How to be more productive as a DJ/producer
A lot of DJ/producers are struggling to finish tracks or record mixtapes and ask how they can find motivation to work on their music because electronic music is something you are so passionate about that you can literally feel it in your soul - and it has been like that ever since you discovered it.
They wonder what to do to overcome laziness and how to make better use of their time so that they can be productive and progress in order to get noticed and move the needle in dance music.
According to research done by Dr. Gail Matthews of the Dominican University of California, you are 46% more likely to achieve success when you set goals and here are 4 reasons why setting goals in dance music will help you to be more productive as a DJ/producer - especially if you are struggling to finish tracks or record mixtapes.
Struggling to finish your tracks or record mixtapes?
Many DJ/producers face the challenge of struggling to finish tracks or record mixtapes at some point. Some are extremely hard on themselves and the whole process often becomes so stressful that they even consider quitting - even though electronic music is in their soul and they wouldn’t know what else to do.
As a holistic (night)life coach, working with driven producers and DJs, my genius zone is in helping them cope with pressure, procrastination and perfectionism so that they can feel confident about their next steps for finishing tracks or recording mixtapes and move the needle in dance music.
I’ve found that finding motivation to work on music is one of the most sought after productivity hacks by DJs and producers in dance music.
How to find motivation to work on your music
Motivation fuels productivity, but being productive is not the same as being busy. The first is about focus, the latter is frantic energy.
What you need is peace, calm and stability for your creative process so that you can finish your tracks or record mixtapes.
First, consider getting intentional about how you spend your time and ask yourself if you’re feeling satisfied. Spending 2 hours a day sat on your couch watching Netflix because you’re not feeling motivated could take your mind off the task at hand - sitting down to finish your track or record a new mixtape, for a little while. When you hit a creative block as a DJ/producer this might be a welcome or even much-needed break for you so that you can clear your head and recharge. That’s 1 way to use a break that will work for you.
But spending your time this way can also work against you. If you’re beating yourself up for not having had a productive day - having spent 2 hours watching Netflix makes you feel lazy and guilty, and at the end of each week you tell yourself next week has to be better - but nothing changes week after week, then surely you must be tired of feeling that lack of motivation. Moreover, by now you’re totally gearing up to find better ways of managing your time so that you can stay productive as a DJ/producer!
Time management to help DJ/producers stay productive: setting goals
Did you know that you can be 46% more successful in achieving something when you set a goal? Setting goals can improve your performance and you are more than 40% more likely to achieve your goals if you write them down. (1)
Neuropsychologists have identified this as the “generation effect” (2). Put simply, a person demonstrates better memory for things they’ve generated themselves than for things they’ve merely read.
“Writing things down happens on two levels: external storage and encoding. External storage is easy to explain: you’re storing the information contained in your goal in a location (e.g. a piece of paper) that is very easy to access and review at any time. You could post that paper in your office, on your refrigerator, etc. It doesn’t take a neuroscientist to know you will remember something much better if you’re staring at a visual cue (aka reminder) every single day.
But there’s another deeper phenomenon happening: encoding. Encoding is the biological process by which the things we perceive travel to our brain’s hippocampus where they’re analyzed. From there, decisions are made about what gets stored in our long-term memory and, in turn, what gets discarded. Writing improves that encoding process. In other words, when you write it down it has a much greater chance of being remembered.” (Mark Murphy)
4 reasons why goals help you to be productive as a DJ/producer
1. Goals connect you with your passion
Goals give you a sense of direction, and focus. You’ll need that when you set out to achieve finishing your tracks and/or recording mixtapes so that you can fulfil your purpose of getting noticed and move the needle in dance music.
2. Goals contribute to building supportive habits
Having supportive habits means you’ll work on your music practice with consistency and get more done - and ideally, get it done faster, more easily and with less frustration. Consistency is key to becoming a better DJ and to improve your skills in music production. Practicing and putting out your work regularly are vital habits in your creative process to build your body of work which you use to demonstrate your skills, tastes, identity and your uniqueness as a DJ/producer so that you can stand out from the crowd.
“Habits are not a finish line to be crossed, they are a lifestyle to be lived.”
3. Goals help beat overwhelm
As a DJ/producer you often feel like you have to do 10 000 things all at once in order to stand out and move the needle in dance music. Setting goals for your creative process and your career in dance music help beat overwhelm. You break down your ideas and things you wish to achieve into manageable chunks so that you can do things one step at a time and at your own pace.
4. Goals help you to manage your time better
Having clear goals helps you to learn to organise your time around your goals and what you plan to do to achieve them step by step.
Perhaps you feel like you’re way too unorganized and have too many unfinished projects, so much so that you don’t believe it’s even possible for you to accomplish goals - if you’d even have any. You wouldn’t know where to begin and it’s killing you because you’re not progressing as a DJ/producer, but you know that this is not what you want for yourself anymore.
You’ve had a glimpse of the life you could have in dance music by playing Livestream or outdoor sets, or having had tracks released in the past, and the thought of never being able to make that glimpse a reality, is just too painful.
I love helping driven DJ/producers to use their time effectively by teaching them the power of setting goals they can actually achieve so that they can gain exposure and get noticed.
I’ve found that it doesn’t have to be complicated. All it takes to set creative goals that will stick is learning my 5 Easy Steps To Master Consistent Creative Flow so that you can feel confident about your next steps for achieving your goals of getting noticed as a DJ/producer in 2021 and moving the needle in dance music!
That’s exactly what you’ll learn in my Creative Goal Setting Mini Course For DJ/Producers.
Learn to set creative goals in a way that won’t kill your creativity by focusing on the outcomes, but rather help you to develop efficient habits so that you can build consistency in your creative practice in order to become more productive, motivated and perseverant.
Make 2021 the year it all comes together for you!
Referred research:
(1) https://www.dominican.edu/sites/default/files/2020-02/gailmatthews-harvard-goals-researchsummary.pdf and https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11920693/
(2) https://www.forbes.com/sites/markmurphy/2018/04/15/neuroscience-explains-why-you-need-to-write-down-your-goals-if-you-actually-want-to-achieve-them/?sh=1c76277f7905
Let’s continue the conversation!
What is 1 goal you want to achieve as a DJ/producer so that you can move the needle in dance music? Drop it below and share why this is so important to you!