Practice and the 80/20

I first heard of the 80/20 principle at a meeting at a financial institution that I once worked for. It must have been close to lunch, because my first thought was of 80/20 beef. That would be the ratio of meat to fat. 80 percent meat and 20 percent fat. My mind then drifted off to making chili, I make really good chili. It was a boring meeting, but the gist of what the individual holding the meeting was is that 80 percent of the company was controlled by 20 percent of the shareholders. The idea flipped my understanding of how my company was operating and how it was building revenue. This is an idea that translates through business, our personal lives, and even our journey as a musicians. This blog post is going to focus on applying this principle to you daily practice on your instrument.

Let’s see what wiki’s ‘official’ definition of the 80/20 principle is. “The 80/20 principle] states that, for many events, roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes.” This is also known as the Pareto principle. Pareto was an Italian economist. Wiki states, “while at the University of Lausanne in 1896, published his first paper "Cours d' economie politique." Essentially, Pareto showed that approximately 80% of the land in Italy was owned by 20% of the population; Pareto developed the principle by observing that 20% of the pea pods in his garden contained 80% of the peas” I recently read a blog post by bestselling author Tim Ferriss that briefly describes using the method to learn how to play the guitar. The 80/20 principle applies to practicing the guitar in that your small practice time earns great reward, 20 percent of your practice time reaps you 80 percent of your reward. To earn the 80 percent, it’s important to focus on the 20 percent. That 20 percent can be maximized by using time management, technology and tools, and by building rituals.

Time management is huge in organizing your practice time. It’s likely that your entire daily life doesn't revolve around your instrument. It may be extremely important to you, but you may have other responsibilities that are bidding for your time. These responsibilities can include your, job, family, school, or any other important task that demands your attention. In the 80’s (around the time I was born) Steven Covey created a simple visualization using ‘big rocks’.  The idea is that, in your life you have ‘big rocks’ or high priority tasks you have to do. It’s important to define what those rocks are and complete those tasks first, then fill in the things that are less important. You will find that your ability to get things done that matter will become much easier for you. Now that you understand this, you need to define how big the rock of ‘practicing’ is. This will be different for everyone. Currently I spend 15 to 20 minutes of practice time every morning around 5:30. As a music student I spent an average of 3 hours a day practicing the guitar. As an adult, I now have other obligations that bide for my time. It can be hard to tell my wife and children that I can’t attend to their demands because I want to practice. Somewhere around 15 to 30 minutes daily works fine for me these days.

There are a lot of great tools out there that can aid you in your practice. I first highly suggest purchasing a tuner. You need this to keep the guitar in tune so that you can hear what you are playing. This may seem obvious, but if your guitar is out of tune, you won’t know if you’re playing the correct notes. You can purchase a tuner for your guitar at your local music store, or you can simply download a guitar tuner app onto your smartphone. The apps are great for tuning, and can sometimes be better than the cheaper tuners you can buy. Regardless of your level of experience with the instrument, you need to buy a metronome. You also have the smartphone option here. I have been playing the guitar since high school, but I didn't start using a metronome during my practice hours until I was in college. The metronome, or click track, will train you to play at tempo. It will also encourage you to play more ‘clean’ and force you to keep a good technique in the left hand.

You know that you need to practice now right? Now you know where that lays in your priorities list, or how big of a ‘rock’ it should be. Finding the time is the hardest part. One tip is to add your practice time to a ritual that is already in place. I knew a phenomenal session player out of Nashville that told be that as a child, he started out every day by practicing his guitar while he waited for the school bus. He happens to be the same guy that turned me on to practicing with a metronome. The morning is one of the best times to set up your practice time. There is very little that bides for your time early in the morning. If you don’t have time in the mornings, I would suggest either waking up earlier or adding it to another daily ritual that you already do. Maybe as soon as you come home from work or class. However, I highly suggest maximizing your early mornings. This will be your best shot at success.

For just a second I would like to explain why I used the term ritual instead of habit in that last paragraph. A habit is something that has more control over you than you do of it. Smoking is a habit, swearing is a habit, poor eating choices is a habit. Rituals are things that apply to activities that you have control over that can bring positivity to your daily life. For example, I work on this blog every morning as a ritual. Part of my early morning ritual involves: drinking a full liter of water, practicing my guitar, a short time of fitness, sitting down to write. Hygiene is in there too, but I don’t think I need to go into that in much detail. In short, build rituals to build a better you. Start this this now.

In short, time management, ‘big rocks’, use a tuner, use a metronome, and build a ritual. If you want to be just okay at your instrument, just pick it up whenever the mood hits you and never challenge yourself. Chances are you are already there, congratulations. However, if you are among the few that are ready to put some hustle into being great, use these tools to become better. Step by step, the journey is long, and it takes 10,000 hours of practice to become great at anything. Get going, get started, be the best player you can be.