I'm a sucker for resolutions

What are your musical goals for the year ahead?

Today, I want to exist at the intersection of new year’s resolutions and getting better at making music.

I’m a bit of a sucker when it comes to celebrating the new year. It’s the only major holiday (in my rotation, anyway) that celebrates beginnings and renewal. The collective release of the previous year and the reflection that comes with the start of the coming year is simply intoxicating. I am drawn to it personally, professionally, creatively, musically.

I think I’m so strongly drawn to the energy of the new year because, at my core, past any anxiety and fear that creeps to the surface, I am an optimist. I believe strongly in growth, second chances, reconciliation, abundance, and the endless and infinite capacity for better. And so, I love a holiday that embodies that idea on a global scale.

The case for musical resolutions

The act that is perhaps most synonymous with the new year is that of setting resolutions for oneself. Resolutions are also, frankly, where most people harbor their greatest frustration with the new year. The image of overcrowded gyms filled with hordes of people come January 1st who all inevitably quit by February 1st best sums up how resolutions are viewed in the popular imagination. For many people, resolutions are things to fail at.

But, what if you or I didn’t have to fail at resolutions? What if the problem isn’t resolutions in and of themselves but our execution of them? The root of the word resolution is resolute. To be resolute is to be committed to something. The very act of setting a resolution is my mind’s way of setting off alarm bells, as if I’m saying to myself “hey, this thing is important to you and it needs more time and attention this coming year.” I need to resolve myself to it.

As a composer and music producer, my resolutions are more often than not musical in nature. I feel resolved to grow in my business and creative practice. I need to grow in both if I wish to maintain both. I think that new year’s resolutions are an excellent vehicle for systematizing and formalizing musical growth. Plus, resolving to be a better music maker is a far less crowded path than joining a gym.

I’m on the Gantt grind, baby

Visualizing the problem — and the solution

I’ve learned that I can’t leave things in my head. It is cavernous in there. Space aplenty to hold things and space aplenty for things to get lost. I have failed so many resolutions because I haven’t externalized them. I’ve come to learn that externalizing things make them real. So, this year I have — wait for it — resolved to do things differently.

I spent much of last week putting together the tools that will help me visualize my musical goals for 2024. I’m a shoot for the moon kind of guy so I’m planning big. The heavily redacted image above is the Gantt chart I’m using to track every project for the whole year, broken down into to quarter, month, and week. I’ll use this tool to help build my calendar at the start of every week. I have a number of goals (this newsletter, YouTube, and song releases amongst others) that will require regular, consistent time investments from my part. Additionally, I have other projects the require me to make consistent progress on if I want to reach the eventual deadlines.

Visualizing my goals in this fashion not only makes them very, very real but also helps me realize what I can actually accomplish and what I have to prioritize when. Honestly, when I visualize my goals in this fashion, I already feel like 2024 is moving too fast. It’s the first day of the year and Q1 deadlines loom over me. I feel compelled to work ahead in a way that I don’t normally. I want to surprise and impress myself. There are 52 weeks in a year, 52 opportunities to impress myself and meet my goals.

The New Year should come more than once a year

As I’ve gone through this process, I’ve developed a bit of a thesis for myself regarding the new year and resolutions. The problem isn’t that resolutions are bound to fail, the problem is that the new year only comes once a year. By which I mean that I need more than an annual check-in to make good on the things that I want to accomplish. A year, unsupervised, is far too much time to go before checking in with myself. Hell, any longer than a month is too long to go without checking in. I know myself. I have to run a tighter personal ship than that.

If you’re going down the musical resolution route like I am, I recommend not going it alone. Having accountability helps. Having somebody else that you can check in with on your goals can be invaluable to achieving them. The person helping you hold yourself accountable doesn’t have to be another musician, either. (Though that helps, of course.) In my case, my spouse Emma is my sounding board and accountability partner in all of this. She can’t necessarily help me brainstorm YouTube videos or newsletter posts as she isn’t a composer or music producer herself, but she can make sure that I keep my eyes on the bigger picture.

It’s about striving towards your highest self

I really do believe in the concept of a highest self. A version of yourself, sitting latent inside of you, whom is fully self-actualized, full of wisdom, and fully capable of helping you in the here and now. In a difficult moment or a moment of resistance, I ask myself “What would my highest self do right now?” and I instantly know what I should do. I know who my best self is and what they would do in almost any situation.

We’re all striving to be better versions of ourselves and the magic of the highest self is giving yourself the permission to be your best self right now. In planning my year and holding myself to it, I’m creating opportunities for my best self to emerge. The more I allow myself to access my highest self, the more I become my best self. In my mind, this is the path of actualizing self-improvement.

In prepping for this new year, I journaled on the prompt of “who is my highest self in 2024?” If you’re unsure of who your highest self is, or aren’t sure where to begin in conceptualizing a highest self, I’ll offer you some of the affirmations I wrote in response to that prompt:

“My highest self is focused and flourishing. All doors are open but at any given moment I know exactly what doors I’m going through. My highest self is a creature of routine and habit. I fully understand that it is discipline that brings me true joy and peace. My mind is quiet. My highest self is creatively and professionally thriving. My focus is on output, not perfection. I am releasing music regularly. I am sharing content regularly. I am grateful and graceful with myself but up for any challenge. I am unafraid and anchored in abundance.”

Take what resonates with you and adopt it yourself. May we achieve all of our musical goals in 2024 and beyond.

Until next week.

Quick Hits

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• I was interviewed on the Sound Business Podcast. Akash and I chatted about how to break into games, finding clients, and a lot more. Listen here.

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• I wrote music for the first VR Barbie game. This month, Peeka and Mattel released Barbie: You Can Be a Fashion Designer VR. Learn more here.

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• Do you need help with your music production or composition skills? I offer private one on one lessons over Zoom. You can sign up for lessons here.