12 Anti-Creative Habits of Composers

You don’t suck – your habits do.

Ready to go to town on your latest idea fragment before it flutters off into the ether? Capturing and breathing life into valuable ideas requires more than sheer willpower. Because if you’re a composer with ANTI-creative habits, you may be choking your precious ideas to death without even knowing it. And what is that costing you?

When you’re working hard to build a catalog full of high-value tracks, every idea counts. It’s fun to watch your catalog grow, but it can also be daunting nonetheless. Whether you’re the sole writer or you collaborate with a production team, it’s time to say goodbye to damaging habits. 👋

Fail to prepare?

The worst part is, anti-creative habits cost us time to chill with our families, work on growing ourselves, and make the most of this creative lifestyle that we have so bravely chosen (or maybe it chose us?).

Ready to become an unstoppable force of creativity? Ditch these 12 soul-sucking habits today. 👇

1. You don’t leverage reactivity

Are you over-planning your creative time? I’m a HUGE proponent of scheduling consistent creative time when it comes to physically executing and building out your ideas. But what if inspiration strikes while you’re standing in the middle of Target? Ideas are there for the taking – What are you going to do about it?

In most cases, being a proactive creator serves you well. But when you start to compartmentalize your creative time too often, you get out of the routine of letting ideas come to you in any situation. Pro composers stay on their toes and create access points to capture and organize ideas on the fly, even when they’re AFK. 💡

If you want to capture ideas with lightning speed and precision, make it as EASY as possible to reach for the tool that will get the job done. These are my two favorite tools that I use to capture inspiration as it comes:  Shazam for when I hear references that can use later and Session Studio for organizing my song ideas and memos. 📂

Both apps sit in the bottom right-hand corner of my phone screen (I’m right-handed, so it’s easy for me to react, swipe, and tap). For me it’s all about breaking the barriers that might obstruct my next cash cow of an idea. Some people keep a small notepad and a pen on their nightstand for those flashes of inspiration at 3AM. Do everything you can to open the door for any and every idea that crosses your path.

2. You sit on ideas for too long

Procrastination is a killer. You wait, wait, and wait until… Nothing happens. If a painter never paints, are they a painter? If a home builder never actually builds a home, are they a home builder? If a question asker never asks a question, are they a question asker?

Your identity is at stake when you procrastinate. If for no other reason, think about who you are as a highly-valuable and creative composer. All it takes is a little practice adopting a tiny self-motivator called:  “Do It Now”. ⚡️

Sitting on your ideas as part of your creative process is healthy, no doubt. I do it all the time and so do my collaborators. But when time keeps on ticking and all of a sudden I’m afraid to hop back into a session and finish a track? The red flags go up and my fear of finishing the idea grows.

“What if I make the wrong creative choice right now? Maybe I’ll be more creative in a couple hours.” 

“What if the melody I come up with tomorrow will be better than the one I write today? I can wait and see.”

At a certain point, your creative output becomes a task. And tasks are put off day after day because of fear. Creative tasks that demand your heart and soul can appear as difficult and draining, so we don’t want to face them. The best method I’ve found for kicking the fear of making the choice to create is to set a timer for 5 minutes and get to work. 

5 minutes of work gets you one step closer to understanding the true task at hand:  Picking up where you left off. Whether that’s with an idea from last week, two months ago, or if you’re starting something new – That 5 minutes could be the tipping point for a flood of ideas you never knew existed. And who knows? That 5 minutes of “Do It Now” mentality may very well turn into 7 minutes… Or 17… or 70. 💥

3. You don’t stick to reasonable deadlines

“The way you do one thing is the way you do everything.”

Ever heard this before? It’s a brutally honest way of pointing out that YOU do YOU better than anyone else. Good, bad, positive, or negative, you are you through and through.

Deadlines exist to push the creative process along and provide accountability for the way you do you. In a positive sense, deadlines can be a blessing, like when you’re working on important group projects for example. In a negative sense, deadlines can be downright scary and feel like the enemy when it comes to your creative process.

Creating one deadline for yourself is easy – But delivering (or over-delivering) on it is the hard part. Instead of setting your sights on hitting one big deadline to finish your track, break the process up into 3 or 4 more reasonable deadlines so you can hit milestones that keep momentum up. 🏃‍♀️

Big, general deadlines remove the details that are crucial to keeping a steady pace with your projects. With singular goals, you tend to forget about the little important things and wonder why you’re not making any progress down the road.

