It's dark when I get up. The house is quiet though my cat follows me in the kitchen. I place coffee grinds in a filter while she takes a seat at her food bowl and looks up at me, blinking. I'm trying to hold onto the sliver of the dream. Something about an outdoor show, a hill to hike, people from my past and present.
While the water boils, I feed the cat, grateful that she too is silent. Once the coffee is done I take a seat, sometimes at the wood block kitchen table; sometimes on the couch or desk to begin the first of what I call my 'minimum RDA' — my self-determined daily allowance of practices. A riff on the 'recommended dietary allowance' of vitamins and minerals that the Food and Nutrition Board releases and periodically revises, my minimum RDA is comprised of doable amounts of practice that I employ to keep me writing, singing and completing my goals in the face of the distraction, fear or other time sucks that invariably rise up in a life.
So the morning is key. No matter how busy the day, if I have this sliver of time to myself to write, do some yoga, pray, I’m confident I’ll meet the day with more effectiveness.
A few years ago, I landed on a minimal amount of timed writing, specifically 10 minutes each day. But instead of just keeping the pen moving, it was more directed and focused on something: the new lyrics for an upcoming co-write, a paragraph to be added to a personal writing project that's finding its shape, a clean sharable bit, period.Actually sharing the 10-minute write with a writing buddy added an entirely new dimension of accountability— and material. After a couple of years, we’ve both generated new projects and stories from this practice alone.
Likewise, I can't always rehearse for two hours, but I find if I play, minimally, three songs a day, I keep my voice and guitar playing at a level that's easy to expand upon another day, or sing an impromptu song when called upon. The same goes for my yoga and Buddhist practices. A little is better than none to help maintain my spirit through a day that's been commandeered by other duties.
Ideally, the items composing one's RDA can be done nearly anywhere and add up to an hour or less. Even on the busiest days I can generally carve out an hour to do all of my self-prescribed exercises. I can write for 10 minutes in a note app in my car if needed. Same with singing three songs or doing vocal warmups. I can bust out 10 sun salutations in a corner of a hotel room or airport if need be.
Which is why I'm up early to write on a Saturday morning after a week of travel and celebrating, deadlines and computer wrangling. By the time the sun is just about up, I’m feeling slightly on top of things because I’ve met half of my minimum RDA for the day.
A few years ago, my thoughts on practice inspired ‘Everyday',’ an as-yet-unrecorded co-write with my friend and fellow singer-songwriter Janet Lenore:
Everyday do what you know, just show up, give it a go
And do it a little better than the day before
Just like the tide chipping at the shore
what was stone becomes sand, a pretty place, soft place to land
Everyday do what you know, just show up, give it a go