The Compound Effect of Producing (Patreon)

We all know that when you put time and energy into ANYTHING in life, you see results. That's expected. As human beings, we've got this inner knowing that with effort comes reward. But what happens when even your best efforts get staggered, sometimes from uncontrollable circumstances or situations out of your control? We end up losing "momentum" with a certain task or endeavor, and then it feels as if it's slipping out of our hands and when we return we're "starting over" having to pick up where we left off. 

But what if the problem isn't the staggering of time, what if the issue we have with progress is our mindset? Something I've been thinking a lot about lately is this idea of "The Compound Effect" which is this idea that when we practice or do something regularly, the benefits of our practice are "compounded" into further results down the line. In the world of investing, they often talk about "compound interest" which is interest that builds upon itself over time, essentially creating money out of money as time goes on. 

With music production, the rules are different and we need to think about it as more of a "practice" rather than method of generating results. This is because practice is often related to "skill" and when we become skilled at something, it changes our perception of something to what was once "difficult" or "unobtainable" now becomes easier, and more fluid than we could have ever imagined. 

This is why I like to relate The Compound Effect to my own production, because it's something that - even if I don't get to practice every day - still think about when I sit down in front of the DAW and get to work. I'm making "compound gains" because I've done this time and time again, going back to the same techniques and relearning what I might have forgotten much quicker than when I first picked it up. 

In his book "The Compound Effect" author Darren Hardy proposes another idea he calls "The Ripple Effect" which is where one practiced habit, or benefit feeds into other areas of life causing greater and greater assets to areas we didn't even expect. For example, we all know that exercising regularly is good for our health. But then that same exercise could lead into better eating habits, better sleeping patterns, and then increased mental clarity resulting in MORE creativity, MORE inspiration, and becoming more emotionally invested in our own self worth. 

See how that works? It's pretty simple. One small change leads into others and before you know it, you're on a whole new path and trajectory simply by using the power of discipline, self knowledge, and dedication to the process that increases everything you've worked so hard to achieve 100X over again. It really is the small things in life that sometimes have the most impact. If you can do this with your own life, and with our own musical production process, you'll be well on your way to making better music and achieving those musical goals you never thought possible. 

Cheers,

-S1gns