Creating a Practice Regimen

At this point you should have a completed goal setting exercise sheet and you should be well acquainted with the guidelines for practice session scheduling.

The next step is to create a practice regimen.

Before we get started, be sure to have your completed goal sheet within reach.  

It should contain the following information:
  • At least five clearly defined goals
  • Motivations for each goal
  • A deadline for each goal


As a reference, I’ve provided an example goal sheet from my own studies:

*Note:Your goal sheet doesn’t have to look anything like mine. These are your goals and they should reflect your intentions. There are no right and wrong goals. However, if you’re feeling a bit unsure about your goal setting results, reviewing my example may help you in tweaking your sheet so that it can better serve your end goals.

*Note: The example goal sheet was created in early April, hence the May 1st deadlines for all of my practice items.

Alright. Let’s get down to it.


Creating Your Practice Regimen – Step #1


Download and print a copy or two of the provided practice regimen sheets:*

 

*Note: If you don’t have the means to print the sheets, simply view them and hand draw your own version on a sheet of blank paper.

 

Creating Your Practice Regimen – Step #2


Take all of the goals that you have written down in the left hand column of your goal sheet and copy them into the lefthand (focus) column of your practice  regimen sheets in the ‘Monday’ section.*

*Note: As you’ve probably noticed, there is only enough space to list five goals in any given day’s provided table. If you have written down more than five goals, continue into the ‘Tuesday’ section of the sheet.  If you have more than ten goals, continue into the ‘Wednesday’ section, etc.

Start with the first goal that you’ve listed in the ‘focus’ column. Review the goal, decide on a practice action that will help you achieve that goal and then write that practice action in the adjacent ‘details’ column.*

Try not to overthink this step of the process. Decide, to the best of your abilities, which type of practice makes the most sense, describe the practice action in your ‘details’ column and then move on.

You can always tweak and refine your regimen as you move through the course so don’t worry about getting it perfect on your first run through.

*Note: If this step of the regimen creation process isn’t making perfect sense to you just yet, never fear. In a moment, I’ll be sharing an example practice regimen sheet that you can use for guidance and reference.

 

Creating Your Practice Regimen – Step #3


For the third and final step, you must assign a time limit for each practice item. As discussed in the previous lesson segment, there are a few of important factors to consider when assigning time limits.

Most notably among these considerations are: the length/frequency of your practice sessions and the importance of breaking up your sessions into small, concentrated ‘chunks’.

Be sure to keep these ideas in mind when assigning time limits to your practice items. If you’re having trouble with this step, go back and review the ‘scheduling your practice sessions’ lesson segment.

 
You can also use this example practice regimen as a guide and reference:

 

Action Item
Before moving any further through the course, spend a week with your newly-formed practice regimen. Follow the practice schedule to which you’ve committed (# of days per week/length of each practice session) and be sure that, during these scheduled sessions, you focus only on the items in your practice regimen. Write down any questions you have along the way and be sure to share them with me.

Pro tip: As you will learn, it’s very important to stick to the time limits that you’ve assigned to each practice item.

I recommend using a timer during your sessions (i use my iPhone) to alert you as to when the allotted practice time for each item has expired.

Once you’re allotted time is up, move on to the next practice item on your regimen.