I mean, I got my week 3 finished and uploaded, but this week was more taxing than 1 and 2...
Just wondering if anyone else is feeling it/ has felt in in previous years? I'd love some validation and advice for how to push through 
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Newcastle Australia
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Melbourne, Australia
Definitely feeling it. I mean I'm struggling in general this year.
I didn't do 2018, and dropped out halfway through 2016 due to the end-of-times (submitting a phd thesis). Buuuut, 2014 and 2012, if memory serves, I found getting into the "releasing something is better than nothing" and just accepting that a good portion of work might not seem as good as I'd like at the time. Sometimes though, I found that having the space to come back to it later revealed a different perspective, and so letting go of work quickly for the sake of "making" really helped push through those motivation problems. Sometimes I would be making something from bed on Monday morning just prior to the upload deadline/release time purely for the discipline of having done something. This week is looking like it might be one of those unfortunately.
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Utrecht, The Netherlands
The slump will always set in at some point or another. One method I've always found helpful is finding something that makes you excited to do something. Sorry to use a motivational quote here, but there's a lot of truth in this:
"Action isn't just the effect of motivation; it's also the cause of it"
A lot of it is just starting with something and push through. And if you have a bad week, then so be it! Unlike what people tend to tell themselves, you don't always have to improve on previous works. You'll have bad days/weeks/months. It's par for the course. Don't sweat it, just make sure to put something out
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Started on my track and feeling way out of the slump. That's very true RoccoW!
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Montreal
I am lucky, still have ideas and I am pretty motivated to release stuff. I don't really care if it will be good or not, just uploaded week 3 and really I don't like what I am releasing this week that much (another style that I am used to do, still it was fun to do). I do put myself some pressure to release stuff every week, but not so much pressure about quality of the tracks. I keep it "simple". I release super short songs too. I hope I will not have too much "blank page syndrome", but so far so good. I have many ideas, did start 8 projects since I knew I will do weekly 2020 (maybe 2 weeks before first release). Good luck! keep it up...
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Newcastle Australia
fc wrote:
Definitely feeling it. I mean I'm struggling in general this year.
I didn't do 2018, and dropped out halfway through 2016 due to the end-of-times (submitting a phd thesis). Buuuut, 2014 and 2012, if memory serves, I found getting into the "releasing something is better than nothing" and just accepting that a good portion of work might not seem as good as I'd like at the time. Sometimes though, I found that having the space to come back to it later revealed a different perspective, and so letting go of work quickly for the sake of "making" really helped push through those motivation problems. Sometimes I would be making something from bed on Monday morning just prior to the upload deadline/release time purely for the discipline of having done something. This week is looking like it might be one of those unfortunately.
Offfft - having a thesis due really is the end of times right!? This is my first year, and I'm definitely having trouble accepting the something better than nothing. How are you travelling with it?
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Newcastle Australia
RoccoW wrote:
The slump will always set in at some point or another. One method I've always found helpful is finding something that makes you excited to do something. Sorry to use a motivational quote here, but there's a lot of truth in this:
"Action isn't just the effect of motivation; it's also the cause of it"
A lot of it is just starting with something and push through. And if you have a bad week, then so be it! Unlike what people tend to tell themselves, you don't always have to improve on previous works. You'll have bad days/weeks/months. It's par for the course. Don't sweat it, just make sure to put something out
"One method I've always found helpful is finding something that makes you excited to do something." I think this is the bit I'm particularly struggling with - depression numbness means currently nothing is exciting and everything feels like the too hard basket D: Thankfully I've managed to push through. I think I might start to write down small snippets of melody and chord progression to fall back on just in case so I'm not starting from complete scratch every week.
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Newcastle Australia
ngineer wrote:
Started on my track and feeling way out of the slump. That's very true RoccoW!
Sometimes starting is the hardest part! Glad you made it through friendo!
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Newcastle Australia
djippy wrote:
I am lucky, still have ideas and I am pretty motivated to release stuff. I don't really care if it will be good or not, just uploaded week 3 and really I don't like what I am releasing this week that much (another style that I am used to do, still it was fun to do). I do put myself some pressure to release stuff every week, but not so much pressure about quality of the tracks. I keep it "simple". I release super short songs too. I hope I will not have too much "blank page syndrome", but so far so good. I have many ideas, did start 8 projects since I knew I will do weekly 2020 (maybe 2 weeks before first release). Good luck! keep it up...
Huzzah for continued motivation! I think I was struggling from a bit of blank page syndrome when I posted this thread - it's too real!
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Melbourne, Australia
theemeraldruby wrote:
fc wrote:Definitely feeling it. I mean I'm struggling in general this year.
I didn't do 2018, and dropped out halfway through 2016 due to the end-of-times (submitting a phd thesis). Buuuut, 2014 and 2012, if memory serves, I found getting into the "releasing something is better than nothing" and just accepting that a good portion of work might not seem as good as I'd like at the time. Sometimes though, I found that having the space to come back to it later revealed a different perspective, and so letting go of work quickly for the sake of "making" really helped push through those motivation problems. Sometimes I would be making something from bed on Monday morning just prior to the upload deadline/release time purely for the discipline of having done something. This week is looking like it might be one of those unfortunately.
Offfft - having a thesis due really is the end of times right!? This is my first year, and I'm definitely having trouble accepting the something better than nothing. How are you travelling with it?
It does become all-consuming! The process of PhDing I found thoroughly enjoyable and - honestly - I'm still feeling the hangover nearly four years after submitting/three years after graduating. But not the hangover people seem to normally describe. I enjoyed it so much that everything else seems a bit droll. I sincerely wish you all the best with it, because I think it can be an absolutely amazing experience. A suitable supervisor or two really makes all the difference.
That was somewhat tangential. I still haven't done week 3. I had a ukulele/organelle jam in the car on Monday but am too unconfident using the organelle to create anything that I'm really happy with and it was pretty directionless. So, I'll try and get something done tonight or tomorrow I guess. This has been a really hard week for a heap of reasons. :\
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Adelaide, Australia
Work out how much time you can reasonably set aside per day to work on your tracks. Schedule it.
When that time comes around, sit down, and put something in your DAW/notebook/down the mouthpiece of your trumpet/whatever that constitutes making music for you.
If that's yet another 4 bar beat, so be it. If it's a verse of lyrics that don't rhyme or even make sense, cool. And if that's all you end up doing, then spend the rest of your allotted time watching Brooklyn Nine Nine, that's ok. Not achieving anything is ok.
Turn making music (this also applies to anything) into a habit, and you'll find you end up doing more than that minimum effort stuff enough that your net productivity is greatly higher than when you only tried when you were motivated. You will never be able to rely on motivation in your life. There are no more zero days!
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melb.aust
Thought I was falling into bad habits and not developing - getting really far from the original intention of the track.
But after several listens I'm actually more fond of this track than the last couple of submissions and feels like I'm building on structures and ideas I had previously.
Just submitted it and wrote it up. I think learning to let go is the best part of the weekly deadline.
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Amsterdam
i always refer back to John Cleese who talked about a similar subject: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pb5oIIPO62g
very entertaining as well.
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Adelaide
Judgement Act wrote:
There are no more zero days!
Yes! Just yesterday I heard this expression somewhere else. This really solidifies it for me. Just what I needed to read/need to implement.
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adelaide
Simon Koehn wrote:
Judgement Act wrote:There are no more zero days!
Yes! Just yesterday I heard this expression somewhere else. This really solidifies it for me. Just what I needed to read/need to implement.
Great phrase, I need to hear this at the moment.