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People hate it when I say that there’s something wrong with their home studio or that they need to change something. Most times, that’s because they’re so attached; it’s their baby, so to speak. But when I say that, I’m not talking today about equipment or stuff like that. From my experience, the number one problem is self-discipline, or the lack thereof.
The same goes for a lot of business and things that we do, but with music, it’s easier to drift because it’s an artistic endeavour. While it’s easy to keep writing or mastering, you need the self-discipline to stay focused on the task at hand. I found that part of that is giving yourself fake deadlines and forcing yourself to meet them. That helps you get to a point where you might not have finished it, but it has to get out there.
I find that a lot with anything that I’m doing: whether I’m mastering something or getting stuck doing something, I’ll usually have to strip away and get it out there. I go, “Okay, that’s not working. That’s got to go.” So I never feel that it’s finished, and it just has to go as is because everyone’s expecting it.
I always got a lot going on, but I have to have these deadlines. Our home easily gets waylaid with different stuff, which cuts from my flow time. By “Flow,” I mean those moments where you zone in and feel that you can go and go and that when you do your best work and have self-discipline. To get into that state and keep that strong focus, you need to find a way to get yourself into the flow state as quickly as you can. To do that, get everything turned off: all distractions and notifications off your phone. Make sure that the people coming in know that certain times are for when you’re in your flow state. Just zone in on what you need to do and work towards that deadline.
So yeah, turn your phone off, turn your computer off, and stop all those beeps coming through. Hopefully, that will give you enough self-discipline to hit your targets.