We don’t often equate efficiency with creativity. And indeed, if the constraints of daily life weren’t thrust against our creative lives, we would have no reason to need to economize our time while writing. But, groceries need to be shopped for, appointments need to be kept, and families need to be cared for. All this life stuff draws the parameters around time left for writing.

I recall a business meeting a few years ago during which I first heard the phrase ‘Pareto Principle.’ You may know it by the ’80/20 rule,’ and it asserts that 80% of consequences come from 20% of causes. If I put this in terms of the time I spend writing a song, 80% of the song is established by 20% of my initial efforts to write it. The rest is just polishing.

When I think about the large amounts of time I’ve spent cleaning up my songs, finding just the right word, searching for that magical chord, or the melody to end all melodies, I can see how the effort expended didn’t always directly correlate to the quality of the work I create. In other words, more time doesn’t always equal a better song. 

Some songs take longer to write than others, and some writers move more slowly, even glacially, through the process than others. But, I believe there can be a lesson learned here, especially when songwriting consistently gets crowded out by too many other essential and non-essential life tasks.

When your own time runs short, consider these ways to apply productivity to your creative process.

1. Batch your creative practices. When trying to push a song all the way to the end, we often work and rework melody, chords, groove and feel, lyrics, and maybe even production ideas with a demo. Instead, batch your focus by only writing chord progressions and their accompanying grooves and feels for the day or week. This encourages us to stay in a zone and really go deep within that zone so that by the end of the week, we’ve traversed lots of harmonic ground. We could do the same for lyrics, spending an entire day or a week if we want just dreaming up and writing down titles and maybe outlining or sketching their content into viable songs. Some of us batch naturally, but do so with the element that comes easiest or most comfortably such as lyrics or melody. Instead, aim to batch the parts of a song that hold you back from that finished song.

2. Make Quick-Fire Decisions. When you’re unsure about how to move forward on a half-baked song, sometimes the key is simply deciding to make decisions. Commit to recording the song in it’s unfinished form, singing na-na-na’s, grazing over the right chords, or filling in some dummy lyrics without stopping, and then put the recording away for a day or two. This can be the best way to clearly see the issues that need addressing. Rather than spinning my wheels, I can recognize that the song won’t completely change shape or personality by narrow tweaks. It’s essence is already established, and when I listen back in a few days, I can decide whether the body of the song is worth finishing. Quick decision-making is like a machete, not a paring knife. If the pre-chorus isn’t coming together, my first attempt might be to nix it all together. And what about a bridge? Simple is often best and provides a great place to start. Just two lyric lines that seem appropriate and a contrasting musical idea from the chorus could be just the ticket. But all in all, if I’m trying to save the song by an amazing bridge, it’s unlikely anyone will get there anyway. I’d be better starting to write a new song I’m excited about.

3. Invest deeply, and let go quickly. It’s a painful way of living, but a liberating way of writing. Write so freely that you only demo 2 out of every 10 songs you write. We can do the same with idea generation. Write 2 out of 10 titles you come up with. When deliberation becomes a problem, the antidote is to finish songs quickly within a single writing session. It is our critical judge that we peg as the antagonist to our inspiration. The key is to view them as companions, both in it for the same gain. Inspiration expands while the critic constricts. But it is together that they guide us towards work that feels worthwhile and purposeful. It is natural to pendulum between the two, but in their extremes, neither is a good guide alone.

Stay creative,