Mike Monday

Inspiration On Demand

Build Momentum. Avoid Perfection.

This is part 10 of a 12 day blog series called “12 Steps You Must Take To Get Into Creative Flow Whenever You Want” or the more seasonal “The 12 Days of Creativeness”.

I Know You’ve Been There…

You’re working on a killer tune.

You’re fired up. The ideas are flowing and it’s effortless. You have complete belief in yourself and what you’re doing.

You start to think that this could be the one, the hit that takes your career to a new level. You keep playing it over and over and almost can’t believe you did it. It’s that good.

Isn’t this why you got into music in the first place?

But Gradually…

As you tweak and tinker the doubts start to creep in. Slowly at first, then quicker your raw excitement and energy dissipate.

You ignore it and work even harder. You turn off your phone and the internet in order to fully focus. You think that if you stop working that feeling will be gone, lost forever.

You use all the willpower, mental stamina and self motivation to get it back. But like a dream that disappears as you wake, the energy, excitement and possibility fade.

The Endgame

Before long you’re bored and frustrated.

If you’re honest you’re thoroughly sick of it. What was a joy is now a slog and you can’t get it right or move forward.

Eventually you can hardly bear to listen to it again and can only hear things you don’t like, made worse by the memory of how good you thought it could be. It becomes yet another unfinished tune to add to your growing scrapheap.

Is this a familiar story?

What Happened?

The track didn’t change much between loving it and hating it.

You know this because all you did for the last few hours was tweak it, making it just that bit better.

How can you feel so differently about what is essentially the same piece of music?

You can because you lost momentum.

I’ve Been There More Than Most

I have nearly a whole 1TB hard drive full of unfinished tunes where I lost momentum. It’s like my own personal graveyard of unfulfilled hopes and dreams!

Even though I could be described as a prolific producer, just imagine what I could have done if I’d finished even a fraction of that unfinished music. And I hate to think of the golden ideas (maybe even hits) that are languishing on that machine.

Focus On Building Momentum

Spending more time on a tune doesn’t make it better.

And what’s so much more important than attaining perfection (or anything near it) is your creative momentum.

Do what is necessary, spend less time doing more and build momentum.

If you’re stuck or finding it hard going, focus on your momentum first. Don’t worry about how good what you’re doing is. Gradually you’ll start to finish more which will build your confidence. This confidence will allow you to do yet more fast which will then create more momentum. A virtuous cycle.

And even if you’re not stuck, if you maintain and build your momentum you will eventually reach what I call “escape velocity”.

This has happened to me a few times in my career, and it’s incredibly exhilarating.

At this point the process starts to becomes almost effortless. When you get to this point, and certainly if you’ve also completed the other steps I’ve suggested in this series, you will be experiencing creative flow on a regular basis.

This is why I believe that building momentum is the key to an enjoyable and successful career as a music producer. Not trying to be perfect. Perfectionism will kill your momentum. If you try to make every track perfect you’ll stall, crash and have to continually start all over again.

(And anyway “perfect” is boring, dull and lifeless. Isn’t it the rough edges that give your music beauty, soul and life?)

Apply 80/20 Thinking

A way of thinking that can help you gain momentum is the 80/20 principle.

It’s an anti time-management idea. Instead of making incremental improvements in your productivity, you work out the value you’re creating in relation to the effort you’re expending.

Vilfredo Pareto was an Italian Economist who in 1906 found that in Italy 80% of the land was owned by 20% of the population. And when he conducted a survey of other countries he found a broadly similar distribution applies. He then also observed that 20% of the pea pods in his garden contained 80% of the peas! Strange but true…

Since then, this imbalance has also been found in many other areas of life. In business, 80% of sales usually come from 20% of customers. At home you’ll tend to wear 20% of your clothes 80% of the time. And I’ll bet you listen to 20% (or less) of your music collection for 80% (or more) of the time.

What’s important here isn’t the exact 80 or 20 numbers but the general principle that most of the results from an activity come from a small part of the effort.

So let’s apply it to music production. You create 80% of the “value” (or maybe  a better word might be “quality”) in your music from only 20% of your effort. Or in other words you expend 80% of your effort doing stuff which only yields 20% of the results!

Shocking isn’t it? How can it be true?

But if you analysed it honestly I’ll bet you’ll find that a majority of your effort is spent doing tasks which have a minimal effect on your music.

So Why Not Stop After 20%?

Avoid doing or cut down significantly that 80% attempting to achieve that final 20%.

In music production, by shooting for that last 20% you’ll rarely get it. You’re also likely to lose what was great about the original vibe and you’ll run the very real risk of losing your momentum. A surefire inspiration killer.

