What finishing a song a week taught me about workflow?
I’m a bit of a perfectionist, and for a long time, I thought this was a good thing. That was until I read a quote recently that stated:
Done is Better than Perfect
Initially, I was skeptical. When I applied it to music-making I thought to myself I would rather have things perfect than simply completed. Who wants a mediocre piece of work that is done over an intricately detailed piece that might not be completed?
I realised at this moment that I have hard drives full of unfinished work simply because I have deemed it ‘imperfect’. Yet I have very few finished pieces of work in comparison.
So, I set myself a challenge to start writing and FINISHING a song a week. The rules were it didn’t have to be perfect, I didn’t have to like it, it just had to be DONE.
A month later and many songs completed I realised that I was wrong.
Before I would spend days EQ’ing a kick drum and weeks getting the perfect balance of reverb only to be exhausted with the song months later.
Writing and finishing a song in a week has given me the boundaries I need to prioritise what needs done and limited the amount of time I work on everything. Resulting in the feeling of accomplishment having seen something through to the end.
I ultimately have started liking my one-week songs over the ones I spent four months writing the verses for!
So, if you’re like me and spending an unhealthy amount of time trying to make something ‘perfect’ may I suggest putting a time limit on it and remember – it doesn’t have to be polished, it just has to be done.