How do you stay motivated? Creativity isn’t always easy to force especially when music is a hobby (in my case) and, as they say, “life gets in the way”. The challenges to face and the work involved far exceed the benefits especially when we’re just wondering aimlessly.
So how do I stay motivated? Truth is, my 1 song per month objective kind of faded a bit near the end of 2022. I got Covid which affected my energy and even singing, it’s actually worse than before (as if it could get any worse lol). I also started a new job which has been taking a lot of my energy and time.
“Success is not final; failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts.”
Winston S. Churchill
I find that motivation can come from an external force that kind of “jolts” you to find a different path or need/desire. Without getting into details, my “jolt” had me looking at a virtually unobtainable goal and the motivation is to try and achieve the impossible. The goal? 10k YouTube subscribers and I have 5 years to achieve it. I say impossible because there are so many much better musicians and bands with even less subscribers than I have now (current count at time of posting this = 348).
Goals and Objectives?
Goals and objectives are important to have a general direction and an “end game” to help stay motivated for the “day to day” type tasks.
A goal is an outcome you want to achieve, it’s typically a broad statement. And in my case, the goal is 10k YT subscribers within the next 5 years. Objectives are specific and measurable actions that can be reached in a short amount of time, and using me as an example, here are a few objectives I’m working on.
- Record a new melody or riff every week
- Create a new rock song demo every month
- Publish a new rock song every 2nd month
- Create a YT music video every 2nd month
- Create a strategy for being able to create 1 YT video every 2 weeks
- Create a strategy for short-form content to be used for short videos and SM posts
- Create a marketing strategy to gain exposure and followers and support short-form content across various SM platforms
- Take singing and songwriting lessons
“People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing – that’s why we recommend it daily.”
Zig Ziglar
Conclusion
Well that is my rant for now, my issue was my original goal wasn’t super measurable so it was easy to deviate because I had no clear outcome from it.