When you are making music there will inevitably be challenges. You have two paths set before you. You can make every problem or question turn into self doubt, or you can transform it to self confidence.
You might be thinking that the reason you are doubting yourself is because that is just the way you are. You might think some people are better at this, or they have more experience. People that are staying creative are not doing this by mistake. We are all equal in our ability to go down the rabbit hole of self doubt. The difference with people that plow through it with confidence is they have built systems, ideas, and traits in themselves to keep them feeling confident.
I have and will continue to experience both paths during my music production. You might be working on a track you are stoked on only to find yourself an hour later to get caught in a loop. You are constantly wondering why it doesn’t sound good, or comparing your music to other people. When I find myself in the spiral of self doubt there are a few techniques and tips I have picked up.
1. It’s All Going To Die
Don’t think of this as a dark gothic brooding sort of thing, this is about the reality of letting things go. A great example of this idea comes from the artist Phil Hansen and his Ted Talk. He worked on a project called “Goodbye Art” . He created meticulous art pieces that he then destroyed after completing them. the act of creating and pouring his heart into it, and then destroying it taught him a deep lesson. This gave him the freedom to do anything he wanted, knowing it would be destroyed in the end.
One day your art will be lost, destroyed, or you might just have moved on to other things. When you are creating take the position that you can do whatever you want because it’s all fleeting. This helps the feeling of self doubt because it takes the pressure off your creative process. Create with your full heart and let it go. After all… Why not?
2. Find Inspiration From Those Around You
Being truly inspired is not a one sided conversation. try to breath, inspiration in from others. Check out other music you like. Get excited by other forms of art like poetry, dance, and video. This helps keep you inspired and come up with new ideas. You are much less likely to feel stuck, or you have a terrible life if you are surrounded by beauty. This will directly help your self confidence and make you feel the motion and inspiration in the writing process.
3. Remind Yourself of Yourself
A big part of self doubt is about how you picture yourself. If you feel you aren’t a good musician you won’t feel excited about finishing your music. An effective way to get excited about how unique and awesome your life is can be as simple as remembering what you have done in the past.
This could be keeping a list of your accomplishments on a board in your studio. Or just writing them down to get inspired. Remember little things are still accomplishment. Writing your first song is HUGE! Learning the piano is HUGE! You are bound to have tons of accomplishments. Listing them out will help you see how much of a bad ass you are.
4. Turn off, Tune in, and Drop Out
A great way to re center is by turning it all off. When you are making music you might be thinking of the track, how do I dial in that kick, is this song any good, what about the melody, Will this be like that awesome album I just heard, or whatever else floats through your mind.
These endless thoughts can just gum up the works and lead to self doubt. You can turn this around by taking a moment offline. Turn off the computer, go for a run, go on a date, hang with friends, or anything other then the cycle you got yourself into.
Keep in mind that your emotional health is closely related to your physical health. A sensible diet and exercise will really help you feel good in your body, and in turn feel good about your music. So when your minds got you down, take a break and do something physical. Walk outside to tune into the world around you.
5. Shake It Up, Be Silly!
Being way too serious can really drag you down. You will be putting a lot of pressure on what you are doing. Remember this was a way to express yourself and have fun. To help get your confidence back you can just be weird. Like really… Just let it out. Are you making house music? Well, what is the strangest samples you could use? What rhymes are just straight up annoying, but cool.
Shake the dice. Get loose for a moment and see what happen. Doing one silly thing, and laughing at life is a sure fire way to getting back on track.
6. You Are Not Original, So Go For It
“Those who do not want to imitate anything, produce nothing.” ~Salvador Dali
Your music will never be a completely new idea. That is a fact of nature. You will be using other people’s ideas subconsciously, or consciously. You are probably going to be using the same notes that have been used for thousands of years. Your rhythms have existed since the beginning of man. It is completely fine to be like another artist, but no one is ever going to be like you.
The circumstance that made you who you are, your education, the technology you use, the people you know will make whatever you do unique.
Stop trying to constantly reinvent the wheel. Instead use it, learn from it, and create your own version. Don’t worry about being seen as an imitator. Just as much as you cannot fight the fact that your craft is taken from your surroundings, you can not change the fact that your music will always be original.
When you sit down and write remember you have 2 basic choices. You can take every frustration as an opportunity to grow or you can spiral down in self doubt. These 6 techniques have helped remind me to choose the high road and keep the music flowing.
