How to optimize your performance within the music industry
Whether it’s a DJ in a club making every transition sound absolutely flawless, or an upcoming producer able to secure any collaboration they desire, humans naturally have curiosity as to how our peers are able to accomplish everything with (supposedly) minimal effort. During this article, we’re going to understand how high-performers make everything look easy within their careers, and how you can do exactly the same.
Think back to the early days of your life where everything seemed effortless for those around you. But in reality, it wasn’t. For example, driving a car, learning how to ride a bike, picking up a DAW for the first time, and many other significant events within life. Growing up, we would see those successful people at the top of the industry. We would wonder how they did it and someday aspire to reach that level of greatness.
Every successful person within the music industry has certain habits that allow them to be extremely high performers within their craft. As an example, the average consumer of EDM on Spotify may see a producer and believe they are incredibly talented with every single release that they’ve ever put out. The majority of people may think that they are incredibly talented and can produce incredibly high-quality tracks within an instant. However, the reality is that it’s often thousands of hours of painstaking production, countless hours of networking and rejection, accompanied by a lot of rejected demos from multiple record labels throughout the music industry.
Firstly, high-performance people within the music industry execute their tasks in order of importance – instead of when it was written. Although some items on it may only take 5-10 minutes, it’s undoubtedly important that the most necessary items are completed first in order to avoid procrastinating habits. Very often, producers will have dozens of items on their to-do list which take days to get done because of their lack of organizational skills. Therefore, only completing items that will make a genuine difference in your career is the best place to start. And if you have time, then you may accomplish unimportant items which take a short amount of time.
Next, constant communication is absolutely essential to the success of high performance within the music industry. Have you ever had one of those moments in the shower when you think of an incredible idea – but soon forget it? Or have so many thoughts rushing through your mind that you have no idea which one to execute on first? Constant communication of your ideas is a great way to maintain productivity & high performance throughout the day. For example, you could create a private Twitter account to write down all your ideas (or just put them on your notes app). Another great tactic is responding to every single email as soon as you initially see it. This way, any important messages you receive are instantly responded to.
Finally, getting rid of any & all distractions which may hinder your work ethic is crucial to maintaining high performance as a producer within the music industry so that you can stay focused. More often than not, producers spend hours & hours behind a computer screen without any distractions to ease their mind. Regularly, this results in a creative block, burnout, and many other undesirable mental states. In order to combat this, consider taking a “digital detox” for 30-60 minutes per day in order to relax & refresh your mind. By removing all electronic devices for an hour, it will give you the mental peace of mind to make much better business decisions when it comes to your artistic brand.
High performers within the music industry are constantly searching for new ways to improve themselves as both people & producers. By adopting some of their tactics, you too can take control of your time to maximize your efficiency and productivity throughout the entire day.