“31 Days” Sample Chapter: Confront Your Fears

This is a sample chapter from my upcoming ebook, 31 Days to Better Songwriting, launching on February 16th!

You are the greatest obstacle to your own success.

There are two different forces at work in you. One is excitation, which is responsible for your ideas, your motivation, your desire to share your art with the world. The opposing force, inhibition, wants you to “stay sensible.” Be reasonable. Don’t take any risks.

Inhibition steps between your idea and the outside world and says, “You’re not going anywhere.”

Why are you holding back?

Some inhibitions are useful. They run quality control. But even when there’s a legitimate reason to hold back and improve a song or album before releasing it, holding back is often the first step toward never releasing that work.

You’ll feel strong inhibition right before you leave to go to an open mic event. You’ll feel it again just before you stand up to take the stage. You’ll feel it right before an A&R person plays your mp3. You’ll feel it right before you publish an album. This is fear. It evolved to help us survive, and you can’t bypass it. It’s hardwired.

Unfortunately, we’re all very adept at disguising the fear from ourselves. “Oh, I can’t go to open mic tonight because I’m too tired. I’d perform badly. And I’m not sure I’ve memorized all the chords to this song. I’d better wait until next month instead.”

The Voice of Inhibition Says:

• This isn’t good enoough.

• You’re a fraud.

• You’re not creative.

• You’re not ready.

• You don’t know your instrument well enough.

• You’re too tired.

• You don’t have time.

• You don’t have the right connections to make this project happen.

• Your ideas all sound stupid.

• You can’t meet this album’s release date.

• You don’t have enough money to record an album.

• You need nicer instruments/equipment.

• You don’t know enough about craft.

• You don’t have the discipline.

• Your attention span is too short.

• You should make this deliberately weird on purpose, so you’re insulated from criticism.

• Your album won’t sell.

• You can wait until tomorrow to practice or compose.

• If you make this public, somebody’s going to steal your ideas.

• You’re not as good at guitar as Steve Vai.

• You can’t sing like Ella Fitzgerald.

• You can’t compose like Schubert.

• Who are you to think anyone wants to hear what you have to say?

• Hey, you’ve worked hard on this song. You should go take a break. Just for a minute.

• You don’t want music to become like work, like a job, right?

• You can’t force inspiration.

• This is too profane. Your mother/boyfriend/friends are going to be upset with you.

• It’s selfish of you to pursue songwriting. The dishes aren’t done. The bills aren’t paid.

• You can write songs someday when you have more time and money.

• This is too weird, and nobody’s going to understand it.

• You just weren’t born with the talent.

None of the above are valid excuses for withholding your art from us.

Sneaky Self-Sabotage

Here are some subtle tips for sabotaging your own art. I’ve used them all to avoid songwriting at one time or another, and believe me—they work.

• Fill up your calendar with social events and people that don’t actually enhance your life.

• Allow your workspace to get so messy and disorganized that it becomes a full-time job just to find the desk underneath all the loose ends.

• Read lots and lots of books on theory and songwriting craft at the expense of actually creating and releasing work.

• Announce that your first song/album is going to blow everybody away. Stall indefinitely, seeking perfection.

• Become so intensely critical of every song you hear that you freeze your own music’s progress.

• Fritter away money on superficial things, when you could be saving it for website costs, album pressings, a new instrument, studio time, songwriting books, etc.

• Keep all your recording equipment stashed away in weird, inconvenient locations. Make it hard to set up your rig so that you’ll have an excuse not to go to the trouble.

• Don’t replace the batteries in pedals. Let broken equipment stay broken so that you don’t have to record.

• Allow criticism to discourage you. “Jerry was right. I’ll never be a world-class funk trombonist.” Sulk.

• Keep your songwriting notebook stashed away in a drawer where you can’t see it. Out of sight, out of mind.

• Conceive such grandiose plans that you become completely overwhelmed and can’t even begin work.

• Buy a songwriting notebook that’s so beautiful that you’re terrified of making mistakes in it.

• Make it impossible to sort your demo tapes or audio files. Leave them all unlabeled, until the pile’s too big to bother sorting through.

• Never review your notebook of songwriting ideas.

• Lose interest in a song when it’s finished. Delay recording it. Never release it.

• Talk about how difficult songwriting is, until you’ve entirely convinced yourself and given up.

• Leave your cell phone and internet connection on during writing or practice times. Allow every text, spam e-mail, and Facebook status update to disrupt your concentration.

Hogtie Your Censor

Even when we do manage to get a song or an album out the door, the material that gets out might be missing something.

What are you censoring before it reaches the page? What socially unacceptable truths are you holding back?

Whatever you are most afraid of writing is exactly what you should be writing. Be authentic, be truthful—and people will notice. You may be surprised to find that you weren’t speaking only for yourself. Vulnerable honesty is risky, and for that very reason it often pays off.

All other things being equal, courage will make a songwriter stand out of the pack.

Interference from Outside

Often people who’re held captive by their own fears will inflict their internal dialogue upon your creative endeavors, too. “Quit daydreaming. Be responsible. Grow up.”

Make a choice: either you can hang out and spend your life with these miserable people, or you can confront them, create fearlessly, and be the light at the end of their dark, damp tunnel of a comfort zone.

Victories, Small and Large

Celebrate everything you create. Savor it. Enjoy it. You pushed your way through all that resistance! And now you’ve created something that you can share with the world.

That’s amazing. Great job.

I dare you to do it again.

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For 30 more chapters of pure songwriting awesomeness, check out 31 Days to Better Songwriting, available as an instant PDF download starting on February 16th, 2011!