Productivity Tips for Musicians
May 03, 2024How To Be Productive As A Musician?
Do you feel lazy sometimes? Or do you need help staying organized? Has procrastination taken over your enthusiasm for the day? Happens to the best of us. How can you be more productive? Although you may feel motivated enough to complete the tasks laid out for you for the day, it could get a little difficult to actually get it going.
In this article, we'll provide 7 solid productivity tips for musicians like you (and a little something extra, so stay tuned!) by answering a few commonly asked questions.
How do I stay focused?
The answer is to minimize distractions. Although this may seem like an obvious productivity tip for musicians, it just doesn’t mean switching off your television or keeping your phone aside while you are trying to work or engage in a task. This means actively taking steps to recognize what external stimuli distract you the most and why. You will have to firstly, observe your own behavior when it comes to your attention and focus and monitor your ability to sustain that attention to the task at hand. Not everyone has the same distractions, some people, in fact, do pretty well when they study while listening to music. On the other hand, some need absolute silence. Hence, it becomes important to understand what external factor hinders you from focusing on your task instead of helping you do better.
One common distraction is not the device itself, but the apps on the device. Social media platforms are noted to be one of the top distractions any musician finds hard to control. According to a Music Think Tank survey, 71% of musicians admit to spending too much time on social media, which has a negative influence on their productivity and creativity. Now we understand that as musicians, you cannot really do a social media detox because it is essential to be on the platform to promote your music, but what you can do is allot time for social media every day and stick to that time only. If you think 20-30 minutes is enough, then set a limit on Instagram, the app has an inbuilt tool for the same!
Pssst…come here: Think of this social media time you’d get as a reward at the end of the day. If you successfully associate the activity of using social media on your mobile as a positive reinforcement then you’d naturally feel motivated to complete the tasks in the day because you are looking forward to a reward, something of a treat, but for an adult.
How can you boost productivity? Try to keep yourself busy. This doesn’t mean overloading yourself with tasks and feeling overstimulated by the end of the day, but taking the initiative to fill your hours of the day with work that helps you make everyday progress. If you have completed a task of, let’s say making the first draft of the verse or lyrics for your new song, then take some time, sit back in your balcony with a cup of coffee, and just think about what you accomplished. Let it sit in your mind so you can reevaluate it instead of watching that episode on Netflix. Learn to make good use of the time you get in a day, and this includes self-reflection and retrospection. If you develop such a habit then you’d naturally not feel distracted or feel tempted to engage in activities that slow down your music progress.
How do I make short and long-term goals?
Is hitting 100k stream count a short or long-term goal? Is doing a five-city tour a short or long-term goal? To make short and long-term goals, you’d need clarity about what’s the most important to you and when you need to get them done. It is very important to have clear objectives in your music career because it will help you prioritize your goals and stay focused on achieving them. After all, you’d naturally assign deadlines to these goals.
But it’s pretty tricky to differentiate your goals like that since the career of musicians is non-linear, unlike other fields. Think of your short-term goals as a part of your long-term goal. Now it will be relatively easier to recognise the objective of long-term goals because they encompass the bigger picture. So what you can do is break down those long-term goals into smaller and actionable steps. Identify the precise activities, targets, or accomplishments that must be completed along the route to achieve your final goal. These small steps serve as short-term objectives that you can concentrate on soon.
Pssst…come here: A timeline makes a huge difference in making a plan that includes both short and long-term goals. Create deadlines or milestones to keep yourself accountable and motivated. Break down larger activities into smaller, more manageable pieces with set deadlines to maintain steady growth over time.
How can I utilize time?
You can reduce the wastage of time by batching similar tasks. It basically involves combining activities that need similar resources, skills, or mental focus and doing them sequentially within a set time window. For example, you could set aside one hour each morning for brainstorming, another hour in the afternoon for songwriting exercises, and a third hour in the evening for improvisation and fine-tuning.
When recording or producing music, combine similar activities to optimize the workflow. For example, set up one day for recording instrumental parts, another to record vocals, and a third for mixing and editing. Focusing on one part of the recording process at a time allows you to retain consistency in your recordings while also making economical use of your recording studio or tools. In a similar way, you could also group administrative tasks such as emailing, updating your profiles, and tracking your investments or financial expenditures.
Pssst…come here: It is all about optimizing your time by grouping similar tasks because you’d be in the flow once you do begin with a batch and you would’ve completed more tasks within a shorter time frame, without feeling overwhelmed.
You could also record your social media content in batches at once. Set aside a day specifically for writing scripts and recording or making content about your music for social media for the rest of the week. This way you won’t have to sit every now and then to record and edit because you would have made them all at once.
Can I automate tasks?
