Hello and welcome back to Musician’s Maintenance Weekly, where I send you resources you can use to get to work maintaining your body while we all continue to be stuck inside and out of work.
Here’s what I’ve got for you this week: 1) The equation that will make you better at everything. 2) 5 Ways to Rebuild Your Daily Routine. 3) Another plug for the follow along program.
(Note: If you enjoy these newsletters, please consider forwarding this email to a friend, colleague, teacher or classmate. They can sign up here and then you won’t be the only one you know talking about how rest actually makes you better at everything).
And away we go!
1) The Equation that Will Make You Better at Everything
Too much stress without enough rest and you get injury, illness, and burnout. Not enough stress plus too much rest and you get complacency, boredom, and stagnation.
Stress + Rest = Growth. It’s as simple and as hard as that.
from: The Equation that Will Make You Better at Everything | Outside Magazine
I’ve noticed that musicians tend to be excellent at stress and unfortunately not-so-good at rest and recovery.
Often, I think there’s the conception that growth = stress + more stress + perfectionism + zero-sum mindset + toxic pressure from your teacher + never sleeping or exercising.
Or…
100(stress) + 0.00001(rest) = growth.
Nope. It turns out neither of those are correct. Stress and rest are equally important, which is why so many of these newsletters have covered topics related to recovery.
It also works in other domains of your life. Check out the article, and maybe a few recovery focused issues of the newsletter (like this one on sleep, this one on breathwork, or this one on self mobilization) and put it into practice.
Read: The Equation that Will Make You Better at Everything | Outside Magazine
2) 5 Ways to Rebuild Your Daily Routine
I don’t know about you, but since I can no longer physically go to work I objectively have more time, but for some reason I’m exercising less, going outside less and playing music less.
It turns out that my routine is all over the place and my family has been struggling to figure out what works for us. I found the article below helpful. It focuses on a few areas of your routine that will provide the most bang for your buck.
So, if you don’t feel like you have the time to do all of those wonderful things that will set your life and career up for even more success despite the pandemic, read the article below and just start with re-establishing your routine.
Read: 5 Ways to Rebuild Your Daily Routine in the Era of COVID-19 | The Ready State
3) Follow Along Injury Prevention Program
I put this in last week’s newsletter, but I wanted to highlight it again. It’s a 13 ½ minute exercise program that hits all of the most important areas for musicians. I talk you through every rep and you can watch me do it.
This is the most minimal program I could create. It takes 15 minutes and you have another 23 hours and 45 minutes to do everything else you need to. You definitely have the time.
So don’t just read about taking care of your body. Don’t just think about it. Click the link and give it a go! If you have feedback, definitely hit reply and let me know what you think.
Do: 10 Exercise Routine Maintenance Program | Musician’s Maintenance