This was a new years SBL article that addresses the difference between discipline and motivation. They are closely linked but there are crucial differences that I feel are important to understand when thinking about your practice!
Motivation - A reason or reasons for acting or behaving in a particular way. An internal state that directs goal-orientated behaviour.
Motivation is an extremely complex thing to unpick, and everyone’s motivations for practicing are different. Motivation can come from listening to particular music/players, it can come from enjoyment and curiosity, sometimes even from a desire to finally break through a particular plateau within your playing and various other places besides. The key thing to remember with motivation is that it is a largely temporary state of being. Motivations wane over time; sometimes they fade entirely, sometimes they change and perhaps morph into something else. We can often go into something really motivated and driven to succeed, but once the true scale of the task/challenge becomes apparent, the motivation will dwindle and the ‘I can’t do that’ or ‘that’s too tough’ mindset will kick in. This is why (I feel) motivation is something that A) can’t really be taught and B ) is something that you need to both find within yourself and continuously refresh over time. This could be through listening to the players that inspire you, keeping a written list of your primary goals as a player (and keeping it easily visible!), going to see some great live music on a regular basis and so on and so forth...
The real key once you are motivated though is ...
Discipline - To train oneself to do something in a controlled and habitual way
Discipline is the real key to maintaining your consistent improvement once you are motivated, because the one of the differences between ‘good’ and ‘great’ is maintaining your focus and path even when the motivation to do so is absent. The greatest athletes are the ones that show up and get the work done on the track/in the pool/in the gym even when they would rather be somewhere else, and it’s exactly the same situation with us as musicians. There are days where you won’t be particularly motivated to pick up the bass and put the work in, but those are the days where not only is it important to show up, but also the days where you will feel the best about having shown up and done the work!
Some key strategies for maintaining discipline are as follows ...
A Practice Log
For me a practice log is a key component of maintaining discipline and focus. Through your log you can not only keep track of what you are working on, you can easily see how you are progressing, whether or not anything has been neglected recently and what your overall work level is looking like. Remember, the loftier the goal, the greater the time input required to reach it, and your practice log will give you a very honest look at what your input is looking like over time.
Building A Proper Practice Routine
Routine and discipline go hand in hand, and the better your level of organisation when approaching your practice, the easier it will be to maintain your level of consistency and discipline because your workflow will be that much better! For the full details on building a practice routine, take a look at my previous article
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Time
Habits take time to internalise. There are various articles out there that talk about how long a habit can take to ingrain, but whatever level you are shooting for as a bass player, you are going to need time to formalise your new practice habits. The overall accepted average seems to be between 60 and 90 days (2-3 months) but other studies have put the figure at much longer than that, depending on what the habit is that you are trying to form so don’t think that you’re done and dusted after 90 days. Check in with yourself on a regular basis, look at your practice log and make an honest assessment at the end of each month as to how you feel you are doing and whether you feel you are putting in the time you need to.
Build Yourself Up!!
However motivated you are, don’t try to make huge sudden jumps with your practice, whether it be the amount of time you are spending each day, big tempo jumps etc. Suddenly making huge step changes is an excellent way to set yourself up for failure because they will be far harder to maintain. If you’ve been practicing for an hour per day, don’t suddenly say “new year, new me. 3 hrs a day is the target!”. That’s a 200% increase you are shooting for and the chances are you will miss your target within the first 10 days, never mind the first 60. Start by adding an extra 30 minutes per day (which is a healthy 50% increase on your previous average!) and aim to maintain that for 60-90 days. Once you’ve hit that, then think about adding in an additional 30 minutes and see how you do over the next 60-90 days. Take small incremental steps, not huge immediate increases, and simply aim to do a little bit more &/or better each day than you did yesterday.
Patience
More than anything else, always remember to be patient with yourself and with the process. We’re not running a race here and as Scott often says, you need to be in the mindset of playing the long game, not shooting for short term gains. Be patient with yourself, accept that some goals need a lot of time and work to achieve and focus on doing the work each day.
Above all remember to have fun with what you are doing!!
As always if you have any thoughts or comments, please leave them below!!