Yes! You can automate a lot of your tasks related to music and social media, thanks to different social media management tools that specifically cater to scheduling posts and keeping track of your content on social media. Posts can be scheduled beforehand across several platforms using applications such as Hootsuite, Buffer, and Later. This helps you maintain a constant social media presence without having to upload new content every day manually. Design email layouts for frequently asked questions, responses, or announcements, and utilize email automation programs like Mailchimp or Sendinblue to send tailored emails to your list of subscribers.
How can I set deadlines and limits?
You can set deadlines and limits, firstly, by engaging in realistic and logical thinking. By limits, we don’t mean setting unrealistic goals and expectations for yourself before you even begin, you’d feel demotivated and hence, cannot resist the urge to procrastinate or feel overwhelmed with so many things to do and not getting anywhere. By limits, we mean setting achievable goals, breaking down every component in your actionable plan, and carefully aligning that with your already existing timeline.
If you are an upcoming musician who has released just a couple of songs but you want to get more than 500k streams for your next release, it may seem a little far-fetched and if the goal isn’t met, you’d feel disappointed and extremely self-critical. So it is very important to set goals and objectives with a pragmatic mind. It’s easy to get caught up in constant tuning and perfectionist behavior, especially when recording or mixing music. Set time limitations for each work to keep you from excessive indulgence. Constraints can sometimes inspire creativity and help you make better judgments.
When you set a deadline for yourself in the beginning with a plan, you’d want to wrap it up by then instead of focusing so much on tiny details that do not let you complete the task at hand. Deadlines, although the word could seem scary and induce a certain amount of pressure, could be useful in the long run because you’d have a sense of accountability and responsibility toward yourself. As an independent musician, you are more often than not, answerable to yourself since you are your own boss, you don’t have to report to a superior or manager. Instead of slacking off on one end or overburdening yourself on another, you could develop punctuality and determination in part due to your habit of adhering to deadlines. The time-induced sense of pressure could be used positively as eustress and help you stay on track in your plan of action.
How to make a schedule?
You can make a very simple schedule by jotting down your working hours and your tasks in a planner that is open to changes. Your schedules do not have to be extensive and detailed for every minute. By planning your day or week, you can make sure that important events like practice sessions, rehearsals, and songwriting sessions receive the time and energy they require.
This keeps you from overcommitting to one task while sacrificing some of the others, allowing you to achieve progress on numerous fronts without becoming exhausted. While a calendar gives structure, it is also necessary to be flexible and responsive to unforeseen occurrences or shifts in priorities. An efficient schedule allows for changes and alterations as needed while maintaining an outline for your tasks.
Pssst…come here: Let’s not forget that you have a life outside of your profession. Make sure your schedule has space for your personal activities as well (and take them seriously). You can then avoid burnout and maintain your entire well-being by setting aside time for unwinding, self-care, and non-musical hobbies.
What are some productivity tools for musicians?
Now there is a wide array of productivity apps built for all sorts of tasks. For example, there are many different note-taking apps available for you to keep track of your thoughts and important information throughout the day. These apps are great for recording musical concepts, lyrics, progressions of chords, melodies, and creative inspiration. They offer an integrated system for managing and utilizing creative ideas and discussions. For example, Evernote, Onenote, Google Keep, and so on.
Calendar software assists musicians keep track of their plans, meetings, rehearsals, gigs, and commitments. They enable you to create events, set alerts, share schedules with colleagues or coworkers, and sync throughout gadgets for convenient access. For example, Google Calendar, Apple Calendar, and so on.
But what if we told you that you can avoid downloading all these tools for different tasks because there is a one-stop place for all your essentials?
We understand that it can get tiring switching back and forth from different apps and tools and it can also sound boring. So, we made a brand new productivity tool called ProdPro 2.0 for musicians only, to easily organize their work and maintain their progress. It is the best in town because you get to make your changes and features as YOU’d like.
Take a look at some of the best features:
Navigation Menu: Our navigation menu is very sleek and user-friendly, providing rapid access to key functionality. Simplify your workflow and focus on creating more songs.
Project Hub: The Project Hub offers a comprehensive overview of all of your past and present projects, divided into three categories: singles, EPs, and albums.
Mood Board: We might have actually made Pinterest but for musicians only. It is to help represent your visual identity. It allows you to instantly exchange inspiration with photographers or graphic designers, making collaboration easy while keeping your dashboard confidential.
It is actually just you and your collaborators only on your template. Even we won’t have access to your data because you’d have to duplicate our template and make it your own. So you don’t have to be concerned about data leakage either!
ProdPro 2.0 is out for sale! Go get the ultimate productivity template now!
Irrespective of the stage of your music career you are in, staying organized and productive helps build a stable and reliable foundation in your musical endeavors and progress as a musician. Remember to stay focused but also maintain a work-life balance!
We at GreaseRelease, have a bunch of curators on our network who are looking for new & exciting music to push on their massive playlists. If you make music and want to reach a wider audience, check out our submission platform and get a chance to reach millions of listeners! Submit your tracks now!
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