Yesterday, I had the pleasure of speaking on a panel with some truly inspiring women for The State of Women Institute's global summit. I was joined by Christie Hartbarger of Strategy Source, Jenna Young of Weber Shandwick, and Ann Piper of Spotify; the conversation was hosted by the vibrant (and hilarious) career performance coach, Marta Voda.
We spoke about balancing (or attempting to balance!) the myriad, constant demands of parenthood with the demands of the workplace. With Broadway's shutdown due to Covid, my experience with this has shifted dramatically, but boy did this conversation bring the stress of it back! I remember memorizing the schedules of my husband, my sitters, and my Hamilton subs so that I could always have a backup plan just in case something came up. And of course, this is only one aspect of the tightrope walk I felt I was always walking. I think most working mamas can probably relate!
We also spoke about multi-tasking, and it made me really acknowledge to myself that I often multi-task while I practice. I know that my playing suffers when I do this, and yet I find it so hard to ignore the texts and emails that invariably come my way during my fairly limited time with my instrument.
So... I decided to set a challenge for myself. For the next seven days, I am going to put my phone on airplane mode when I practice and see what happens. I am already in the middle of another challenge related to our upcoming Recital Club where I will video myself daily. I will have evidence to see if it makes an immediate difference in my playing, but I think I already know the outcome. I'm curious to see if there's anything surprising that pops up during this experiment. I'll check back in with an update next week!
UPDATE: It's been a week of practicing with my phone on airplane mode, and the biggest surprise was how much happier I felt while practicing. Isn't it funny how it can feel like a chore to try to focus, but once the mind focuses, more satisfaction follows?