Example 1:
”Today is March 1 and my track is half-written.”
”I will complete my track by April 15 come hell or high water.”

Instead, try Example 2:
”Today is March 1 and my track is half-written.”
”By March 7, the vocals will be recorded and ready for editing.”
“By March 15, the vocals will be edited and the track will be mixed.”
“By April 1, the instrumentals and stems will be printed.”
“By April 15, the tracks will be pitched to 3 music libraries.”

In Example 1, so much of the production process is left to the imagination. This removes all accountability and control from everyone involved. Example 2 paints the image of a domino effect where one task falls into the next. This creates a snowball effect that is more likely to roll right on through that finish line. 🏁

See the difference? Whether you’re working alone or with a team, this level of clarity can make or break the project’s completion. 

4. You tend to be late to everything

Zoom calls, writing sessions, scheduled creative time, lunch – Sometimes it can feel like there are too many *things* to be on time for throughout the day. In some cases you may be over-booking yourself, trying to fill your days up with as much busy-ness as possible (definitely give that issue some TLC if you feel like that’s a problem for you). 🗓

But in other cases, you may find you’re switching gears constantly which leaves you tardy and constantly apologizing for being 5, 10, even 20 minutes late to things. Time is one of your most valuable resources – Once you lose it, it’s gone.

If you have creative time scheduled for 10:00am each day, but you show up consistently at 10:20am for an entire month? That’s 7 hours of nonrenewable time you’ve traded for whatever it is you thought was worth it at the time. ⏰

Robbing yourself of time that you could be leveraging to get oriented, ease into your writing sessions, or answer a few quick emails derails your creative output and strangles your creative capacity. Sad.

And if you’re technically “on time” but still struggle to get in the groove here and there? Here’s a helpful phrase that my high school choir teacher taught me well: “If you’re 5 minutes early, you’re 10 minutes late.” His voice echoes in my mind over a decade later.

5. You vision the outcome, not the process

For my junior project in college, my assignment was to record and produce a short EP from scratch. It was the first real production project where I could create something of my own after 4 semesters of solely learning theory.

It was in my weekly check-ins with my instructor, Scott, that we would discuss the important pieces of the puzzle and I could get my questions answered. Needless to say, I was cocky. I felt like this project was going to be a breeze and that I didn’t need much guidance. After all, I spent my spare time producing tracks in my apartment – If anything, this project was nothing short of “game day”. 😏

We sat down at our first meeting confidently and I waited for Scott to quiz me on all the amazing ideas I was going to fill my project with. He fired off his first question: “So, how are you going to tackle this thing?” I had all my answers at the ready for how the project will sound and the *~genius~* production tricks I would use to achieve it.

So I shared my plan for the way we’d record the strings and how they’d fit into a highly-polished indie pop sound. I described the room and ambitious mic setups I wanted to use to create a surreal stereo field for the small indie pop project… To which Scott said, “Yeah yeah, that’s the easy stuff. But how are you going to pull this project off?”

I was dumbfounded and crushed hearing how unexcited Scott was about my production plan. What he truly wondered about was my plan to source talent, book studio time, keep track of session data, create production reports, draw up mock invoices as needed, and turn everything in on time to pass. It was a humbling moment and one that I’ll always remember.

Here’s why this matters: I was so caught up with visioning the outcome of my project that I failed to acknowledge the most structurally integral part of the entire adventure – The process. I was neck-deep in packing for my ultimate vacation, but I had no plane tickets, no hotel, and no money to buy it with. 🏖😪🍹🏝

The process is always more important than the outcome. The sooner you can get into the habit of vividly visioning your process, the sooner the outcome will appear.

6. You over-promise and under-deliver

When is the last time you said Yes to something, and later had to come up with an excuse for why you need more time? Or when is the last time you said Yes to a project you didn’t want to take on? I know, sometimes you have to say Yes because you need to get paid – But at what cost? 💵

When someone asks you to join in on a project and you say Yes, the expectation is automatically set:  You will join the project and you will give it your all. Professional composers take on exactly what they can handle – If they can’t handle it, then they recognize they cannot give it their all.

Saying Yes to projects that we can’t actually fir on our plate is essentially over-promising. And because we’re over-promising, ANYTHING that we deliver will be under-delivered. There’s no way around it.