And imagine what impact doing 5 times more in the same time will have on your life!

(If you want to learn more about the 80/20 principle read “The 80/20 Principle” by Richard Koch. It’s mainly a business book, but it changed the way I thought about my life and work.)

Applying This To Your Creative Process

I’m not advocating sloppiness or laziness. And you might find it challenging to work out what the 20% is in what you that creates the 80% and what is superfluous.

Start by asking yourself “where does most of the value lie in my creative process?” As I’ve said before, just asking the right question will usually bring an answer if you’re open to it.

Of course, the simplest course of action would be make an effort to complete your music in 1/5th of the time. Why not try it?

But however you apply it, finish it, ship it, move on. Finish it, ship it, move on. Finish it, ship it, move on. Make this your mantra.

This is part 10 of a 12 day blog series called “12 Steps You Must Take To Get Into Creative Flow Whenever You Want” or the more seasonal “The 12 Days of Creativeness”.

How To Focus And Ignore Distractions Easily

This is part 9 of a 12 day blog series called “12 Steps You Must Take To Get Into Creative Flow Whenever You Want” or the more seasonal “The 12 Days of Creativeness”.

Perfecting every detail of every track, buying new software or equipment, checking email, surfing the internet, tidying your studio, watching how to tutorials, commenting on forums, making cups of tea, reading this blog post…

While there are benefits to each of the activities above (especially the blog post one!) aren’t they usually just clever forms of procrastination?

And they are particularly clever, because you can pretend you’re doing something useful. But being busy doesn’t equal being productive.

By focusing on these distractions you are not focusing on the main task that counts:

Finishing your music.

In certain circumstances some of the activities above will help you finish music, (for instance if you don’t own any equipment, you’re going to need to get some) but if you’re honest with yourself I’ll bet you’re just putting off finishing that tune.

What I’m Not Going To Do Here…

I could go into detail about various tips and tricks that I’ve used over the years to help you avoid procrastination.

But my aim with this blog series is for you to find the peak state of creative flow whenever you want, or at least to start moving towards it.

And writing a bog standard “10 tips to beat procrastination” post wouldn’t do that. Just like the last time you read a post like that, you’d get limited results for a short time, and soon find yourself falling into the same old habits.

Because these distractions aren’t the cause. They’re merely symptoms of the only distraction that counts.

YOU.

The Source Of All Distractions

If you’ve taken the other steps I’ve suggested in this series, the distractions already won’t be quite so distracting. Who knows, you might even already be a focused music finishing machine!

But what I’ve often found with my coaching clients is that even when they’re working towards a desirable goal, doing what they love, for a compelling purpose, they still come up against internal resistance.

And this resistance usually comes from their fear, self-doubt and/or lack of confidence.

And the advanced procrastination techniques above are an effective way of avoiding confronting their fear and self-doubt, especially as they get closer to finishing their music…

“Is it good enough? What if it’s not as good as the last tune? Will they love it as much? Will it ruin my career?”

The C Word

Finishing a track is an act of Commitment. Once it’s finished and released you can’t change it. It’s out there. You are committed. And taking that act of commitment can be scary.

So you surf the internet, check your emails, do a course, watch a tutorial, look for a cool new plugin to play with or just give up for the day.

Isn’t most of the music you finish completed in spite of these distractions?

Doesn’t the urge to distract yourself get greater the closer you get to finishing it?

Isn’t it exhausting?

The Foolproof Procrastination Cure

There is a way out.

Taking the other steps I’ve asked you to take in this series will be a start.

Because all of the steps I’ve asked you to take are designed to create a natural momentum within you which will blast through much of your resistance.

But without addressing your fear (and if you’re thinking big enough there will be fear) you will still waste time. And much of what lies behind your fear are your beliefs.

If you change those beliefs you will naturally become that focused music finishing machine you dream of.

Quiet Your Internal Critic

Imagine being able to turn off that negative internal chatter. Or to just know that your music’s right. Or even to be a little afraid but do it anyway.

What could you do? How much time would you save? How much energy?

By working on your beliefs first you’ll be dealing with the cause of the distractions, not just the symptoms.

You won’t even notice the constant noise around you because you’ll be so excited to finish the next thing the distractions won’t distract you.

A Word Of Caution

At this point I have to be honest with you.

Depending on who you are and the belief, just reading this blog post might not be enough.

I work with my coaching clients on changing their beliefs often, and sometimes they can be stubborn to shift.

Sometimes – but not always.

Often, simply an awareness of the existence of a limiting belief can be enough to create the change you’re looking for…

Changing Your Beliefs

You might think that your beliefs are unchangeable.

