Inspiration for Songwriters + Musicians (10 moves)
This post is a collection of my favorite, go-to moves to create, control and harness inspiration for songwriters and musicians. Because inspiration, unfortunately, isn’t always reliable.
I’m confident these techniques work – some more than others, depending on your personality and situation. So give them a fair shot, and apply them with intention and belief in their power.
And also remember to stay patient and go easy on yourself.
It’s less about controlling emotions and inspiration and more about accepting and setting ourselves up for success – and of course, some days are easier than others.
It’s just as important to recognize musical burnout and step away for some much needed you time.
But I’m psyched that you’re here. So let’s wrap up this chit chat and dive right in.
1. Just Start (The Activation Principle)
Just start – easy enough. And kind of a broken record – but hear me out.
Inspiration and mood often come after action (not the other way around). So if you’re relying solely on inspiration to finish songs and reach musical goals, then your progress will likely be piecemeal.
So how can we get into the habit of just starting? One trick I love to use (or keep in mind) is the activation principle.
Essentially, this is the amount of energy that’s required to just start something. It’s the energy to simply take that initial first step.
If we can control this – and discipline ourselves for that brief moment – we’re way more likely to work longer than expected and feel more motivated.
But remember, inspiration and motivation often follow initial action.
2. Study Songs and Other Musicians or Successful People
We all know the benefits of using reference tracks. They can inspire new ideas and motivate us.
So active listening is a fantastic habit to get into. But let’s take things further and explore the people behind the things we’re inspired by.
When you study other people who’ve done impressive things, you’ll realize at least one common theme – they failed a lot and focused on the love for the process – not the notoriety, money or material rewards.
You’ll find that their inspiration tends to be more intrinsic or altruistic. They’re driven by a higher purpose and a love for what they’re doing. This is super healthy.
So study their methods, their routines and their sources of education.
Assume a beginner’s mindset and absorb the mindset and lifestyle of the people you’re trying to become.
3. Identify Your Purpose and Goals
Knowing your purpose and goals is crucial for inspiration and direction. It’s kind of obvious, and I think we all know this intuitively.
But I also think many of us don’t actually sit down and write down (or periodically revise) our goals. We don’t always make things into an actionable plan.
I know I never did – until I did.
So, this one is simple. Know your purpose, identify your musician values and define your goals.
Remembering these macro concepts will be a pivotal source of inspiration for you and your music.
4. Reverse Engineer Big Goals Into Micro and Nano Goals
Once we establish our main, big picture goals and purpose, we should split things up. This makes things way more manageable and motivating.
Seeing the path forward in a visualized, clear and step-by-step format is inspiring.
So break down your bigger goals into their smaller component parts and tasks that need to be completed. This will make things feel way more attainable and easier.
It’s a great source for inspiration to check off tasks and complete micro-goals.
For example, let’s say I have an initial macro goal of reaching 10,000 monthly visitors to this blog.
I could break this down into tasks that need to be completed and subsequent micro and nano goals.
A micro goal could be to write my first 100 posts.
This could be further broken down to daily nano goals – for example, writing one new blog post every day, or researching 10 new keywords to write posts on every day.
Keeping things narrow helps keep me inspired.
5. Visualize Things – Make New Neural Networks
Visualization is incredibly powerful – especially if you truly believe and feel that visualization with emotion.
I’m constantly inspired by my past self, my present action and my future possibility.
It’s that last one that’s really fun.
So imagine your future self, meeting your musician goals.
What emotions are you feeling? What’s your life look like? What does your daily routine look like? How about your room and home – what’s the vibe?
How do you spend your mornings? What are you eating for breakfast and how do you spend your time?
You’ll probably realize that a lot of these future self goals and routines you can simply start now.
This is all amazingly inspiring. Visualize your future, and feel it as if it’s already happened and start living that future life today (at least, the parts you can control now).
6. Adjust Your Inner (and Outer) Circle
I’m a huge supporter of surrounding yourself with like-minded and inspiring people.
So take a look around at your inner circle. Do the people in your life push you further and support your vision? Are you learning from them or do you have any mentors?
If not, start building a new community.
I’m not saying you need to cut everyone out of your life, but your time is precious and spending it with more people who either share your vision or push you closer to it is crucial.
Luckily, it’s much easier to connect with people who are doing the same things as we are, or striving for bigger things.
Start networking with other musicians and producers on social media. Reach out. Put yourself out there.
Similarly, we can adjust our outer circle – that is, the people we see and listen to (but don’t know).
Start listening to podcasts and watching videos of hyper successful entrepreneurs and people. Start to download their way of thinking and mindset into your subconscious.
Inspiration is everywhere, so find some people that resonate with you and let them be your “passive mentor” (that is, they don’t work with you directly, but you consume their content and follow their advice).
7. Build A Process-Oriented Growth Mindset
A growth mindset means you believe you can always improve, failures are steps forward and anything is possible.
It’s way more optimistic (and valid) than a fixed mindset.
Plus, it’s inspiring. Taking on a growth mindset (and being intentional and aware of this) can reframe your actions and daily life in inspiring ways.
I constantly see obstacles and skills I don’t yet have as exciting opportunities and possibilities.
I’ve actually written down my strengths and weaknesses in a Google Doc, except I literally labeled my weaknesses as “Exciting Weaknesses – Skills to Look Forward To”.
It’s a growth mindset. Everytime I review this list or update it (moving things from weakness to actively working on, to eventually a strength), I feel inspired and excited.
So start practicing and embracing your own growth mindset and reframe all of your musical goal setting and any weaknesses or obstacles standing in your way as exciting steps forward.
8. Gamify Things
Gamification is a bit of a buzzword. Essentially, as the name suggests, it’s taking a task and turning it into a game.
But gamifying your songwriting (or other similar songwriting challenges) can be an awesome way to boost inspiration.
Here’s a quick example that I like doing sometimes.
1. Set a timer (for example, 10 minutes)
2. Try to write a full song (or at least the shell of one) before the timer runs out
3. Bonus points if you record yourself doing it and post it online
This added pressure takes our mind off the fact that we’re not feeling inspired, and sort of forces us to just create something.
It’s pretty fun too. And I’ve actually come up with some pretty solid ideas doing this – so definitely try this one out!
9. Dress the Part. Play the Part.
This may not work for everyone, but it does for me.
Whenever I “dress the part” (at least, the image that I have in my mind of my future self and who I want to become), I feel more inspired and motivated.
It’s a simple trick to get in the zone and feel like a different person.
I mean, I’m sitting in my room writing in PJs most days (duh), but if I’m needing an extra boost, I’ll throw on some inspiring clothes and make things more fashionable.
It works for me when I'm in an inspiration pinch. So I thought it’d be worth sharing here.
10. Revamp Your Environment
Your environment can have a big impact on inspiration and musical energy.
For example, if my room is a huge mess and feels stuffy, my energy and inspiration feels pretty zapped.
On the flipside, when my area is clean (more or less), feels fresh and matches my aesthetic design preferences – I’m way more inspired and motivated.
I love natural light, organic woods and plants, minimalism and maybe some fresh incense or oils.
Similarly, I often head to a coffee shop if I need to get some writing and lyrics done, but can’t seem to focus where I’m at. I even do some light editing and arranging in my DAW sometimes.
Either way, the main takeaway is this: your environment matters and can have a big influence on your vibe and energy for making music.
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