Skip to main content

Free Time vs. Focused Time vs. Productive Time: They're NOT the same

I am a Suzuki violin teacher.  But I'm also a writer.  I've enjoyed writing since high school but I didn't really start publishing my work until late 2010.  Even then I only really considered writing to be a sort of hobby.  I wrote when I felt like it.  Which meant that sometimes I would have really productive months and sometimes weeks would slip by without a word written.

Now writing, just like playing the violin, is a craft.  It takes both time and effort to hone your skills.  As my writing projects/ideas started to pile up I realized that if I wanted to start seriously making a steady side income from writing, I was going to have to start approaching writing not as a hobby but as a business.

Which meant I had to start thinking about how I was using my time.  When I first started I wrote in my free time.   Free time is kind of a vague concept.  I think if we're honest with ourselves we actually have lots of free time but the only time it really registers with us is when we're bored.  Yes, bored.  Where you're sitting on the couch thinking, "Wow,  I've got the whole house to myself and nothing to do, might as well write/practice."  Technically, sipping coffee while browsing the Internet is free time but it doesn't register because we're not bored.

So then I got to thinking about focused time.  If I have a finite amount of time to write, it would make sense to try and sit down and write when my brain is focused.  I'm very much a night owl.  I've always been like this.  When I was tiny I used to stay up late watching Perry Mason with my dad, I never understood why other kids made such a big deal about staying up until midnight on New Year's Eve and most of my students have come to expect emails about upcoming recitals at 2am or so.

But even though I am focused at night, this is not necessarily the most productive time for me.  Usually if I'm going to spend time with my boyfriend or see friends/family, it's going to happen in the evening.  Which is fine.  I want to visit with these people.  But it's time that's not free for writing.

Which has all lead me to the idea of productive time.  If I am going to really hone this craft, it's not enough to just find a time of day where I'm focused and awake.  It must be productive time.  Which is why I usually write now when I first wake up and am sipping morning coffee.  I have actually scheduled a block of time on certain mornings to just sit down and write for an hour.  It's part of my weekly routine.

While I am maybe not the most awake during that hour, it doesn't matter to me because it's a really productive hour.  I can get a lot of writing done and if I happen to have some more free time later in the day, even better!

So the purpose of this post is not to brag about my wonderful and productive schedule.  It's just to point out something that I've learned about myself in the process of figuring out a skill that I have not yet mastered.  Between my own playing and what I've seen happening with students, I think there are definite parallels here to practicing the violin.

When practicing is something that is put off to "free time," it never gets done.  Trust me.  It may happen when you're first starting and you're excited about your instrument but as soon as the going gets tough there will be a million other things you can think to do before working a tough passage of music.

This inevitably leads to a feeling of guilt/frustration once you realize that you've showed up to lessons for months now without having practiced.   You say this has got to change all you have to do is find a time when you're focused!  When practicing with young musicians, when the child is focused is usually the number one priority for the parents.  Practicing has to occur in the morning or they just get too tired after school.

But is time when the child is most focused the most productive time?  Just because the child is alert doesn't mean that the siblings aren't running around the house causing ruckus and there's the pressure to finish practicing before everyone has to leave for school.  This makes the practice session almost completely pointless because no quality work was really put into the instrument.  Everything was done in haste.

Which means that concessions have to be made.  First, you have to make the time for practicing.  It won't happen on its own.  And second, you have to factor in the entire picture.  Being slightly less alert is totally fine if it means that 100% of your mind is focused on the task at hand.  It means that the work you do get done sticks with you.

Comments

  1. "Technically, sipping coffee while browsing the Internet is free time but it doesn't register because we're not bored."--->Unfortunate...but true!

    I like the way you're distinguishing between being alert and being productive. Especially in the early morning child practice example. I feel like this is a quick answer teachers give sometimes so practice just gets done. But if someone had done that to me as a kid, I would have been a zombie.

    Oh, and I'm also figuring out how to practice writing in my day (I'm a night owl as well). And that's like learning how to practice allllll over again.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Haha! I know, right?

      I recently just started taking viola lessons again to help keep me honest about my own practicing. And it's totally like starting over. I play all day but I have to actually schedule in "me" playing time or it doesn't happen.

      With my new viola teacher I do monthly lessons instead of weekly and I'm really liking it. I would never recommend monthly lessons to a beginner but for me it gives me plenty of time to worth through the new material.

      Delete
  2. Hi, Danielle,

    I enjoyed this post in particular. I have discovered the same lessons that you have. I am a night owl too (even though I try to change this tendency), so I may actually answer those late night emails!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I figure I'm out of school and I have a job where I can set my own hours, so I have fully embraced the dark side (pun??) of being a night owl =)

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Illusion of Mastery

Dr. Molly Gebrian touched on a concept called "the illusion of mastery" in her Rethinking Genius interview.   Basically, it's what psychologists call it when you do something over and over again, giving yourself a false sense of mastery. Wait... if you do something over and over again, shouldn't it be mastered? Well, not always. The true test of mastery is internalization.  If you're still having to follow the directions for how to make chicken, you haven't mastered chicken cooking.  Mastery means that you've cooked chicken so many times you're no longer worried about the basics.  It also means that you are confident enough in those basics that you are able to add extra elements with some degree of certainty.  For example, you know how the chicken should be cooked even after adding a sauce or extra seasoning. In other words: you can complete the task under pressure. The physical and psychological leap from the practice room to the stage is th

Like Brushing Your Teeth

One of my teacher trainers told me that practicing should be like brushing your teeth. There is never a day when your tooth brushing is affected by other events in your day. The process is completely emotionally detached. I mulled over her words of wisdom for quite some time after she said them to me. What struck me the most was the suggestion of emotionally detaching myself. All my life I have been told that music is supposed to express emotion. So it was almost like it would be wrong to try and strip that away. For me, the teeth brushing example was a very interesting concept. I realized that the level of habitual repetition of that daily routine is rarely achieved in any other life areas. Dishes get put off, vacuuming, shopping for groceries.... but I always make the time to brush my teeth. Always making the time for practice? A lofty ideal indeed.

Interview with Michiko Yurko on Music Mind Games and Sight-Reading in the Suzuki Method

Welcome to Rethinking Genius, Michiko! Please introduce yourself and tell us about your company, Music Mind Games. Hi, Danielle! I am Michiko Yurko and I am the creator of Music Mind Games, a project I have been working on for 40 years. It’s been great! Music and education were important to my parents. Although they followed different professions, my father sang and my mother played the piano. I was always supported in my music and dance lessons and related activities so I have very positive memories of those years. My mom was an elementary classroom teacher and her extraordinary devotion to her students and her creativity taught me to be innovative in my own work. Music Mind Games, LLC was founded in 2005 after Warner Bros (my publisher for nearly 20 years) was sold to Alfred. Although they believed in my work and continue to publish the book Music Mind Games, Alfred said they could not afford to produce the Music Mind Games materials. My husband, Cris and I discussed all sorts o