I have problem FINISHING things. It all starts with the IDEA, that comes from a feeling or thought, or experience. I IMAGINE the project I can make, the way I will DEVELOP it. Make it BIG, so big - it will changes peoples lives. Then it's time to execute it, and I stop. Why?? Because it's not PERFECT enough. Because I DON"T have the right gear, resources, I have no one to help me, because I don't have the time right now, because It will be better to do it tomorrow, next week, next month, when I have the money, when I have the time the energy, when I have the people, when When WHEN... I can go forever with WHEN, I can make excuses all day long, and I can give you good ones. I'm The King of Excuses. This is how we are designed. our brain will always look for an easier way out.
As photographers, musicians, film makers, content creators - we always try to make it perfect, to make it closer to our vision of perfection. We think there is this point in our project, it's like climbing the mountain, and when we reach the top - there is nothing else to add. There are no more edits to do. This is NEVER true.
There is one thing that is true for every song, you ever heard - it went through the process of being FINISHED. Before you heard it, or liked it or shared it, someone decided to finish that song. There is another thing that is true for 100% of all the ART that was ever been made in the world, and that is: It could of been worked on MORE. There is no such thing as perfect song, or movie or painting, you can always change that little detail, and if you spend a lot of time and work on it 'till the you decide it is perfect, and you share it with enough people, at some point you will come across that person who would do it differently. The is no PERFECT. There is only FINISHED. I am quoting ANDREW HUANG here. He made a great video on this topic, I suggest you watch it:
There is another thing with PROCRASTINATION / FINISHING. The human animal is very much driven by habits. We do the things that we are used to do. If you look at the most successful people in art, sport, business, any area, they all have habits that are pushing them forward. Little things that they do every day, that adds up. For example the classical singers that are doing vocal exercises every day for YEARS, or the professional athletes that always start their day with 5am RUN, or those businessman who started selling from early age, door to door and climb their way on the leader. Nothing happens overnight, BUT we can change our habits overnight. You will not change drastically if you make 1 set of push ups, but if you make set of push ups EVERY DAY, you will change drastically overtime. Not finishing one project is not a huge deal, but every project we don't finish adds up, until NOT FINISHING becomes our habit. And then it's a problem. Because our brain think it's OK "NOT TO FINISH IT", then it's really hard to finish anything. The good think is, that you can also make FINISHING your habit. You start with something small, but you decide to finish it, and you do that, it gives you that great feeling of accomplishment. You keep finishing those little things, then you can switch to bigger projects if you want, but finishing a little project is much better then big project that stays FROZEN. We cannot erase old habits, but we can switch them with good habits. Last months I was not making enough music. I had all those unfinished projects, almost done, hanging on my neck as river stones, in a folder, on my desktop, I didn't wanted to look at them, because it made me feel bad about myself, because I didn't finished them. Last week I decided with my friend Stephen Paul Tyler, (Berlin - based musician) we will put on a song every week. On YouTube, or Bandcamp, or Soundcloud, where ever. It must be 1 song every week. I uploaded a song on Friday. Here it is:
Once I pressed upload, it was not that hard. I thought about it. I was watching a broadcast from Netherfriends (who is one of my favorite musicians, US) *he was telling, how he switched from making shows, to producing songs. 2016 he was making 1 album/ month. Last year he did 2 albums / month. This year 2018, he announced he's doing 3 albums/ month. For 2019 he will be making album/ week, then at 2020 he will not produce anything. He said that, if you are a musician, you should try to make at least 1 album/ month, to start making money out of it, to create a following and to trigger your creativity. I was thinking - "I can do that", so yesterday (Sunday) I decided I will make 2 songs/ week, which means 1 album/ month. I will do it 2018 and test it. I already did album/ month with my Christmas album "COLD GERMANY" (2015) https://deanishome.bandcamp.com/album/cold-germany And "OSLO N KIEL" (2017) that I made while working on a ship in the North Sea. https://deanishome.bandcamp.com/album/oslo-n-kiel I had this song that was almost finished, I went to play in that open mic at Kindl Stuben close to my house, I went home after the show (12:30pm) with the goal to finish and upload a song before going to sleep. I finished it at 5am and at 5:30am I went to sleep. Here is it:
I want to be more productive this year. We will always have ideas, but I don't want to die with my ideas. Someone said: "Do you know where is the richest place in the world? Where you can find the most interesting movies, music and Art, the newest inventions, the best ideas that no one heard about and can change our world? It's the Graveyard. In the Graveyard you can find projects that could of change our world, but the people who had them, died with them. They never finish them. They let them die." When I die, I don't want to take anything with me. I want to bring everything out while I'm still here. Don't die with your ideas_
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