But what about Santa or the Tooth Fairy? People change their beliefs all the time.

You might think that your beliefs are based on facts.

But you are the only person on the planet with your particular set of beliefs, they are uniquely yours. Do you think that you alone are right and everyone else is wrong?

By the way, all of the statements above are beliefs in themselves. 🙂

For any belief you have and assume is based on fact there’s as much evidence for the opposite being true. Some people find this hard to accept. That’s how wars start.

Now I don’t want to enter into a religious or political argument here. Let’s just focus on the beliefs you have about yourself and your music.

What Do You Believe?

What beliefs do you hold about you and your music?

Do you believe that you can’t make a living in the music industry any more? Do you believe it’s much harder to get heard than it used to be? Do you believe you’re getting too old? Do you believe you don’t yet know enough to finish a tune worth releasing? Do you believe you’re not as talented as your musical heroes?

Even if they’re positive, whatever your beliefs are about you and your music, list them all.

Now next to the beliefs that are stopping you or slowing you down write a big red cross. Go on, even if you think they’re “true”.

With those “red cross beliefs”, come up with another that still works for you, something that you could still believe, but which helps you, not hinders you.

So for instance, instead of “it’s not possible to make a living in the music industry any more” you could alter it to “for someone with the right attitude and planning the music industry is more wide open than it’s ever been”.

Remember, for any belief you hold, there is as much evidence for the opposite (or pretty much any other) view.

So once you’ve written the new belief down, keep your mind open and your eyes peeled for evidence to back it up. When you notice that evidence, just make a mental note of it.

And (whether you believe it or not) you will be amazed at how much evidence there is to back up your new belief!

The Power Of Your Beliefs

The starting point of this post was how to focus and avoid distractions, but in reality beliefs go way deeper than that.

Yes, changing your beliefs will stop you distracting yourself, but changing your beliefs will also cause you to make different choices. This could completely change the course of your life.

So if you’re completely content, happy and don’t want change – please feel free to ignore this post.

But if you have a suspicion that you could do more, do better and even make what you dream of a reality, start thinking about how you could change your beliefs.

Since I started coaching music producers, the understanding I’ve gained about beliefs and how they affect your choices and permeate your life has been one of my biggest “ahas”. It’s also completely revolutionised my life.

When I realised that I had the power to change my beliefs left me wondering why I had I held so many beliefs that were holding me back.

And the realisation that most of my beliefs weren’t based on fact, but on what I chose to notice and focus on, allowed me to change many of my own limiting beliefs. This has improved my life and the lives of my family immeasurably.

Because if discover your beliefs are not based on fact and you can change them, why believe something that stops you? Why not believe something that will help you instead?

This is part 9 of a 12 day blog series called “12 Steps You Must Take To Get Into Creative Flow Whenever You Want” or the more seasonal “The 12 Days of Creativeness”.

Do What You Love

This is part 8 of a 12 day blog series called “12 Steps You Must Take To Get Into Creative Flow Whenever You Want” or the more seasonal “The 12 Days of Creativeness”.

Everyone who has experienced creative flow will tell you that it is enjoyable and exhilarating. My experiences of creative flow have been amongst the most enjoyable of my life.

And like the other features of creative flow, it’s a two way street.

Not only will “being inspired” produce an enjoyable and exhilarating experience, enjoyment and exhilaration will produce conditions where inspiration happens.

So how do you create conditions for enjoyment?

Read The Other Posts In This Series

Of course I’m not suggesting for a second that you’ll find reading my posts the most enjoyable experiences of your life! Far from it.

But by taking the steps I’ve outlined you’ll start to enjoy your creative process be more likely to experience creative flow.

Working towards a desirable outcome is an enjoyable activity.

Working for a compelling purpose is enjoyable.

Taking responsibility for your situation is empowering and inherently enjoyable.

Learning, discovering and figuring stuff out by doing is much more rewarding and enjoyable than being taught.

Writing music from a position of strength (being who you want to be) is much more enjoyable than writing it from a position of weakness (being who you perceive you are).

And thinking about your process as an enjoyable activity, not as a struggle, is enjoyable (obviously).

But taking steps to enhance your enjoyment is an end in itself.

Do What You Love

This is your choice.

1/ Choose to produce the music you love, not what fashion demands.

By writing music that you love, your music will shine and your audience will find you. It will be easier, you’ll produce more quicker and at a higher quality than if you just make what is in fashion at the time.

So if you love to produce african nose flute techno, go ahead.

2/ Choose to do more of the work you love.

If you write jingles or commercials for other people and have been meaning to write more of your own music that you love – make the time.

If you’ve been doing loads of remixes for other people and haven’t been able to work on that album – make the time.

