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To recap all the important stuff that you just read, here are some tips on developing a strong practice habit.

• Practice every day, unless you’re bedridden and not eating
• Write your plan down on paper
• Choose from the following Cues: Time of Day, Preceding Action, or Location
• Find an immediate and enjoyable reward. The more immediate, the better
• If your first plan doesn’t work out, tinker with the Cues and Rewards and try again

Once you have a cue and a routine, you might think you’re done. You’re not. There’s a third piece of the puzzle, and if it’s missing, your efforts will be shot.

Imagine you’re training a mouse to run through a maze. You have a CLICK sound to cue him. The routine is clear. And yet the mouse sniffs around, oblivious. Clearly he needs a piece of cheese or he’ll never run the maze.

You need a piece of cheese too. The reward for running the routine is an important piece of the puzzle. It tells your brain that the routine was a Good Thing To Do. And let’s face it — practicing isn’t as fun as what every young music teacher claims it can be. Why practice the violin when you can spend that time watching cartoons or reclining on the beach?

The first part of a habit is the cue. If your plan is to practice without a cue in place, then every day you would have to say, “Hey, you know what would be fun? Practicing that thing that’s really hard for me right now. It’s a beast, but it sure beats watching the rest of this cartoon I like.” (Or similarly if you were a runner, “Hanging out with my friends right now is pretty fun. But I think I’ll say goodbye so I can run until my legs are burning and my sides ache.”)

In my experience, both as a teacher and as a practicer, the more free time you have, the less likely you are to practice diligently. The lack of structure takes away your habit cues, and you end up getting less done instead of more. Also the lack of urgency lulls you into apathy. (“I don’t need to practice right now because I have all day.”) If this is the case, then my advice would be to make it your top priority to schedule each day the night before.

Before I get into the details, I want to start with the 10,000-foot view. Habits have three main parts: Cue, Routine, and Reward. Together they make up the Habit Loop. For the purpose of this series on habits, I’ll talk about the Cue and the Reward. As for the Routine (how to practice), you’ll spend a lifetime learning about that and barely scratch the surface.

There’s a world of difference between practicing, and having a practice habit. Those who understand how to build a habit will get the results. Then there are those who say “I know I’ve failed to stick with this before. But this time will be different, because I want it more than I’ve ever wanted it before. And that’s the key ingredient: wishing really hard. Disney told me so.” These people will fail. Every. Time. If you visit a gym in early January, you’ll see what I mean.

Here’s a topic that holds many a violinist back without them realizing it. And it’s rather overlooked in any book or blog I’ve read. Yet it’s an important topic, as you’ll see. After all, your clothing is the true point of contact with your shoulder rest. It keeps the violinist warm. And without it, you’d be running around stark naked. If that’s not an important topic, then I don’t know what is.

A few years ago, I realized that I was teaching some of the exact same lessons to different students. So rather than repeat myself like a broken record, I figured I’d write my thoughts out somewhere. Then I could kick back in the shade sipping lemonade while my job got done regardless (ha!). Or at least my students could stop falling into the same traps, and we could improve faster. That’s more enjoyable for everyone involved.