I use to say Yes to everything that came my way. In some cases, it afforded me opportunities I’d have never had otherwise. In most other cases, it pushed me into overdrive and I would soon burnout. As a byproduct, saying Yes to everything turned me into a massive flake who became content with poor communication and left a bad taste in my collaborators’ mouths.

Yuck. 🤢

Develop the habit of checking your gut BEFORE you commit to (or decline) every opportunity that comes your way. Inspect what’s on your plate currently, weigh the risks, see what you’re giving up by saying Yes to another project, and ensure you’re able to go all-in on the things that expect your full creative attention.

7. You view change as a bad thing

For most, change is terrifying. Whether we like to admit it or not, change threatens our stability and perception of control. Change upsets the way we do things and the course we’re on. It’s no mystery why us creatives often feel so resistant when we’re up against critical feedback or process hiccups that upset our flow state.

Worldview shift:  Change stokes your creative flame. New road bumps require new solutions. New walls require new climbing techniques. New collaborations require new listening skills. New trends require new styles to keep up with.

New, new, new, new. Everything new comes from change. Growth and expansion comes from change, and is something every composer must embrace if they’re to increase their income. ↗️

If nothing else, consider the fact that you are exactly where you are today because of the way you’ve always done it. Your results change when you do.

8. Not trusting your gut

Your gut is the most powerful gauge you have when it comes to creating. Every ounce of your expression comes from your gut. Chemically speaking, your hormones come from your gut region – Fight, flight, freeze, etc. Trusting your gut literally means to feel and listen to your central nervous system and let it guide your choices.

The world makes “trusting your gut” out to be illogical, irrational, and incompetent. We’re raised to believe that if we aren’t making decisions from measured, tested data, our results will be nothing but fluff. And no one wants fluff… ☁️

The reality is that the people who believe this crap are not in touch with their own creativity. When you create, you are free to let go of the data, measurable, and finite possibilities. It’s the container for your intuition that helps you express your true self to the maximum. Your “gut feeling” reveals your true creative values, preferences, and beliefs – And no one can take that away from you.

Whether it comes down to chord choices, melody writing, or sound selection, your gut will guide you better than any other reference or style trend that you attempt to live up to. In music licensing, we are often tasked with making music that “sounds like Kanye” or similar. Most die-hard, passionate musicians would say this is selling out. That’s their gut talking, not yours.

Practice trusting your gut at least once a day. You have permission to go against the grain in your songwriting and do something unexpected in your production. The more often you release the urge to neglect your gut, the easier it is to open the floodgates for abundant ideas down the line. 🌊

9. You cultivate NMA

Nobody wants to work with a Debbie Downer. Bashing this, complaining about that – When will it end? Of course, negativity is subjective, but we all know what it looks like at an unhealthy level.

A negative mental attitude is one way to put it, and it’s the biggest detriment to your creativity on both a conscious and subconscious level. Afraid of the woo woo? Read on.

The mass majority of people believe that creativity comes from the conscious mind. They couldn’t be more wrong. Have you ever head someone say, “Oh, I can’t do that. I’m not very creative…”? Their idea of creativity is something that you either have or don’t have. 👎

Everyone is creative, even when they hit a wall and it seems like no good thing will ever pour out of them again. Creativity is problem-solving, that’s all. The phrase “I’m not creative right now” is negative talk, and means that you’re not willing to find a new solution to your problem. Consciously speaking it aloud trains your subconscious mind to believe it. And in the moments you need it most, your subconscious mind will check out. It’s science. 

Here are three books for you to read on the subject:  Success Through A Positive Mental Attitude, Psycho-Cybernetics, and Thinking, Fast and Slow. 📚

It’s not enough to “just be positive” in order to create like a professional. You must be willing to sign yourself up for the arduous task of NOT BEING NEGATIVE. The more you practice NOT being a Debbie Downer (out loud or otherwise), the more you rid your subconscious, creative, problem-solving mind of the negativity that shrinks it.

10. You love to pass the buck

We all cast blame a hundred times a day. We cast blame in small ways like, “I didn’t complete my todo list because there aren’t enough hours in the day.” We cast blame in big ways like, “I didn’t deliver this project on time because you asked for too many revisions.” In the (highly emotional) moment, you may call them reasons. After the steam blows off, it’s easy to see those reasons are nothing more than acts of blame.

