How do you keep yourself motivated?

[naudio]

Let’s talk about to motivation. I couldn’t find any existing thread on this so I started a new one.

I think I’m not the only one here fighting with motivation/inspiration issues every now and then. Right now I am in a situation that I’ve dreamed of. I am earning my living by composing music, mostly RF but also doing music for video games (My living expenses are quite low and I don’t have any children, but still.)

Still, some days I just feel really uninspired and I feel like my music is sh*t and I don’t feel like composing. I wake up, start up my computer but can’t get myself started. However, I know that if I don’t keep composing more music and improving myself as a musician, I might be out of the game anytime. I’m also aware that my skills are light years away from some of the composers on this forum. I’m still fairly new to this game.

In a nutshell: I know I should be sweating and grinding but sometimes I can’t get in the “mood.” Still I know that writing music is my “thing” and what I want to try to build career as a composer/audio guy if possible. However, today I don’t even feel like listening to music. 😀

So, what keeps you inspired? What gets you motivated? Watching video tutorials? Learning new mixing techniques etc? Do you set yourself goals etc?

Share you tips! 🙂

[MaxPower]

Up until a couple of years ago I had an actual job working for ‘the man’. I use that as motivation as the thought of alarm clocks and working outside in the cold and having a boss again makes me shudder.
I still procrastinate too much though – I imagine it’s one of the pitfalls of being a one person operation. Maybe a boss would actually be a good idea every now and again!
I’ve been fortunate enough to recieve a couple of decent lump sums already since I’ve been doing this – the sort of amounts where you can get a holiday or a car or something really cool, so every morning as I sit down to write I imagine where in the world I’d still like to go and where each tune can potentially take me if it ends up getting licensed.
That’s pretty motivating.
Hey wait – isn’t this procrastinating too? I’d better get to work… 🙂

[Mc_GTR]

Limitations works for me. A brief is a limitation. It motivates me to get into production mode to know that someone out there, right now, is looking for that type of music.

Maybe I could do anything, but a brief keeps me focused on getting that particular task done, so I dont get caught up in endless analysis ond choice paralysis.

Passive consumption of videos, online forums and learning activities works as procrastination for me, and I do too much of that too. But what really works is to feed my productivity in a concrete way, and learn as I go. I feel that energy comes from spending energy, letting each step lead into another.

I use things like music calls from libraries, and listings from different sources, and if I don’t have that – I make my own – on a piece of paper with some music examples, and keywords – and use that to sketch out a batch of 3-5 tracks at a time.

[Art Munson]

So, what keeps you inspired? What gets you motivated? Watching video tutorials? Learning new mixing techniques etc? Do you set yourself goals etc?

Treat it like a job and show up every morning. I remember an interview with an Oscar winning composer. His answer to that question was just that. Show up and work. If nothing else you will find out the things you don’t like.

There is also a very famous book from years ago called “The Courage To Create”. The author did a story on famous authors, composers, scientists, etc. He found that their inspirational moments were directly related to how much work they put into, their work!

[ChuckMott]

I’v asked myself this question also. I’ve started looking at where the stumbling blocks are. Is it i the writing? Production? Often listening to similar tracks by other composers or listening to similar things in high end libraries. Find a reference track and build your track around that, obviously without plagiarizing. TAking an honest appraisal of the idea. If the idea doesn’t start forming ideas for a full blown composition after a few hours of trying, I would say if it doesn’t interest you, may not interest someone else and don’t be afraid to trash it. Or taking your “this has kinda been done before” and putting a fresh spin on in, adding something to make it unique and yours. Taking care of yourself – taking a walk. If you are the lone composer guy which I am assuming most of us often are, do something so you are not just isolating yourself in your little room. Absence of ideas and being stuck in your own head I think leads a lot of us to slip into a depression, not necessarily in the sense of being sad, but more in the sense of feeling hopeless and stuck. If you absolutely can’t get anything going , walk away, do something else, the agonizing over how to move things forward is just part of the process sometime.

[Paolo]

…Right now I am in a situation that I’ve dreamed of. I am earning my living by composing music…

@naudio – Big congratulations on achieving this milestone and becoming part of an exclusive club — the full-time professional musician.

Still, some days I just feel really uninspired and I feel like my music is sh*t and I don’t feel like composing.

If you didn’t have doubts you wouldn’t be human! The trick is tricking yourself out of that mindset (checkout Anthony Robbins on Youtube teaching techniques on changing your state).

Art hit the nail – treat it like a job and commit to sitting at your DAW at least something will happen.

[ChuckMott]

Also, watch the timewasters, and the little things that look like work but are anything other then writing/mixing/ production/etc. Make a note of how often you pay attention to little timewasting gremlins like, checking email, facebook, cue sheets , your phone. I find that I do that when i am stuck for ideas…like now, for example. Here’s a question: what do you do when you current project has hit a roadblock? How do you move it forward? Probably related to what is being asked here.

[Author]

Posts