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Why You Should Keep Your Practice Space Tidy

Does this look familiar?

This is an expansion on one of the points that I talked about it in
How To Practise Every Day - 13 Useful Tips.

Keep it clean

Question: Why should you shower every day? Because you care about yourself enough not to go out smelling really bad. You owe it to yourself and the rest of humanity to maintain good personal hygeine.

If you stopped showering it wouldn't be long before people started noticing and then began avoiding you. They wouldn't have a very high opinion of you. "Yeah that Alex is a nice guy. He smells a bit though..."

In the same way, your practice space is a direct extension of you, your mind and your identity as a drummer. A messy practice space broadcasts "I don't really care about what I'm doing."

I'm sure you'd much rather spend your time in a nice, tidy space rather than be around a huge mess. But there's more...

Traffic Jams will slow down your progress

We've all been in traffic jams before. They are not nice places to be. You're sitting in your hot stuffy car, you're running late, there's a big queue of cars in front of you, there's a big queue of cars behind you, you're gonna be late for work, you can't see what the cause is, you're wondering why you bothered buying that Porsche 911 and lets face it, if it doesn't start moving soon... you're going to kill someone.

Even when it starts moving you only travel a little and then you stop. Then you go a little further forward again and then you stop. Then you go a little further again and then guess what? You stop. Very frustrating.

What this got to do with your practice space?

A messy practice space creates a traffic jam.

For example: you want to practise but you can't find your sticks. You have a look in your stick bag. They're not there. You have a look under your kit. They're not there. You have a look under that pile of books beside your kit. They're not there.

Or you want to practise but you still haven't set your gear up after your last gig. You have to take your stands out. Set them up one by one. Take your drums out their cases. Put your snare on a stand. Adjust the height etc, etc.

If you're caught in a real life traffic jam then you often don't have a choice but to sit and hope you'll get out of it soon. But in drumming there is an easier option. The downside is that it will completely kill all of your progress so far. What's the easy option? Answer: don't practise. I don't know about you, but I'd much rather play video games than spend 20 minutes looking for my sticks (or 7 minutes 20 seconds to set my kit up)

I'm incredibly lazy

I've been playing drums for 12 years now and I've gotten to know my psychology pretty well. I love the benefits I get from practising every day but occasionally I'll look for an excuse not to do it. Thats why I always make it as easy as possible for me to practise. The easier you make it, the more difficult avoiding it will become.

Use your laziness as a reason to organise your life rather than as a reason to waste it.

What do you think? Are you as lazy as me? Do you need more organisation in your life?

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Alex's Xmas Bonus #1

Just for being cool and reading my blog here are:

3 ways you can use Traffic Jams to help you practise
1. Pack your XBox away after you use it, preferably into a locked box then throw the key in the ocean.
2. Take the batteries out of your TV remote and bury them in your neighbour's garden overnight.
3. Send this text message to all your friends: "I read an article today that made me realise that you are the cause of all failures in my drumming and life in general. You know those people who spit in your face when you talk? Well I'd rather spend the rest of my life having an close in-depth conversation with someone like that than with you. I'm never talking to you again. Goodbye."

By doing this you will create instant traffic jams on the 3 main causes why you don't make time to practise: Gaming, TV and hanging out with friends. Would it be easier to sort out these traffic jams or would it be easier to sit down to practise?

Related posts:

1. The Progress Plateau - This Is Why You Keep Giving Up You're on top of the world You've just learned something...
2. How To Practise Every Day - 13 Useful Tips Photo credit: Frank Campbell I had no idea that practising...
3. How Do You See Practice? - Interview with TRX Cymbal Endorser Dave MacLeod A friend of mine recently gained something very important...

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