How to stop procrastinating / dopamine addiction and become more productive with music production?

[kanoharuayu]

I've been struggling with various procrastination methods and other things that hold me back from actually being productive and finishing / producing tracks.

I've been trying to get into a "setup" for years now to where I'll feel "ready" but it's become an endless journey now of research, buying things, trying things out, reading more, and between this I have addictions to gaming, among other things.

I've spent more time READING ABOUT HOW TO DO IT, then doing it myself. I've watched so many MWTM tutorials, production tutorials, read so many music theory guides as well as videos... And trying things out sparsely !

I've looked this up somewhat, I think it's a DOPAMINE addiction I have, to watching endless youtube videos, or playing endless game matches online.

At the beginning of 2023, I said to myself

"OKAY! I'm done with tutorials and research, I've bought enough plugins, I'm completely setup now, I'll start making music constantly and putting it out there"

Now it's 2024, and analyzing my past year, I've bought a bunch of new plugins, bought some hardware synths to play with, wasted about a total of 5 months gaming
(legit december to feburary first, all I did was play video games lol)

I got fed up with all the research and watching videos and took a 2 month break gaming, now I'm kind of burnt out on gaming, and I'm writing this post right now after looking up what's new at NAMM 2024. I got a bunch of bookmarks and tutorials I could continue watching or reading, but I really need to just delete them and open up my f**king daw and start again. I feel like I need some dopamine detox first, maybe a week away from internet...

Any advice?

[vurt]

https://youtu.be/ZXsQAXx_ao0?si=S0pYsIa92KSYns89

[ahuman]

You are rationalizing the whole thing again and put your focus on how to end procrastination, instead of open your DAW and PLAY around (like a child would do). Develop an idea and find a topic that means something to you and make a track about it. Turning off the internet is probably a good idea.

[lotus2035]

I spend many hours a day working out anti-procrastination strategies.

[BertKoor]

Get the dopamine rush from yer DAW !!

[neverbefore]

You got this ass-backwards - you need to optimise your procrastination. Forget about finishing tracks, enjoy your tinkering and learning.

(Somewhere in the Bible there is a passage where Jesus says it only takes a single good song, less than 3 minutes even, to enter the kingdom of Heaven. You have plenty of time)

[Bombadil]

Procrastination is about perfectionism, to a certain degree. It is also related to reinforcement schedules where deadlines are involved.

[vurt]

im still only an amcrastinator.

[neverbefore]

Procrastination is about perfectionism, to a certain degree. It is also related to reinforcement schedules where deadlines are involved.

definitely - fear that one will not be able to realise the vision. Better never to start than fail, fall short, disappoint

[Srae]

.-

[ahuman]

He doesnt answer anymore. Probably making tunes now. Well done.

[Bombadil]

„In the beginning, was the Deed.“

-Goethe.

[thecontrolcentre]

Stop pissing about and "Just do it" ...

[FranklyFlawless]

Any advice?

Plenty.

Having well-defined explicit goals is the first step. Once you have a clear vision of that, you can determine the next steps required to follow through with accomplishing them.

Purge anything considered irrelevant to your tasks at hand. That includes YouTube, gaming, and bookmarks. Develop your self-discipline and respect your musical ambitions above all else.

[Scrubbing Monkeys]

Limit your tools. Start with a purpose. Set deadlines.
Try entering the One Synth Challenge here at KVR. If synth programming is not your thing use presets.