David's Tip of the Day: Creativity, Part 2 (The Gift)

The key word yesterday was "gift," to "gift myself enough time to get bored." Our daily lives are full with responsibilities, so we naturally have to allot specific times for our various activities, with our practice sessions commonly starting and ending at prescribed times. This scheduling is part of what makes us successful, but some practice sessions should give you hours instead of minutes. When I was a teenager that was easy to do, I had hours on hours of time to do as I pleased. For me to do this now I have to use discipline to pass on jobs and recreation that competes with my practice time.

My plan is a simple one, I gift myself one day a week for a couple of hours to goof around. I have no prescribed plan... I walk in my practice room, grab a harp, and let it roll. Sometimes I take a cool lick and try to turn it into a song. I might grab the bass and learn a bass line from a song I'm doing (to better understand the form/groove). I might listen to a couple of songs from someone's new album. I think you get the idea... I recreate the creative time I had when I was younger.

This time is not only productive, it's rejuvenating.