does anyone else do this?

[zeitgeista]

i want to start practising something, but i end up leaving it longer and longer until it gets to the point that i'm too tired to do it and go to bed, tell myself i'll do it tomorrow and the cycle repeats.

it's something i genuinely want to do but i think i worry that i'm not doing enough, i won't get good at it quick enough, i'll be too far behind etc.

which is stupid because if i don't do it then i'll be even further behind, but this happens everytime there's something i want to do, that i put too much pressure on myself until it ruins it for me.

does anyone else do this?

What is it you want to do?
I’m feeling much like this at the moment about a piano piece I had promised myself to master. I’m not doing very well so far!

electric guitar!

i'm really trying but even by the time i actually convince myself to just get on with it, i can't seem to comprehend the information because i put myself under so much pressure, it's so weird.

Can you do it as soon as you wake up? If you do it for a week or two, it will become a habit.

Oh I absolutely do this. Can you decide on a time eg 7pm and set an alarm. That's practice time.

Reminds me, I need to get back to piano practice cos I was doing quite well then just stopped!

oh i'm terrible in the mornings but i would be willing to give it a try because i've never really tried it as i've just accepted that i'm not very good at mornings, but i guess if i try i could surprise myself.

i do want to start waking up earlier anyway because when i'm doing stuff at night it annoys my parents whereas if i get up a bit earlier i can still have time to myself but it won't annoy them too much.

Well, you're wasting time on here when you could be doing it right now!!

You remind me of my daughter, she got a guitar for Xmas and I don't think she's even taken it out the bag yet, there's always something else to do.

Is there a particular song you want to learn? If so, focus on that and go for it.

i really want to learn demolition lovers or you know what they do to guys like us in prison by my chemical romance and i'm watching tutorials right now, your post has just motivated me to pick up my guitar though

I'm not a MCR fan I hold a grudge against gerard I recommend The Used instead

I grew up in a guitar playing household, my dad always suggested we started with smells like teen spirit or some blink songs as it's fairly easy. There's also the app Amplitude and great guides on guitarworld.com to get going.

I'm like this. Procrastination! I just tell myself if I don't do it someone else will be getting on with doing something I want to do!

thank you @TheCanyon for the advice and i think i'll try out smells like teen spirit if it's easy just to say i've managed to play one song lol, @Wide that was actually very motivational and i think that could help me in the future.

i've just ordered a headphone jack converter thing so i can plug in headphones to my amp, and a cable to actually plug in my guitar to the amp lol.

But do you do it? @Wide I'm a procrastinator too and I just leave it until I HAVE to

Put the time for it in your calendar on your phone and do it. Tell your family/household you need to do it at x time for accountability.

I am like this and also struggle with mornings but I am finding I do better with studying in the morning and that’s really surprised me. But if I put it off till later in the day it usually doesn’t happen.

I also find it’s better to tell myself I’ll only do a tiny bit of something. So you could say learn literally one note or chord and not expect more. It’s less pressure and if you do end up learning more in one session then it’s a bonus but if you don’t, you can’t be ashamed because you did what you aimed to!

Now if only I could apply that logic to housework 😳

if i tell my mum im doing something at a certain time she'd forget before i even walk away lol.

i'll definitely try and wake up earlier tomorrow morning and try and get things done. weirdly i am looking forward to waking up early and getting things done.
i think when lockdown first started i was excited at the thought of being able to sleep in and not have to get the bus to school every morning lol, now i kind of want a routine back because i feel very lazy.

I've had a few wines now and will sleep in tomorrow but I'm going to bag you all day until you do.

I read somewhere that playing something slowly (and accurately) 70 times was enough to get it into your muscle memory.
So I’m playing the first few bars of Von Fremden Landern und Menschen 10 times, 2 or 3 times a day.

Have only recently got back to it after a very long break.

I’ve found from weary experience that endlessly trying to play the whole thing through doesn’t work (not for me, anyway) especially when you haven’t worked out the optimum fingering and stuck to it, so that you’re endlessly ‘practising in’ your own mistakes.