You might lose a little income at first, but by doing more of what you enjoy you’ll be invigorating yourself and your creative process. By doing this you’ll be extending and increasing your ability to write music to order.

3/ Choose to make music (or whatever you enjoy) your life

If you’re successful in a career that you don’t love, just imagine how much more you could achieve if you do what you love.

Love What You Do

There are always going to be certain tasks which you enjoy more than others within the creative process.

But you make even these tasks more enjoyable by being creative about it.

I used to hate starting work on the arrangement.

So instead of schlepping through a basic arrangement by copying and pasting parts in Logic, I used Ableton and recorded my basic arrangement in live.

Voila! What was the most dreaded became my favourite part of the process.

Outsourcing

If you can’t find a way to enjoy a certain part of the process, have you thought about outsourcing it to someone who does?

Many producers already do this by employing an engineer to do the mixdown.

But if you can’t afford an engineer how about a collaboration? I’ve often thought about a partnership where each person was responsible for a different parts of the process.

Learn To Enjoy Your Experience

One of the major “ahas” I’ve had from my training as a coach and NLP Practitioner is that by focusing on particular parts of your experience it is possible to enjoy almost any task.

Although this is a very individual process and varies wildly from person to person, I’ve had success helping my clients to find enjoyment in what they do.

But whether you do it by doing what you love, loving what you do, finding a way to love what you naturally don’t, or a combination of all three – it is essential that you learn to enjoy it.

Most assume that doing “hard work” is the only route to success. This misses the mark.

Because when you enjoy it, your route to success won’t feel hard or like work.

This is part 8 of a 12 day blog series called “12 Steps You Must Take To Get Into Creative Flow Whenever You Want” or the more seasonal “The 12 Days of Creativeness”.

Watch Your Language

This is part 7 of a 12 day blog series called “12 Steps You Must Take To Get Into Creative Flow Whenever You Want” or the more seasonal “The 12 Days of Creativeness”.

Do you assume that your creative process has to be an ongoing struggle?

I used to, and Steven Pressfield’s “The War of Art” summed it up for me at the time.

It uses the metaphor of battle to describe the creative process. I loved it. It even inspired me to write a blog post.

But while I still hugely respect Steven Pressfield’s work, subscribing to this view of the creative process did me more harm than good.

My Epic Battle

I read ‘The War Of Art’ while I was on holiday.

I remember the feeling of significance it gave me. To think that my humdrum days in the studio were an epic battle!

I remember the noble purpose it gave me. To think that by creating my art I was defeating my demons daily!

It also gave me the perfect excuse if I didn’t manage to complete what I was working on. “Today the dark and formidable forces arrayed against me were too strong…”

But gradually I noticed that while it was a beguiling idea, it made my creative process much more difficult and laborious!

The Power Of Language

What do you think was the result of characterising my creative process as a battle?

That’s right, a whole world of pain every single day.

Language is powerful. It is the medium by which you describe your experience to others and more crucially to yourself.

But this is a two way street. When you describe your experience, you also create it.

So when you think about or talk about your creative process, start to notice the language you use.

Is it language that helps you or hinders you?

The Tortured Artist Myth

Many artists and musicians identify themselves as “tortured artists”.

I can’t speak for others, but I believe that I did because it gave me the significance and purpose that I didn’t have at that point.

But it doesn’t have to be this way! You have a choice. You can choose to make your work more fun, exciting, hard, challenging or anything by the words you use to describe it.

So if you want to be a tortured artist, and it helps you to make your creative process tortuous then by all means go ahead. But wouldn’t you prefer to find your work fun and easy?

Ok maybe not exactly easy…but then again, why not? I’ve had occasions when my creative process was easy, fun and it was when I did my best work.

Now I’m not saying that changing your language will always make your process easy or fun or whatever you choose.

But changing it will make it more fun or more easy or more whatever you choose.

Find A Different Metaphor For Your Creative Process

A metaphor is a way of describing something intangible with an image or story. You use them all the time. So when I decided to think of the creative process as a battle, I was buying into Steven Pressfield’s metaphor from ‘The War Of Art’.

Work out what metaphor you currently use to describe your creative process. Is it an uphill struggle? A mountain you climb? A battle?

How else could you describe it? A game? A dance? Digging for gold?

Once you’ve found one that works for you, make sure you take care to describe your process in this way to yourself and others. You’ll find yourself slipping into your old metaphor for a while, but with persistence it will change.

Give Yourself A Different Label

How would you describe yourself when you’re creating your music?

A tortured artist? An inexperienced amateur? An ageing has-been?

How about finding another which will give you the same benefits but not be such an energy suck?

