Practicing with a timer

I was excited about Gottagopractice's use of a timer and a stopwatch in her practicing because I tend to lack discipline in my practicing, and sometimes completely forget to include important elements. I work at home, and often work extends into the evenings. I sometimes avoid practicing on busy days because I tend to fall into a practicing trance and I lose track of time. If I could say, "today, only 30 minutes," I might get more accomplished than skipping practice altogether.

I took only a few of Gottagopractice's good ideas. For today (a non-deadline work day), I decided:

3 min., warmups
15 min., scales
15 min., exercises
30 min., current Suzuki piece
30 min., 3 others pieces for my upcoming recital
15 min., cello choir pieces
15 min., fiddle music

Since I only have a stopwatch, not a timer that rings, I went over time in all the 15 minute categories and ended up playing 2.5 hours. I also play in two other ensembles (early music and flute choir), but did not include music for those groups tonight. That will have to rotate with the cello choir and fiddle music. 15 min. isn't much for these groups, but better than ignoring them entirely, as sometimes happens.

I am feeling more organized. I will try to keep doing this, even on the days when I only have a few minutes to practice. Thanks, GGP.