In the heat of summer it's sometimes hard to get motivated to go that piano and practice, practice, practice. But, I've found that if I keep a little log-book by my piano where I write in the start and end times of my practicing, it becomes a little game for me. I want to beat the amount of time I spent the day before and so I push a little harder to perfect whichever piece of music I'm working on. The result? I get better and better as a pianist/performer and I'll be ready to do concerts when it's time.