Never make your most important decisions when you are in your worst moods.
Robert H. Schuller
I try to get my most creative work done first.
Later in the day, when I start getting tired, and/or my mood tips towards the melancholy, I tend to focus on broader strokes – making small arrangement changes, a fader here, a riser there.
But the process of making something new, or of fine-tuning a sound at the edge of my ability, is something I think we can only do when we are in a state of positivity and mental clarity. You might say it’s mood-dependent.
That’s obvious enough to most people. I mean, we all know if we walk into work after waking up late, forgetting to feed the cat, and spilling coffee on ourselves on the way to work because the IDIOT in front of us braked too quickly (yep, it’s their fault), we’re not going to be the MVP that day.
But let’s get subtle here, because shaping sound is f**king subtle. Even more so when creating a new sound, because you often aren’t entirely sure what it is you are looking for – you just feel good when you find it.
IMHO, it doesn’t matter how good your ears are – unless you’re getting lazy, you want that sound as good as you can possibly make it. Which means you are straining yourself to your limit.
At this blurry frontier, you may only think you hear something good or bad in the mix, and only repeated listens (ideally days or weeks apart) can prove it.
How confident you are depends on how many distractions are around you, and yes – how positive you’re feeling.
Why? Because the worse you feel, the more you subconsciously doubt that what you’re hearing is REAL.
Even worse, your negative self-talk can start acting up, which just throws a layer of “f**k this” over the whole process.
It’s probably also influenced by how much you act in integrity with yourself, your values and personal beliefs. I speak from experience when I say going against yourself messes your mind up in a LOT of ways.
Again, I’m not saying don’t show up to work if you stub your toe getting out of bed – but maybe try to delay the hardest part of the work until it stops throbbing. And ideally, you’ve also mastered inner peace at some point.
“Inner peace… (sigh)”
I guess that’s why so many successful people have a strict morning regime, to get their brains as consistently focused as possible. How ’bout you folks?
Credits:
“Black and Tan Short Coat Medium Sized Dog Lying on Floor” by Mathew Coulton from Pexels