Decide not to be a tortured artist, what about an inspired virtuoso? Decide not to be an inexperienced amateur, be a cutting edge game changer. Decide not to be an ageing has-been, be a legendary veteran.

Make life easy for yourself. No matter what most will tell you, ongoing struggle and pain isn’t a necessary part of the artistic process unless you want it to be.

It Can’t Be That Simple!

This isn’t the panacea for all your woes. It is just another piece in the creative flow puzzle.

But while it is simple, it is also powerful.

When I did this (for instance, I decided to think of my creative process as a game) I wasted less time, struggled less, stopped procrastinating, gained confidence and I started to make bold and exciting decisions.

These bold decisions started small but soon had major impacts on my whole life, such as emigrating to Australia and changing career. It is incredible what a few simple words can do.

By all means work hard. Just don’t make the work hard.

This is part 7 of a 12 day blog series called “12 Steps You Must Take To Get Into Creative Flow Whenever You Want” or the more seasonal “The 12 Days of Creativeness”.

First Be. Then Do.

This is part 6 of a 12 day blog series called “12 Steps You Must Take To Get Into Creative Flow Whenever You Want” or the more seasonal “The 12 Days of Creativeness”.

If you’ve read and digested my post yesterday you’ll be ready for this one.

While it’s much shorter, it’ll involve you taking a bigger mental leap.

Your Next Step

So, you’ve got a well defined “what” and an utterly compelling “why”. So now I bet you’re asking…

“What do I need to do to get into creative flow?”

“Tell the first thing I have to I do to find inspiration on demand.”

“How do I get in the zone whenever I want?”

It’s normal to think that your next step is to work out what to do in order to become what you want to be. That’s what most people would suggest.

But this is completely the wrong way round.

Focus On Being First

By focusing on what to do before you work out how to be, you’ll  keep doing the wrong things. And when they don’t work you’ll have decide what to do instead.

Then you’ll be tempted to seek out more information to work this out. And if that doesn’t work, you’ll repeat the same process. It’s like shooting in the dark again and again.

But this is what so many people do over and over.

Try Something Different

“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”- Albert Einstein, (attributed)

So why not try something different?

By focusing on being what you want to be first, you’ll be amazed by the options that pop into your head.

It’s an extension of the simple but powerful NLP technique of “acting as if”.

If you don’t know what to do, pretend that you are someone that knows. When you act as if,  it can be a little spooky when these ideas come to you from nowhere.

How To Do It

This is going to take a little creative imagination on your part. But it shouldn’t be too hard for a creative person like you.

So, let’s say you want to be a hugely successful music producer.

Simply imagine that you already are.

What’s that like? How does it feel? What do you think about? What do you say to yourself? What do you say to other people? How do you act? What do you do? How do you hold yourself physically? How do you breath? What do you notice that’s different?

It might take some practise, but get used to being that person a little more each day. And eventually you will become comfortable with “being” that successful music producer.

Notice When Others Do This

When I first learnt this it seemed a little out there and quite frankly “woo woo”.

But “woo woo” or not, when I tried it myself it worked, despite my scepticism.

Then when I thought about it I could identify people I’d met in my life who just “were” before they “did” anything.

For example, I’ve been lucky enough to grow up around a few extremely successful musicians. And they all were successful musicians, way before they did anything remotely successful.

You can probably think of some yourself. They’re not necessarily musicians, but I’m sure you know the type. You’re might be a little envious of them:

“Who do they think they are?”

“What have they done to be like that?”

“What have they done that I haven’t?”

The answer is nothing. Yet.

But they are already “being” successful in themselves which makes it possible for them to be successful everywhere else.

And they always end up on top.

Some Words Of Caution

Please don’t get me wrong – I’m not suggesting you go out and annoy everyone with a know-it-all arrogant attitude. Because that way you’ll end up doing all the things that an arrogant know-it-all does.

I’m also not suggesting that you lie, make up or tell people things that haven’t happened. That’s not cool.

But I am suggesting that you decide exactly what you want to be, and then focus on being it before you attempt to do anything else.

The Benefits Of Being Before Doing

You’ll intuitively know what to do without consciously thinking about it.

You’re less likely to waste your time doing or learning superfluous stuff.

When you “are” that person inside, you won’t be comfortable until the conditions are the same outside. It’s an effortless motivation strategy.

You’ll even find it more of a struggle to remain in your alien “unsuccessful” situation and will naturally gravitate towards success.

And success will gravitate towards you.

 

This is part 6 of a 12 day blog series called “12 Steps You Must Take To Get Into Creative Flow Whenever You Want” or the more seasonal “The 12 Days of Creativeness”.