5 Productivity Tips For Producers: Get Focused to Get More Results
[insert redundant sentence about how 2020 came with new challenges 🤮]. With so much craziness in the world and so many forms of technology simultaneously vying for our attention, it’s more difficult than ever to stay focused on our music-related goals.
Fortunately, there are several things that you can do right now to increase your productivity and get you on the fast-track to becoming the best version of yourself.
Here are 5 tips to level up your productivity game ASAP 📈:
1. Create A Daily Schedule
Creating a daily calendar for all your production-related tasks will help you organize your thoughts and provide structure for your day. These tasks can be anything from scheduling the release of new beats to reaching out to a set number of new artists, etc.
You can use Google Calendar, Asana, a regular paper calendar (you know, with the firemen on it), or even just a piece of paper.
Figure out what works best for you and stick with it.
After some time doing this consistently, you’ll be addicted to the feeling of accomplishment you get while crossing a task off your list.
2. Develop SMART Goals
SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time Bound.
Producers can talk all day about their dream of having Drake or Future hop on one of their beats. But they rarely have a strategy in place to help them actually get there.
This is why SMART goals can be so effective; they allow you to back-engineer your long term goals into shorter, more achievable steps that help keep you on track.
If your goals are too arbitrary, you’re less likely to reach them. It’d be great to get a Future placement, but you can’t exactly write that on your calendar to have done by next Tuesday.
Instead of writing "fUtuRe pLaCeMenT" on your calendar, try something like “find five contacts from Future’s label and email them beats by Friday at 5:00 PM”.
Coming up with specific goals will make a huge difference in the long term.
3. Listen To Other People's Beats For Inspiration
One of the best ways to get motivated to work is to browse through other producer's catalogs.
Just a few minutes on YouTube can be enough to find a vibe or a sound that inspires you enough to fire up your DAW and get to work 👨🍳
Just don't click on videos you know will distract you!
This strategy can also keep you up to date on the latest music trends and what your competition is up to 👀
4. Eliminate Distractions
Let’s be real. Most of us are addicted to our phones. Peeping that daily screen time can be a rude awakening for sure 😵
Luckily, there are solutions.
Pickup a timed lock box and throw your phone in there during the hours you want to devote to music.
If that method is unrealistic, start by putting your phone on “do not disturb” while you’re making music. Turn off notifications for your most-used apps.
Work to remove whatever distractions are present in your life, whether it’s your phone or something else entirely.
The more focused you can remain, the more productive you will become.
5. Use Loops To Make More Beats
Some producers might be philosophically opposed to using loops, but the truth of the matter is: your favorite industry producers are using them.
Why shouldn’t you?
Loops are a great way to spark your creativity if you’re experiencing beat block, and they can allow you to greatly increase your daily / weekly / monthly beat output.
Composers such as our very own TB Digital and TWiLL frequently put out both royalty-free premium and free hip hop melody packs. Might as well leverage talent if time is of the essence!
You can also make your own loops and send them out to other producers.
Think about it.
If other producers are making beats using your loops, then you’re actually making multiple beats at once 🤯
It doesn’t get more productive than that!
