Mike Monday

Inspiration on Demand

  • Coaching Programs
  • About
  • Contact

A Simple Strategy For Building Music Production Momentum

Share on Facebook
Facebook
Tweet about this on Twitter
Twitter
Email this to someone
email

Mountainbike Sprung

There are 2 components to your success in music:

What you are willing to do. (Usually what makes you uncomfortable – finishing tracks / sending them out / etc.)

What you are willing to give up. (What keeps you comfortable and safe – watching tutorials / checking Facebook / mindless TV )

And in the next couple of weeks I’m going to give you some tried & tested strategies for doing both.

You see – I really want you to make more music.

This is because…

1/ I’m committed to helping you achieve your dreams and ambitions.
2/ When you do this you’re more likely to join my program so I can help you even more! 🙂

It’s a win win.

(And of course you don’t have to buy my stuff if you don’t want.)

So I’ve already talked about knowing what you want. Having a big (even “unattainable”) dream or goal to shoot for.

But unless you have a coach or mentor to guide you and cheer you on, you need a simple strategy to build your momentum towards that goal. So here’s one of the simplest, most powerful strategies there is…

Do It Every Day

There is no more powerful strategy I know for building momentum than doing it every day. In fact it’s so powerful that the whole first month of my online program is devoted to given you a system for creating daily habits.

But for now, here’s what I want you to do…

1/ Decide on a short term musical goal for the next 7 days.

It doesn’t need to be big. But it could be.

2/ Work out how much time you can set aside every single day for the next 7 days to work towards that goal.

Make it as short as you want. Even just 10 minutes is better than nothing. What’s essential is that you can commit to doing it EVERY SINGLE DAY. So if you want to do an hour – but because of other commitments you can only do 30 minutes for 3 of the next 7 – make what you are committing to 30 minutes! This is important.

3/ For the next 7 days – spend the time you have committed to completely focussing on working towards your 7 day goal.

Turn off the internet, your phone, tell your family and friends that this time is sacred. And do it come rain or shine. Remember – because you are only committing to a minimum this will not be hard to do!

4/ When your allotted time is over you’ll have either:

  • a/ not got much done
  • b/ made steady progress
  • c/ amazed yourself, be on fire and mega excited

5/ If it’s either a/ or b/:

Stop! Give yourself a pat on the back. Today you can be happy that you’ve done what you set out to do. You’ve won. How well it went is not important in the slightest.

6/ If it’s c/:

The by all means continue. Just make sure to STOP WHEN YOU ARE STILL EXCITED.

7/ When you do finish your daily session, record or bounce down what you have done.

Even if it’s virtually nothing and is the worst thing you have ever heard! Do a quick bounce of what you have been working on and put it on a device you can listen to somewhere else. Your phone or iPod or laptop or whatever.

8/ Before you go back to it and in a different context (i.e. not sitting in the place you make music) listen to what you have done from beginning to end.

Without listening to it again note down 3 things you are going to do when you go back to it next time.

9/ At the start of the next session try each of the 3 things you have noted down.

Don’t get too hung up on them if they don’t work! Remember these notes, your ideas are simply starting points.

10/ Repeat steps 3 – 10!

This simple process works on a few levels:

  • You are focusing on the process of a daily practice rather than the music itself. This takes much of the emotional “sting” out of the music making – freeing up your brain to be more creative. When you don’t try so hard you do better – right?
  • Because you are making the “win” a very minimal commitment you are much more likely to do it.
  • Stopping when you are excited make it easier to come back to. Most make the mistake of stopping work when you get bored or tired. That’s absolutely the worst time to stop. Because when you stop while you’re excited you’ll be desperate to get back to it next time.
  • Listening back to what you have done in a different context gives you ideas you would not have got otherwise. This is a failsafe method to beat that “blank screen / blank brain” phenomenon.
  • Having recordings of each day’s progress means you start to focus on your progress = pure unadulterated motivation.
  • A list of 3 things you are going to try when you go back to it means you are removing much of the fear of the “blank brain”
  • 3 things to try when you go back to it means you have a springboard to getting into the groove – a shortcut which you’ll need if your time is limited.

When you do this for 7 days straight you will have made progress to your short term musical goal.

Or maybe you won’t!

Maybe you’ll hate what you have done.

But that’s ok too.

Because you’ll be finding it easier to sit down for your allotted time, and will be getting ever closer to making something you like.

Do this for the next 7 days and tell me how it goes in the comments…

Share on Facebook
Facebook
Tweet about this on Twitter
Twitter
Email this to someone
email

Comments

comments

Filed Under: Featured Post, Homepage Slider

How can I help you?

Claude VonStroke (Dirty Bird, USA)

Mike Monday’s process has helped me enormously. I have two record labels, a heavy touring schedule, a wife and two children, and a music production career all running in tandem. There are times when it seems unmanageable and i get lost in a downward spiral that limits my effectiveness as a leader and my ability to be creative in the studio.

Whenever i have a session with Mike we talk it all out and a sense of calm comes over me. i get back to basics and work out all the things in my head that need to get worked out. His process is both calming and therapeutic.

I would also like to add that the additional fact that Mike is a music producer himself and a veteran DJ lends itself to an extra level of trust. I don’t think i would take advice or listen to someone in the same way who was from outside the music industry. In an nutshell I find Mike Monday’s process to be an extremely valuable way to organize and free my chaotic brain to do what it is supposed to be doing.

Johnson Peterson (Yolanda Be Cool)

“I found the time with Mike to be extremely beneficial. His process opened me up to ideas that, even where obvious, I had overlooked or forgotten and I am looking forward to taking them with me to the studio. It was definitely worth it.”

Janelle Palmer (Tutukaka Coast, New Zealand)

“What your course has done for me has been remarkable and I really feel so grateful to you…

Radical is a good word for it! The most unexpected thing I’ve found about the course is the impact it has had on other areas of my life – I was quite surprised about that…

These are definitely transferable skills we are learning here!”

– Janelle Palmer (Tutukaka Coast, New Zealand)

Brett Adams (Los Angeles, California)

“I already think this is one of the greatest decisions I’ve made, and we haven’t even started the curriculum yet.”

Vernon McCarthy (Wellington, New Zealand)

“I just felt inspired to send you a really quick message to say hello and let you know that I am going great guns at the moment.

Managing to get a average of two hours every day producing. This is a huge turn around for me and am loving it. It hasn’t been easy though but I have kept at it.

And much of it has been due to the help and inspiration from yourself, the group and me now actually putting in the work. The online community is such a good thing. Everytime I have gone to have a look I have found something relevant to my thoughts and that has helped me.”

Joe Roberts (London, UK)

“Mike has helped me to start living the truism that it’s not what you use to make music, it’s your ideas.

Those ideas only mean anything when you start putting them down though and that’s what this course has already helped me to start do regularly.

I’ve made more headway in two weeks than I’d managed in a couple of years on my own starting projects, then giving up and starting something new but never seeing them through till completion.”

Read more
  • Coaching Programs
  • One To One Coaching
  • Free Cheat Sheet
  • What People Are Saying

Terms of Service · Refund Policy

Copyright © 2022 Mike Monday · Log in ·

Privacy Policy