrots and it can be difficult to find inspiration and stay motivated so I thought I'd pick up the microphone and share some thoughts on that topic today but first of all if you don't have anything coming up and you

need a break and you want a break with all of your being it's totally okay to take a break this is actually a great opportunity to rest and reflect and reset all the clocks both physically and mentally so if you feel like this is something that you need you need that space you need that rest and that reflection go for it of course that could come with some loss or temporary decrease in your agility on the instrument but getting back in shape is something that can be done it's done all the time so if you feel that need do it but if the idea of taking a break goes against what you want and it creates a lot of stress for you then there are some strategies that you can adopt in order to get the wheels turning first thing is I think distinguishing have to practice

versus should practice versus want to practice. These days, we have fewer urgent have to practice. And the shoulds are rarely super efficient in getting us in the practice room and in the proper mindset to do good work day after day. So I'd really focus on the want to. So I'd say one of the first thing is to find exciting goals. and those can be related to things that are coming up in the future recitals auditions but they can also simply be learning a piece you've always wanted to learn or working on some technical

aspect you've wanted to improve for a long time it doesn't matter what it is but taking the time to really think about a goal that's going to make you want to get the instrument out every day is a great place to start. One thing I'll caution you against though is to think too big. You want it exciting, challenging, yes, but not so much that you'll get discouraged by the undertaking of a huge goal within a day or two. You want it manageable enough that you can build on little wins and little victories day after day. If it's too big, it's going to feel like a daunting task. So think of it as the Goldilocks rule. You're going to get peak motivation when you're working on tasks that are right on the edge of your current abilities. Not too hard, not too easy, just right. It stretches

you, but you can succeed with some consistency and some good work. So now that's motivating. you also want to think about easing into it you can't just step outside in your running shoes and run a marathon if you've never run a day in your life so think about it as the couch potato to 5k approach you want to start little by little every day and consistently and you'll get there the second thing is what i call the cycle of motivation and the most important thing to realize about the cycle of motivation is that it starts with action. We often think that it starts with motivation, but actually what happens is that by taking action, we get results and that creates motivation. This motivation then makes us want to take more actions and we get more results

and we become even more motivated. So don't make the mistake to wait until you feel motivated to practice but really know that it's by you taking the instrument out taking action that will get this cycle going one thing that really helps me with that is the strategy i call commit to 10 so commit to walking in the practice room taking out your instrument and working on something for 10 minutes then if you don't feel like practicing you have permission to walk away but just go in there and tell yourself 10 minutes and it could be a simple warm-up or improvisation or playing through a piece that you really love. Give yourself 10 minutes of just spending some time with your instruments and I can almost guarantee that after 10 minutes you'll feel interested and you'll want

to keep playing. The third thing about motivation is that you want to make the work itself interesting and enjoyable that begins with knowing yourself what you like and how you learn so you can really first of all know what gets you in the practice room is there a specific time of day that works best for you understanding when you do your best work can be crucial in doing some good work and therefore stay motivated also how about implementing a schedule or do you work better when things flow more organically throughout the day I know that for me if I schedule it there's a much greater chance it's going to happen so if you struggle with motivation and you feel a little bit aimless throughout the day maybe try scheduling your day and see what that feels like for me another thing

that helps is creating a precise plan of what I'll practice that day what I'd like to fix and how I might do that. For sure, things can change a bit and we adapt, but to have some sort of plan to begin with makes a big difference for me. It doesn't have to be granular, but a general guiding line really helps. Another thing is accountability. If you're someone who does well when you know that someone is expecting something from you, how about putting some systems in place or maybe enlist an accountability team as an incentive to get in the practice room or maybe you're someone who responds well to rewards so what would be a great treat at the end of a practice session or a week of consistent practice but don't forget that knowing that you're getting in really good shape on your

instrument and that you're gaining awesome new skills is already a great reward in itself another thing about knowing yourself is that you can figure out way to make it fun and enjoyable you can turn your practice into a game you can create challenges for yourself you can get as creative in your problem solving as possible all of those things make practicing interesting and when you're interested you're present you're focused and you get results and that all contributes to this cycle of motivation. Another thing is to make practicing meaningful. Do you know why you're playing music? What do you love about it? What does it bring in your life? And what does it do in other people's lives? So keeping these things in mind is another thing that will get you in the practice

room and keep you there. Another thing I want to talk about is patience. Be patient. When you try to skip steps it only leads to disappointment and therefore less motivation. So really make your practice about the process. Mastery on an instrument is all about the process. When we're really focused on being present and mindful in the practice room and we really enjoy this process we start to see really amazing results. So be patient with yourself and also cultivate some self-compassion. When you're very understanding and self-compassionate, you are more objective, you're more able to solve problems. And when you cut yourself some slack, if things aren't perfect that day or in that practice session, that gives you the ability and the motivation to keep going.

so in a nutshell it really comes down to three things having clarity on what you want taking consistent action and having strategies of course much more could be said but I think this is a good starting point and it gives you some strategies to get you going and get you having fun and getting results and speaking of getting results the doors are still open to register for my brand new program, The Music Mastery Experience, a transformational journey to loving the practice room, rocking the stage, winning the job, and taking your career to new heights. It's a three month long highly personalized group coaching program where I'll show you how to implement mindful and effective practice techniques, make them habits, and get you results. I've spent years

developing my deep practice model and putting it to the test in my own career and with my students. And I'm so proud to finally share it with you through my music mastery experience. Over the course of 12 weeks, you'll learn to direct your attention and your intention and to channel them to a superior level of productivity and performance. I've created for you an environment that's going to provide you with tons of inspiration and motivation. So if you're looking to elevate your practice and performance this summer, I think the music mastery experience would be perfect for you.

We're going to cover in detail the many aspects of a powerful practice and performance preparation regimen, including effective practicing techniques, empowering mindsets, high focus strategies, efficient productivity systems, optimal performance training, and much more. The program kicks off June 1st, and there's a limited number of spots. so let's talk now to guarantee you a spot in the program and to discuss your goals your dreams and how this program can help you get there you can find more information at mindoverfinger.com and of course I'll have that link for you in the show notes so I hope this episode was helpful and gave you some ideas and some strategies to get the motivation going please let me know what you think. And there's many more ways to make practicing fun, joyful, and meaningful. So tune in for the next episode of the podcast where I'll share some of those tips and strategies with you.

You can also check out the Mind Over Finger Tribe where I discuss these topics frequently. There's a lot of resources there for you and that's at facebook.com slash groups slash Mind Overfinger Tribe. I'll talk to you soon. Thank you, and à bientôt.