Extreme accountability is a value that not a lot of creatives adhere to. After all, “If a creative choice doesn’t feel right, then just make a different one, right..?” “Everything kinda ebbs and flows and we create what we create and that is enough…” That’s cool, but I’ve got two Jeep payments and a bathroom reno that I need my music to pay for. 🤷

When the going gets tough, it’s easy to list all the reasons why YOU aren’t the one responsible for the outcome. When you pass the buck, you might as well start seeing it as refusing to provide value to the people who need it most.

“I didn’t compose today because I went to bed way too late last night and woke up groggy.” Doesn’t matter if you had a head full of fog or sunshine – If you don’t compose today, then you don’t create an asset that someone can license. Which means that you chose NOT to put money in your bank account. 💸

11. You’re sloppy and you know it

How many days of the week do you truly feel you bring your A-Game? You know, all those day you have your ducks in a neat, little row and you know exactly where your ideas start and where they end? Those days where your folders are organized and your shiny stems are packaged nicely? ✨

You know as well as I do that creativity requires a little chaos here and there. Chaos is GOOD and we can’t make valuable things without it. But when your station is sloppy, your folders are sloppy, and your todo list is sloppy – It bleeds into the sloppy way that you do everything.

As a composer, you may be tempted to let creativity take the reins of your day. Whatever order your creative pursuits destroy in their wake becomes someones else’s (your own) problem down the road. And we reason that it’s “totally worth it” to capture that shiny, valuable idea than to bog down your day with rudimentary, administrative tasks like cleaning up your inbox, etc. 🙄

Look, I’m not the patron saint of order and structure – Most days I’m all over the place. But when it comes to mindset, I make absolutely certain that I know where the most crucial bits of every project reside. I don’t want to have to think twice about what I named that one song I was working on last month, with that one vocal hook that went “whoo wow woo”…

Naming files clearly so that you know exactly what you’re looking for is a huge upgrade to your workflow. No more naming projects “Idea1” or “asdff” – Take a beat before naming a file and really think about what it is you’re about to put down. Close your eyes for 6 seconds, breathe deeply, and let it come to you. More often than not, the first word, feeling, image, or concept that pops into your mind will likely encapsulate the vision you’ll use throughout the entirety of the project.

12. You don’t take enough time for yourself in a day

Let’s face it, life does not stop. Life and work are often like oil and water: When work spills into life and life spills into work, the brakes tend to come to a screeching halt.

The problem lies in gear-switching and our limited mental capacity to hold our critical attention on more than one thing at a time. You may pride yourself as a multi-tasker, and that’s fine. But talking on the phone while pouring milk in your cereal is MUCH different than updating meetings in your calendar, capturing a melody idea from last night, and brushing your teeth all at the same. 🌪

As a creative, you were born to endure the endless struggle of ideas upon ideas swirling around in your head. But as a composer, you have been called to do much more – Keep in contact with people, balance your books, keep track of your syncs, and much more. When one of these tasks dominates your day and leaves little time for actual creating at the end of the day, you find yourself in a lonely, shameful position.

The fastest way to treat your time with more respect is to show up with intention. Here are some quick tips to get started:

• Got a Zoom meeting coming up? 👕 Go change your shirt. The physical change will trigger more stable gear-switching in your mind and make you more present.

• Need to break for lunch? 🥪 Don’t grab food and bring it back to your studio. It’s easy to cross this line, but it’s hard to undo the damage in the long run.

• Got put your blinders on to really focus on a track to meet a deadline? 📵 Turn off your wifi. Hell, go unplug your router if you need to. 

Your ultimate task as a highly-creative individual that finishes what you start is to focus on doing one thing at a time and doing it very well.

Of course there are many ways to be more productive, more creative, and more valuable as a composer. But this list should get you chugging in the right direction. The only thing holding you back from reaching your true creative potential is yourself. I love telling that to people because it’s true. I’m positive at least one of these stung you a little bit – Which one was it? Where could you use a little nudge outside your comfort zone and into the growth zone? 

Settling back into old habits once you’ve gained some momentum is inevitable. Your creativity is a muscle and must be nurtured, sometimes by adding in new things, and sometimes by ripping out the old things. Your creativity hangs in the balance of long todo lists, prior commitments, and exciting new projects. There will always be something “in the way” of you capturing your best ideas and delivering your most valuable work. Those obstacles are little problems, that’s all – It’s up to you to stay focused on your major purpose, get creative, and solve those problems in the best way you can. 🔥

All my best,

Graham Barton
Composer · Mentor · Imperfectionist
@syncbeast.co