What is Procrastination?

In a nutshell, you procrastinate when you put off things that you should be focusing on right now,
usually in favor of doing something that is more enjoyable or that you’re more comfortable doing.

According to psychologist Professor Clarry Lay, a prominent writer on procrastination,
procrastination occurs when there’s “a temporal gap between intended behavior and enacted behavior.”
That is, procrastination is occurring when there’s a significant time period
between when people intend to do a job, and when they actually do it.…

Say you get up in the morning and decide to start practicing your instrument right away….
but than you get destructed by a text message…. than decide to check you FB wall…
etc…etc…etc.. So that “gap” mentioned above getting bigger and bigger.

How to Overcome Procrastination

Follow these steps to deal with and control procrastination:

Step 1: Recognize That You’re Procrastinating

- If you’re honest with yourself, you probably know when you’re procrastinating

Step 2: Work Out WHY You’re Procrastinating

- One reason for procrastination is that people find a particular job unpleasant, and try to avoid it because of that.

- Another cause is that people are disorganized.
Organized people manage to fend of the temptation to procrastinate,
because they will have things like prioritized to-do lists and schedules.

- One final major cause of procrastination is having underdeveloped decision-making skills.
If you simply can’t decide what to do, you’re likely to put off taking action in case you do the wrong thing.

Step 3:  Anti-Procrastination Strategies

Procrastination is a habit.
That means that you won’t just break it overnight.
Habits only stop being habits when you have persistently stopped practicing them.

These general tips will help motivate you to get moving:

• Make up your own rewards. For example, promise yourself a piece of tasty pie at lunchtime if you’ve completed a certain task. And make sure you notice how good it feels to finish things!

• Ask someone else to check up on you. Peer pressure works! Get yourself an accountability partner and check on each other!

• Identify the unpleasant consequences of NOT doing the task ….like sounding really bad at your next recital or a jury

• Keep a To-Do list so that you can’t “conveniently” forget about unpleasant or overwhelming tasks.

• Become a master of scheduling and project planning, so that you know when to start those all-important projects.

• Set yourself time-bound goals: that way, you’ll have no time for procrastination!

• Focus on one task at a time. Multitasking is deadly detrimental to your success in music…

Part of the solution is to develop good time management. Well… actually it’s not time management, we can’t manage time…
we all get exactly same amount of time..
It’s self management what’s counts in the end!

Remember: the longer you can spend without procrastinating,
the greater your chances of breaking this destructive habit for good!

Check out this short video on the subject.

Looks like maybe someone you know….???

Mikhail Istomin

This happened yesterday:

“The board of the 111-year-old Philadelphia Orchestra Saturday voted in favor of Chapter 11, sources say.
Papers will be filed within hours or days in U.S. Bankruptcy Court,
Eastern District of Pennsylvania, asking for reorganization,
according to orchestra leaders.

The move makes the Philadelphia Orchestra the first major U.S. ensemble
known to file for bankruptcy, according to orchestra industry groups
and veteran observers…”

News like that make me work even harder in helping young musicians
to realize importance of developing entrepreneurial attitude and
business skills.

I believe it is just a beginning of bad news for the arts and music in this country.
Unfortunately!

Mikhail Istomin