LJS 97: Using the 80/20 Rule for Productive 30 Minute Practice

Welcome to episode 97 of the LJS Podcast where today we are talking about how we can use the 80/20 Rule to get big results out of 30 minute practice sessions. Life can be busy and sometimes it's tough to find time to practice. But if we are practicing the right things and stay focused, 30 minutes may be all we need. Listen in!
Listen to episode 97







If you are anything like me, you have a hard time finding time to practice. Even though I am a career musician, often times my work doesn't allow time to practice; to actually improve upon my skills. So if you aren't in the line of work that I am, I know that it's probably even more of a challenge for you.
If you are a listener of this podcast or you follow the lessons on our blog, it's likely you are excited and motivated to become a better jazz musician. And the only way to improve is to spend some time practicing.
But for many of us, the demands of our everyday life leave little time to hit the shed. Even if we have 30 or 45 minutes to practice, it can feel as if we can't possibly achieve results within such little time.
Today's episode is all about debunking the idea that we can't produce results for our musicianship in a 30 minute practice session. I believe that we can make huge strides if we are practicing the things that actually make a difference in a focused manner.
To do this, we can use the 80/20 Rule to our advantage. The 80/20 Rule states:
"80% of our results come from 20% of our efforts."
This means that 20% of what we spend time practicing is likely creating 80% of our musical improvements. That doesn't mean we should ignore the other things we practice, but we should be spending more time working on the 20% that is really moving the needle.
Here's an outline of what I talk about today:
1. Why I think 30 minutes is enough to improve
2. What's the 80/20 Rule?
3. Identifying what your 20% is
4. How to structure a 30 minute practice session using the 80/20 Rule
At the end of this episode I give you a challenge. I want you to mark off 3 spots in your schedule where you have an extra 30 minutes. Use these times to practice, apply the 80/20 rule and in the comments below, tell me and the rest of our jazz community how it went!
Important Links
The 80/20 Rule Explained
LJS 85: How to Practice Smart and Improve Quickly (Feat. Steve Nixon)
30 Days to Better Jazz Playing eCourse







Read the Transcript
Alright, hey what's up? My name is Brent. I am the jazz musician behind the website, learnjazzstandards.com, which is a blog and a podcast all geared towards helping you become a better jazz musician. Welcome back if you are a regular listener. If you are listening for the first time, I'm really excited you're here. Thanks so much for hanging with me. I know you're going to get a lot of today's episode.
In today's episode 97 I'm really excited to jump into talking about using the 80-20 rule for productive 30 minute practice. Now, we spent a lot of time on this show talking about setting goals for our jazz playing and practicing in general. What to practice, how to practice, how to find the time to practice. Because at the end of the day, if we want to become better jazz musicians, that's the only way we can do it, is practice, or getting out there and actually playing gigs, like we talked about in the last episode, 96. It is the new year and so this month it hasn't been an official theme of the m...