4 Habits to be a Productive Dancer

Dancers already have to have very good time management. From dancing for long hours, to school or work, to pursuing personal artistic projects, to cross training. It takes a lot to be an artist, athlete, and human. 

When I was a dancer in high school and college, I’ll admit, I was a bit prideful about how much I could get done in a day, but once I graduated I realized that all my life I had schedules made by others keeping me on track. As a freelance artist, not only was I at the whim of random gigs and performances popping up and extra shifts at work, but I also had to keep myself accountable to stay in dancing shape and pursue my own choreographic projects. Yikes. 

Here are 4 habits I learned to keep me on track in this hectic career. 

(I call it hectic, but I can’t imagine myself in any less chaotic of a lifestyle, I kind of love it!)

Habit 1: The Black Hole

The Black Hole habit sucks you in. It’s the one activity that you say, “I’ll just do xyz for 10 minutes” and next thing you know it’s been hours and you hardly noticed. It’s going on social media in bed at 10pm and suddenly the clock as 3am, and you’ve blown your chances of having a long night's rest. 

Identify your Black Hole Habit, my guess is you don’t have to think too hard. I’d guess most people here can at least claim social media or their phone as a black hole habit. Mine is knitting and youtube. I could, and have, spent way too many hours watching pointless videos and tapping away with my knitting needles. 

Some other black hole habits might be: 

• Social media

• Watching tv

• Movies

• Reading 

• Video games

Now let’s be very clear… THESE ARE NOT NECESSARILY BAD HABITS! 

In fact, I’ve been able to choreograph for hours or write blog posts for hours, both are very much aligned with my career and my job. When we get into a flow state in our art, it’s actually a very amazing place to work from. But we have to be careful when we notice that these habits are not enriching our lives. Books and video games are great ways to destress, but we all can sense when de-stressing turns into procrastinating, turns into addicting. 

My tips for dealing with you black hole habits: 

• Bumper your habits

• If you know you can get lost in a book for a whole day, only read for the hour before you go to work. You can’t be late for work, so this will keep you accountable for stopping after your allotted time

• Be conscious 

• Once you identify and label and habit as a black hole you can be better aware of how much time you are spending on the activity and how this is affecting your life. Again, there is nothing wrong with watching tv, it can be inspiring, but when it starts to get in the way of what you want to do, you have to be aware of that. 

• Prolong your habit

• I know that I can watch youtube all day, if I start watching a video as I do my hair in the morning or make breakfast… I’m a goner. Auto play will go and if I have nothing planned for the day… So instead, I don’t open youtube until I’ve already done everything I need to do and everything I’ve wanted to do for the day. Although, be careful if you know you tend to stay up late.

• Take a week off

• No need to give up something you love forever, but every once in a while, it is healthy to take a week off. No social media. No knitting. No tv. Well, maybe only give up one at a time. Sometimes it’s nice to break your normal routine. 

Habit 2: The Right Foot

I’m sure you’ve heard the saying, “starting off on the right foot” or “waking up on the right side of the bed.” Well, this habit ensures every day (hopefully) can start that way. 

I used to use my alarm on my phone as my alarm clock in the morning. I thought nothing of it, it was convenient, except for the fact it wasn't convenient at all, because I had taught myself how to completely turn off all 10 of my alarms every morning without waking up. And when I did finally wake up, I was already holding my phone in bed, so I might as well just scroll through instagram for a few minutes… or an hour. 

I found myself getting frustrated at myself, so not only was I getting out of bed later than I would have liked, but I was already mad at myself. Yeah, that’s a great way to start the day. 

It all changed when I bought an old fashioned, bell and hammer style, alarm clock. Then I started charging my phone in my bathroom. All of a sudden I was getting up earlier and in a better mood. Then I started reading a chapter of a nonfiction book in the morning and before I realized it I was doing more with my day. 

Finding your Right Foot Habit might take some trial and error in order to find what works best for you, for me it is an old fashioned alarm clock and an old fashioned paper book. But it could be: 

• Having a skin care routine

• Meditation or prayer

• Stretching or a light workout

• Hot (or cold… if you’re crazy) shower

• A walk outside

• Making a nice breakfast

• Perfecting your coffee crafting

• Picking up your living space 

• Light cleaning

• 5 deep breaths

• Texting a loved one

Play around with how you wake up and what you do to set up your day for success. What works for one person will not always work for another, so if a habit doesn’t suit you, even if it is a new trend, drop it and find something that fits. 

Habit 3: Easy Peasy

I once heard someone talk about the “no zero day” philosophy, which states that you should never have a day where you make no progress towards your goal. The easy peasy habit is your way of always making progress, but in a less intimidating way. 

We’ve all had days that we just want to throw in the towel. Your car breaks down, you get in a fight with a friend, you get in trouble at work or school, or any other occurrence and the last thing you want to do is… well anything, let alone chase your dreams. But you can do your easy peasy habit. 

The easy peasy habit is a habit designed so you can do it between 11:59pm and 12:00am. So no matter how terrible your day is, you can still make progress. 

You want to be flexible- touch your toes once

You want to be strong- do one push up

You want to be a world famous author- write one sentence in a book

You want to be a revered choreographer- make one move (it doesn’t even have to be good)

Habit 4: So Good It Scares You

Perhaps I am alone in needing this habit, but I believe that a lot of us procrastinate while doing the things we care about most. We would rather never write a book, than write a “bad” version of the novel we’ve had in our head for years. We would rather think about learning how to tap dance, than being heard making sloppy rhythms. It’s because we care so much that we don’t do. 
For me, it’s choreographing. I have sets built, costumes made, music prepared for a dance film. I have had them prepared for almost a year, I’ve thought about it so much that I’ve almost paralyzed myself from actually choreographing it. So I've forced myself to build the habit of doing just a little choreography everyday. 

Now, some things are scary because they are scary, avoid those situations. But think about something that means so much to you that it scares you, go after that. 

Conclusion

I hope that these habits have started spinning the gears in your head as you think about which habits you want to start building in your life. We’d love to hear about them!