I often encourage the Aces to adopt a 5×5 practice regimen outside of rehearsal. (5 minutes/day, 5 days/week).
The problem is that often, the group members end up carrying tremendous individual guilt around failure to meet that modest goal. The guilt can lead to avoidance, creating a vicious cycle of non-practicing and bad feelings.
My challenge to them this year will be to let go of all days before today. “Be a goldfish,” as Ted Lasso says. At the end of the day, you can feel guilty for failing to practice today…but tomorrow, you let it go and start absolutely fresh.
There’s some cognitive dissonance involved there. But honestly, if you aren’t engaging in some cognitive dissonance daily, are you really even truly engaging with the complexity of the world?