The biggest obstacle that cause musicians to fail on maintaining their healthy habits is travel.

I myself have been a freelance musician for over eight years and on average find myself traveling at least one week per month.

Yet, I have managed to maintain my healthy habits, even when I'm out of my "normal environment," and have helped numerous traveling musicians do the same.

Use these 4 tips to stay on track of your health goals and maintain peak performance while on the road.

1 - Prioritize Your Healthy Habits

I utilize a habit tracker where I have a list of all of my habits and track if I've achieved them. Ideally, each habit has a checkmark next to it at the end of each day.

But when I'm traveling and am very busy, I usually don't accomplish every single healthy habit -- and that's ok.

Identify which top 2 - 3 habits are most important for keeping you energized, healthy, grounded, and moving towards your most important goals.

By knowing which habits are most important for YOU, you will have a plan B if plan A is not feasible.

2 - Identify Your 1 Keystone Habit

A keystone habit is the single habit that makes it easier for you to accomplish all your other health habits.

If your only goal is to merely do your keystone habit, the other habits seemingly fall into place.

3 - Embrace Progress Over Perfection

Don't fall into the "fuck it effect."

The "fuck it effect" goes like this: you go to a birthday party, you have a small glass of wine, then because you've slightly cheated on your diet, you say "fuck it" and eat 3 slices of pizza, 2 servings of cake, 4 pints of beer, and the entire cheese plate.

That single glass of wine is NOT the slip up that will ruin your progress.

Rather, it's saying "fuck it" when perfection inevitably fails that will make achieving your health goals impossible.

4 - Plan Ahead and Utilize Your Calendar

Healthy habits will not get accomplished unless they are in your calendar.

Leading up to your travel, you should have a plan of:

• What healthy habits you will do each day.

• When you will do them

• Where you will do them.

Prioritize these blocks of time in the same way you treat rehearsals and practicing. You will not perform well if your most important healthy habits are left by the wayside.

And that's it! Follow me @kiyoshijhayashi for more tips on habit change and developing a meaningful career as a musician.