How much money have you spent "getting inspired to make music" in the last 12 months?
If you think that's a strange question, how often have you bought:
a synth
a sample pack
a sound pack
an instrument
a guitar pedal
a compressor
an EQ
a course
...BECAUSE you want that rush of "newness" (you hope) will inspire you?
Let’s face it. Sometimes, making music can start to feel like a chore. And one of the ways we “de-chore” music production is by purchasing something NEW AND SHINY.
We consume in the hopes it will inspire us to create.
So let's call these ongoing purchases your:
RECURRING INSPIRATION CHARGES
The expenses you incur to “get inspired to make music”.
You might not notice them because you don't pay monthly, and they aren't predictable.
Some months you pay nothing. Others, you spend A LOT. But you do pay them.
Do a calculation for the last full year.
Be honest with yourself...
How many purchases in the last 12 months were mainly (or completely) to "get inspired to make music"?
(Focus on the last 12 months - not what you hope to spend in the coming year. Past action is a more reliable indicator than "Honest Mike, THIS year will be different!")
Today, I asked Alex (one of the Make Music Your Life team members) this question. Before he found us in 2019, his Recurring Inspiration Charges in 2018 were around $4,000.
If you’re serious about music, this isn’t a lot. Simply to "get inspired to make music".
What's your number?
Do a back-of-the-envelope calculation.
Now, if you knew for sure you’d immediately reduce your Recurring Inspiration Charges by 70%...
If you were certain these charges would remain down by 70% forever...
If you knew this would make investing in what you really NEED, when you need it justifiable (even to your long-suffering partner)...
When would you make this change?
Next month?
Next quarter?
Later?
Wouldn't RIGHT NOW make more sense?
(When would your better-half want you to do it? 🤓)
Here's how to do it NOW:
Use a SYSTEM.
"How the heck does a system reduce my Recurring Inspiration Charges Mike?"
Because the right system allows you to gain inspiration from MAKING MUSIC ITSELF.
You'll gain infinite inspiration - using what you already own - with the right system.
You'll gain inspiration from CREATING.
NOT consuming or collecting.
But many musicians can’t stand the idea of a "system".
Don't systems kill the magic?
Don't they constrain creativity?
Strangle inspiration?
For years, I believed they did. But then, I also spent $10s of 1000s on gear and countless hours trying to "find inspiration". Then I invested a decade in coaching 1000s of music producers just like you.
I discovered that a system which maps the creative process allows you to create magic in 3 significant ways:
The right system creates certainty.
Imagine you want to make an album. Your "magnum opus". It has to be SPECIAL.
To create magic in the studio, you have to dive into uncertainty. You have to get used to not knowing what could happen and moving forward.
But your mind is a prediction machine. One which HATES uncertainty.
It will look for certainty EVERYWHERE.
(e.g. the certainty of owning that new shiny music doodad.)
With a system that maps and tracks your music, you KNOW what you do in every session is going somewhere.
This gives your mind the certainty it needs outside the process...
...to move into uncertainty in the studio.
2. The right system reduces decision load.
Your brain uses significant resources to make decisions. In a day, the number it can make is FINITE.
How many choices do you have to make to finish this album?
What about the choices about the decisions?
(i.e. When to make what decisions! When to work on what. What to move forward. How. In what order. etc etc etc)
Plus, deciding all this in a busy life, where you also make 1000s of daily decisions.
Is it any wonder you struggle to make consistent progress?
Fact is ANYTHING that reduces your decision load...particularly something designed to do precisely that...
...is worth its weight in gold.
3. The right system has a perfect memory. You don't.
A system which maps what to do when and tracks what you did when - remembers what you can't.
It's a second brain.
Another memory.
One that never fades.
Imagine working on this album, and you're going great guns for a week.
But then life happens, so you have to stop for a week.
How do you pick up where you left off?
Can you remember exactly where you were, what you did and what you have left to do?
Of course not!
With a system where you can literally SEE and HEAR at the click of a button:
What you did...
What you didn’t do...
What you wanted to do last time ...
AND a process for knowing what to do next...
...picking up from where you left off is a piece of cake.
You see, it is not your fault you have those Recurring Inspiration Charges constantly munching through your wallet.
Because without a system to take the load off your mind, the creative process becomes a chore...
So to get the inspiration to do your music production chores, you collect gear and courses. To get motivated, you search for inspiration in tutorials and gear demos.
This makes perfect sense.
But here's what makes a load more sense:
Use a system to set you free from those endless Recurring Inspiration Charges - once and for all.
Because then you'll find all the inspiration you need...
...by simply making music.
Onwards & upwards,
Mike
"The right system does not kill the magic.
It gives you space to create it."
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Recurring Inspiration Charges