Yesterday, Coco and I argued about the violin. She loves to play. Practice? Not so much. After sparring a few minutes, threatening a few more, I yelled. “Get a notebook and make a list of what you need to do.”
Anyone who knows me, knows my history with the To Do list. I’m ashamed to say, I’ve passed on my angst to a nine-year old. Coco took out a notebook. She scheduled five minutes for bowing, ten minutes for fingering, ten more minutes for working on the rhythm to a Haydn melody. In all she played forty-five minutes.
At the end of the night I said, “I’m proud of the way you practiced.”
“I used one of my habits.” Her school teaches Stephen R. Covey’s The Leader in Me curriculum. “Make a plan. Begin with the end in mind.”
I’m trying to follow her example.