Time to Practice

“If you have the time to go to the bathroom, you have the time to practice!”

Back when I taught many children, I used to tell them. Children these days are so busy with homework, extracurricular activities, sports, travels, etc. However, there were always students who continuously developed and improved, no matter how packed their schedules were. On the other hand, I also had students who became better and more creative their excuses for not having practiced that week.

Once, when the school year had just began, a second grader came to me with an explanation I’ll never forget. “You know how different days of the month fall of different days of the week every year? …that’s the thing! My mom had already brought out the calendar for NEXT YEAR, and I didn’t realize! You see, my lessons are on Wednesdays, but on our calendar up on the kitchen wall, the 16th was not a Wednesday, so…” I broke into such a laughter at her ingenuity. I remember her fondly.

“If you have the time to go to the bathroom…” is something I tell myself all the time. This morning, I left home at 7:30AM to come to the airport to fly to Seattle. But before I left, I did manage to play five minutes of Bach.

Even if you only spend five minutes moving your fingers on the keyboard, when you are determined to carve that time out for practice from the moment you wake up, your mind preps you, strategizing how to maximize those precious minutes. That’s already practicing! And after those five minutes, your mind is ruminating on the practice.

Last Sunday, the Paris Olympic had its opening ceremony. More than 10.000 Olympians have gathered from 200+ countries under all sorts of challenging circumstances. We even have have Refugee Olympic Teams: a team of 36 athletes from 11 different countries including Syria, Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Venezuela etc. who have fled their countries but kept training, and qualified, for this Olympic. Their resilience teaches us all that under any circumstance, one can still achieve so much.