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Are you addicted to practicing?

As musicians, we all know that the best performances are created in the practice room. If we don't practice well, there is a good chance that we won't perform well.

Daniel Coyle, author of The Talent Code, blogs regularly on the topic of fostering and growing talent. How do we get better at what we do? What are some tricks to making practice more enjoyable and efficient? Check out the two articles below to learn more.

In his post entitled How to Make Learning Addictive, he compares learning and practicing to playing a video game. When you're playing a good video game, you want to get better, faster, advance to the next level. There's something about it that keeps pulling you in. You want to play it over and over and over again. He shares some stories of extremely successful performers that honed the art of "replay value" in their practice.

Ever get frustrated with how long it takes you to learn a difficult passage?
Coyle suggests raising the stakes.
Make it a game.
Limit your time.
Count repetitions.

How is your practice going? Do you have any mental tricks, games, or suggestions to share? Leave a comment to share with the rest of us.