How can musicians develop a strong work ethic?

The one thing I've learned was to always finish your material. As a music producer we wish to like everything However you may not like it and because of this you won't finish it. It is very important to understand that at that given time it may not be your favorite but finish it because somewhere in the future you may need it..

In working with my clients, I've come to understand that being very clear on your "why" helps with the momentum behind work ethic. Work ethic is the expression of your state of alignment with your personal values, passion and authentic self. The best way to develop an great external work ethic is to first look inside and ask yourself "why am I doing this? at every step.

While SMART goals are important, they alone do not encompass a strong work ethic. A true work ethic in the music industry involves crediting your team appropriately, ensuring fair payment as agreed, advocating for gender equality in the market, practicing inclusion of diverse professionals in projects, and being genuinely interested in making a positive impact in the industry. For me, these aspects truly make a difference in ethical conduct. It's about building a reputation not just on achievements, but also on integrity, fairness, and a commitment to positive change within the music community.

I recommend to artists I work with to create a schedule with one or two theme days every week. Coming up with fresh content can be daunting so the theme days give a couple of days that are easy. I suggest looking at what peers are doing to get some inspiration. Then look at content that they’ve listed in the past and see what resonated well with their audience and plan more content like that. Creating content is continuous. With today’s technology a camera is never far away so content can be created at any time and saved for the right moment to share. Most importantly don’t be afraid to think out of the box!

I think this is potentially the hardest things to achieve for any musicians/artists out there. It is so easy to get distracted or procrastrinate as a musician because the reality of it is that nobody can be creative 24/7. It takes various elements to put an artist in “the mood” and so a lot of them end up having late night sessions or off-schedules that can affect the rest of their productivity. My main advice is to start with setting a realistic routine and treat your craft like a full-time job (or part-time) - This mindset shift helps you realize the amount of “admin” work you can get done ASIDE from creating. Anything outside of this is pure distraction and you should deem it as so.

I find it better to play my music for perfect strangers. The perfect stranger doesn't have an opinion about you personally because they don't know you therefore the criticism you get doesn't get personal or mask the narrative. At the end of the day you want to know the opinion if it's good or not.

Think about it this way You are the vessel that the music goes through. It doesn't belong to you It belongs to the people who judge it if that makes sense. When you finish your material you let it go Just as you let a child go off to school for the first time by themselves.. let the university to judge..