When was the last time you talked yourself out of working on a project?
As I type this, I'm thinking back to this evening where I chose to work on a smaller project versus working on the HUGE MAMMOTH project I've been working on since October.
Well, I made the wrong choice -the weekend got the better of me. Why blame the weekend? Well, it's the weekends that I usually spend the time to work on smaller music projects to fuel my desire to keep moving forward with the HUGE project I'm working on. I got several smaller projects done this weekend -which gave me the idea that I wanted the satisfaction of completing just. one. more... Now, it's past 2:00am and there's not a shot that I'm going to get anything done on that HUGE project.
So, what's the point?
It's taken me YEARS to figure out how to be a musician that is in constant pursuit of creating something. I've met too many "aspiring" musicians, writers, bloggers, YouTubers, Podcasters, etc. That have fully embraced their title of (choose one of those), but haven't actually created anything in weeks, months, and sometimes even years.
Why?
Often because starting is difficult.
Often because starting is easy -but seeing a project to completion is difficult.
Often because starting is scary.
Often because FINISHING the project is scary -so scary that it's easy to justify not starting.
Application:
Go into your backlog of creative ideas that started out with "wouldn't it be cool if..." and never went anywhere.
That's your starting point!
If you think that it'd be cool to do -that's enough to give it a shot. In the end, it doesn't matter what other people think -it'll be worth it because you thought it'd be cool in the first place! If anything, I know I'll like it because I think that it's cool -that you think it's cool!
Think about the BIG picture, and then figure out how to take a small piece of that picture and bring it to fruition during an afternoon.
If it's a wall-sized oil painting, figure out how to capture a notebook paper sized interpretation of it.
If it's a DubStep interpretation of "A Spoonful of Sugar Helps the Medicine Go Down", start with the first verse and one time through the chorus.
If it's a full-sized novel, start with stanza. Impress yourself in six lines by summarizing your novel poetically (If it goes well, that can be the first thing people see on the preface page if you decide to actually write the book).
1. "Wouldn't it be cool if"
2. How can I scale it down to accomplish this afternoon?
3. Start.
4. Work.
5. Finish!
Whichever one of the above things might resonate with you, the ultimate goal is to start and finish an element of something you thought would be cool. Just because you don't go "all out" for every project you ever wondered "Wouldn't it be cool if..." doesn't mean the project isn't worth doing. After you've done several of these smaller renditions of "wouldn't it be cool if..." projects, you'll start to realize where your energy is -and what the really BIG projects are actually worth pursuing (spoiler alert: it's not all of them).
The small win of finishing the project WILL BRING YOU ENERGY!
Small wins make a BIG difference. Every project worth doing doesn't have to be huge -and every huge project doesn't have to be your only project.
My first 8-Bit Hymnal started out as a "Wouldn't it be cool if..." idea. One song at a time! I ended up making 3 full albums of them (and my HUGE project might be in similar 8-bit form)... Why did I make 3 full albums of them? For those of you who know me personally, It's certainly NOT because I love 8-bit (or even electronic) music... It's because I thought the first one would be cool -and the energy that I received from finishing that first song gave me a drive and a bigger vision for a full album -that gave me even more drive and a bigger vision to create a second and then third -and now a HUGE project.
My "small win" weekend projects now are recording/sequencing sheet music from various piano books that I have. It's an easy escape from the weight of the HUGE project, and it allows me to experience the satisfaction of seeing a mini project from beginning to end on a Saturday afternoon. I choose a song, sequence it, and then upload it to YouTube. Here's a link if you'd like to check it out: https://www.youtube.com/user/mrtylerlarson
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Whenever you wonder "wouldn't it be cool if..." just go w/ it -you never know where a small win might land you!
Until next time,
-T.