How to stay motivated within your music career

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The truth is that scientists believe the odds of simply being born are roughly 400 trillion to 1. Yet alone the odds of becoming a music producer and financially sustaining yourself from your passion. And so with that in mind, we’re going to discuss how to stay motivated. You firstly have to ask yourself what your long-term ambitions & goals are. Do you want to perform at the biggest clubs in the world? Do you want a number one single? To meet your idols within the entertainment industry?

Whatever they are, write down your ambitions as that will be a great starting point to create a roadmap. Next, you have to consider what opportunities you have right now that could lead to an even bigger one. For example, if you’re able to get backstage tickets to a massive festival, establish relationships with the artists there so that you can potentially collaborate with them in several months/years time. But more importantly, you have to ask yourself how you are spending your time. Although it may be fun, watching Netflix and going out to parties every night won’t further your career very much. That said, if you’re a journalist at a music publication, you often get paid to attend parties & events. So there’s definitely a potential upside to it. That said, auditing your time is absolutely crucial to regaining your motivation. After all, you want to keep in mind your long-term goals and deploy the required actions in order to achieve them.

Once you have a clear idea of your ambitions within your career, you have to figure out why you even lost your motivation in the first place. Not doing this step will simply lead to another loss of motivation/burnout in the future. Are you getting complacent with your career? Have you achieved your goals and are now unsure what to do? Did you give in to critics saying that you’ll never achieve your dreams? Figure out the reason, and block it from your life. As harsh as it may sound if your friends are being pessimistic and telling you that you’ll never fulfill your ambition, it’s probably a good idea to not hang out with them as much & get new friends.

If you’re in the entertainment industry just for the girls/guys, the fancy cars, the private planes, and all the other fancy stuff that comes along with success, there’s a good chance that you’ll never be successful. As all your actions will be predicated on getting that materialistic thing, there’s an extremely high chance that you’ll lose your motivation to continue once you decide that you’ll never achieve it. This is why, more often than not, the ones who are in the industry because they have a passion for it are the ones who become successful. As they have a passion, there is no actions predicated on materialistic things. Therefore, they are able to work hard every single day because they absolutely love what they do. You have to ask yourself what kind of person are you, and what inspires you to stay motivated.  Here is some practical advice on regaining your motivation will benefit you a lot better. So with that in mind, here’s a 5 step formula:

Set a goal and visualize the accomplishment

Imagine achieving your biggest dreams & ambitions. Visualize how it feels to work extremely hard and for it to eventually pay off. The relief, the happiness, the achievement. If you’re a music producer wanting to accomplish a number one single, imagine your reactions when you check the Spotify charts and see your name at the top of the list.

Why do you want to accomplish this goal?

It may be to prove to your family that you were able to achieve something. Likewise, it may be to simply prove to yourself that you could do it. Or in contrast, it could be an ambition that you’ve had for years. Whatever the reason, write down every single reason that you can think of detailing why you wish to accomplish it.

Break it down

Take pizza as an example. A pizza tastes extremely good. However, it would be really difficult to consume it in one bite very quickly. Therefore, we break it down into slices so that the consumption is much easier. The same concept applies to your ambition. By realizing that it’ll take time, and breaking it down into micro-goals that will help fulfill your long-term ambitions, you’ll be able to sustainably achieve your goals at a decent rate.

Change is inevitable

Very often, there are unforeseeable roadblocks that don’t allow us to achieve our goals. Despite doing all we can to prevent it, it’s inevitable that change is gonna come. Therefore, be prepared to adjust the plan of how you’ll achieve your ambitions.

Get help if you need it

Share your plans and ambitions with your friends & family so that they can potentially help you. By announcing your intentions publicly of an ambition that you wish to complete, it allows you to be held accountable by others for achieving your dreams or not. But also, friends etc may be able to help you achieve your ambitions if they have connections within your niche. For example, if you wish to play at a festival, a friend may know the promoter/manager of the event and get you in contact with them.

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You can't be disciplined and consistent if you aren't focused on a specific outcome or vision for yourself and your life! • Your focus dictates how disciplined you are in your life and the reason why most people struggle to be consistent and disciplined is because they lose their focus and when you lose your focus you lose your drive. • It is quite common for people to get into shape and lose a few pounds 3 months out from a wedding or some event where they need to look and feel their best but for the rest of the year or even years they don't maintain that intensity and work ethic and that simply comes down to focus! • If you want to be disciplined in any area of your life maintain your focus year round and stay focused on the outcome you want both in the short term and long term….losing your focus will also lead you to losing your consistency and momentum. • Ultimately you want to run fantastic habits and patterns year round that move you forward regardless of your focus and how you feel, but those peak performance habits and patterns take more than 90 days of focus and dedication…They take years! • But that doesn't mean you can't start now to be more focused on your goals and vision for yourself and your life and it simply starts with you writing down your goals every morning and every night and putting that Vision of yourself and who you want to be at the front of your mind every single day!

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