Hey, guys. My name is Marc from Jazz Guitar Lessons. Welcome to this video. I want to do a bit different. You notice this is my workout clothes. I'm still drinking my morning coffee and you can see this ugly microphone will bring the shots. Sorry about that. And I want to share a day in the Life. Actually, the template I'm about to share is a typical day for me, actually was taken from yesterday's day, which was jam packed.
But to give you an idea of how I go about teaching, how I go about using my time wisely during the day to to, you know, get better at what I do. And so if you're a current student or if you're doubting in coming into a coaching program with yours truly, this gives you a pretty good idea of what I'm up to while I am in the studio all day.
So let's get going. Welcome to Jazz Guitar Lessons, where we help guitarists learn jazz faster, express themselves more fluently, and have fun along the way. My name is Marc, and if you're looking to learn jazz, form better practice habits, and especially if you enjoy French accent, make sure to subscribe. 5:30 a.m.. Alarm goes off. I have to fight the urge to stay in bed because of course the bed is comfortable.
I typically will get about 5 minutes of grogginess, but if I fight through it, I'll be fine. First thing i do upon waking bathroom scale, I have a digital scale that's I weigh myself. So I've been trying to lose weight recently. So it's a religious thing. And then coffee, please. My kingdom for a coffee. So that's what I do on the first 15 minutes.
So around 4:45 a.m. when I have my first coffee in hand, I will typically open my bullet journal, which is a concept from the book that I read by writer Carol on screen now. And I will log in my weight and look at the habits for the day and the different things that I have to do, which is a life saver.
So it's sort of an organizer and site holder and brain vomit, if you will. And I've been doing this since probably 2017. So as soon as I get my first few sips of coffee, what I'll do is I'll write 750 words. That's a website link and description where basically I log a personal journal can be gratitude, Journal can be whatever is on my mind, could be day planning.
And I've been doing it for about 750 days in a row. So it's more than two years. I'm on more than a two year streak. I highly recommend then I will fill my ETP. ETP is simply a template for a day planner. So for instance, I say, Well, I have these meetings with prospective students, some students, some business stuff to attend, some videos to film, like I'm doing right now.
Right. And this is a five minute that's really well invested every day that I do in the morning. So six, 8 a.m. I have time to start to get to work. So yesterday, for instance, I did personal finance stuff, you know, like the mortgage taxes and payments or anything outstanding, like emails that are on the personal side, not necessarily the most productive use of my time.
At least it's not lingering anymore. Around 630, I can do about 30 minutes of video scripting, so I will think about and script and brainstorm the kind of things I want to do in my next YouTube videos. Around 7 a.m. I'm able to dedicate maybe 15 to 30 minutes in catching up with my team, the people that I work with in the business of jazz guitar lessons on that.
And I use a software called Basecamp by 37 Signal, so I'll check on everyone if any one needs anything from me and what's on the docket for today. And then after that, I will do breakfast prep and I will get ready to go and fetch my son, who's still in bed at this time, is three and a half years old.
So I will prep the breakfast head in the shower and then spend time with my son between eight and nine. Typically, I will dress my son up, brush his teeth and do everything related to breakfast, eat, strap in the car, because of course, as a baby, head to daycare. So the daycare is about one kilometer away. And then once I get back home, typically before starting to work on anything else, I will do a 10 minutes of meditation That's not every day.
Like, for instance, today I didn't do it, but it's a habit I'm trying to do in my build a journal every day to clear my mind before we really go the day's work. Around 9ami will check on my students assignments so people will submit videos to me in the six hour accelerator program. So what I do is I check on everything and I may submit written feedback or loom feedback, which is a video so the people know exactly what they have to do next.
I can answer any questions if you guys are in the program and you're chatting with me, this is the time that I will do it in the morning. 930 through 11, I have what I call a weekly Pulse iOS meeting. This stems from the book Traction by Geno Wickman, and this is how I organize the business itself as how do we communicate between teams?
How do we work on projects, how do we solve issues or make sure we can extinguish fires in time before everything else catches on fire? So that's maybe a 90 minute meeting. And then on Tuesdays, I will have a half hour meeting with my business coach and advisor. Please know that we use a concept called Best Year Yet.
So this is my personal and I wouldn't say business, but more like personal goal setting thing. And maybe I want to lose some weight, spend time with family, etc. And I use the following book by Jenny did a series called Your Best Year Yet and in it, great read. By the way, we have ten questions, and the ten questions will typically take me 48 hours to reply to answer to in writing.
And I do this later December. And the outcome of this whole goal setting process will be ten goals for the year. So with my coach, I will spend time looking at the goal saying, how can I move certain of these goals moving forward this month or this week? Am I stuck anywhere? And often what he will provide is an amazing ear.
Scott If you're watching, you know, an amazing ear, also an advisor on certain questions that I have or ways that he struggles for his own business endeavors in life endeavors that he can counsel me on. Wow. Already. Right. It's noon. So woke up at 530. I did all these things and there's no students yet except maybe the students assignments and review.
So around noon, I believe I had two or three prospective students. I wanted to get into the program, so I called them strategy sessions. We talked talked about the need to talk about, you know, what did you work on that worked or didn't work for you, learning jazz guitar and then maybe make an offer for onboarding program if there's a fit.
And in the afternoon as well, I will have typically 2 to 3 students that are currently active in the program that will book one on ones with me. So this is if you want traditional one on one lessons, although I keep it very organized because we use a concept called a deep meaning that the reason for us to meet and me as the guitar coach will be to craft a new plan and answer questions about the plan because the assignments and all the planning stuff is going to be submitted beforehand, right in video format, students send me videos of the playing standards and exercises and I review them outside of lessons so that when you
do the one on one stuff, we can really expedite the process and be efficient with our time. Hey, everyone, just a quick break here. If you're loving this episode and you want to elevate your own, just our skills, reach out to us. We've guided thousands of guitarists and becoming accomplished jazzers beyond their wildest dreams. So check the link in the description or visit jazz guitar lessons dot net to get started today.
Okay, now back to the episode. So now not all days are the same, but after I have my prospective students with strategy sessions in my what I call my momentum calls my one on one calls with my active students, I will typically have a mid-afternoon workout. It really depends because I don't work out every single day, but I have a little home gym setup and right now I'm doing the ARP app ARP Hypertrophy app.
So it's Renaissance periodization. Dr. Mike Thank you, very funny guy, but also very knowledgeable. So lots of exercises, you know, bench press, squatting, stuff like that. And I have also done workouts with PE and precision nutrition as well as deep, wide style of yoga. Or sometimes I just do my own calisthenics, you know, push ups and squats and pull up.
I use rings, I will install them anywhere, like at the park, and I will do a mid-afternoon workout, which is great for my my blood oxygen is just I get back my momentum after doing a mid-afternoon workout. So now late during the afternoon, around 430 or five, I will close my day. So I grab my ATP again. I look at the things that I've done.
I looked at the things that are outstanding for today that will go for tomorrow's work. And then around 5 p.m. I will grab my son from daycare and typically we'll have dinner together. Sometimes my mom will join us or uncle and aunt and some family and then I would say around 6 p.m. will do either walk around the block, my son will ride his red tricycle and I will walk with him.
Or we will be inside, work on a puzzle, watch a TV show, maybe play some video games like classic Super Nintendo, like Super Mario World, something like that for an hour or so. So as much as possible, I'd like to go outside after dinner, especially if weather permits. If it doesn't, what I will do is maybe use a treadmill inside the house just to keep accumulating steps.
I love using Apple Watch. Right. And then around 7 p.m., it's time for my son's bath time. Lots of negotiating and typically a storytime. If you're a parent of any age, you know exactly what I mean. So this is typically what's going to happen between seven and eight depending on the flow of the day. So now it's 8 p.m..
So what I will do after my son's in bed, I will make the rounds around the house. You know, anything outstanding. If I received an Amazon delivery, I'll open the package. I will do the dishes. I may start a laundry basket. If it applies, I will sort things out so it doesn't look too messy if you have kids, you know.
And then of course I will prep my stuff for the day after. So I precut some of the veggies I put in my breakfast. I will prepare the coffee for the next day. I will take supplements and then that's the next step around 830, after I've done all my rounds. I love to do something like catching up with friends or family via audio text messages.
I may walk around the house still and I will take supplements like zinc, magnesium, liquid or pill format. L-Theanine to. You need to help me sleep and just right before bed I'll take my my melatonin but around between eight 3930 okay. That's the time where I cool down so I can walk on a treadmill. I can do some light reading.
I'm reading Zen mind beginner's mind right now on Kindle, which is amazing, highly recommended. And what is going to happen that period. That's the time. If I have to watch TV, it will be the time I will sit and browse YouTube. No guitar, please. No guitar. And I will simply look at what's come up and maybe look at stuff that's funny to relax me.
And around that time, around nine, I may also have a conversation with my girlfriend, depending on her kids schedule as well. And we'll talk on the phone and then typically I'll be in bed around 930. So you see that's a pretty packed day and I will have my lights out around 930 to 10 p.m.. It really depends on days, but that's my typical routine because I want to get up at 530.
I want to be sure I'm productive because tomorrow's another big data starts over and anything I haven't discussed here can be squeezed in the middle of days. Or say, a student calls in sick, I will go like, Well, okay, you can't come. So I'll take that time and I'll do 5 minutes of guitar practice. Now I'm doing a Modern Method Volume three and learning a couple of standards, and we have gigs coming up.
So it may be that I also will practice some piano, just basic jazz comping and I will clock in like 5 minutes. Or if I have more time, I'll even do a walk around the block. Sometimes I have a weighted vest because I've been losing weight, so the weight that I lost, I added on the weighted vest so I can walk and still burn calories, so I can keep shedding the pounds.
Yeah, you know, welcome to my forties. And another thing I do midday that's not related to meditation is a hypnosis. It's a 15 minutes hypnosis for inner peace and it's with Michael Sealy link on YouTube here Amazing guy. So this is considered like in maybe at post-lunch quick afternoon nap and this really depends on the schedule because what I love to do personally is my schedule is open and my students and my prospective students will simply book themselves within my schedule.
So since that's the case and know two days are exactly like I love what I do because I talk to a whole bunch of people and not everything is always the same. But I have these these blocks on my schedule, like filming YouTube videos or looking at my students assignments or appointments with my business coach or working out.
So I will have these blocks, but I love personally how things are fluid, so there you have it. That's an entire day of March. Yeah, that was probably the most narcissistic video I made to YouTube so far. So let me know if you have any questions about the routine or anything I discuss. This is the day in the life.
Feel free to share in the comments below as well if you want to share parts of your routine or if I missed anything, say if I had an appointment with you or I have really different averaging days, you can let me know in the description. Yeah, we did that together, etc. so I will see you soon on the channel and the rest of the website.
JazzGuitarLessons.Net, Improve your jazz guitar playing with a real teacher. Take care. See you next time.