Tag: projects

Reflecting on 2024 and moving forward in 2025

As the year’s end is upon us, it’s time to reflect on the year and think about the goals and processes for next year. I am not one for reminiscing but it’s always good to learn from your mistakes and take a good notion of all things that went great, mediocre or downright bad.

I am a firm believer in this quote of Thomas Edison, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”

The key to this is that you learn from your mistakes, and a lot of people have no way to learn from their failures as they have no process in place to document any of the steps they take. Even in creative professions and hobby’s (Which I don’t do anymore really, I look at most things in terms of projects. Which leads to better results and ultimately more fun) it is very important to find out what works for you, and how you can build a better process.

Consistency is key, which I have always known and experienced in running, my revalidation process and day to day life. I have not really applied it to hobby’s and creative projects I did until a few years ago.

This year the consistency in music making has gone up, and the biggest improvement in the process is the new creative space. Which has had a very positive impact on everything in the short spaces it’s finished. Next year this will make an even bigger impact.

I have not met my goals this year but I have learned how to be consistent and better at working on the mundane tasks that every creative process and project have, I have organized my output better, done some more in taking notes on ideas and making sure I have a way to find them when I need them. The whole process is much more in sync. All in all I am pretty happy about 2024.

2025

So next year, I have some ideas which I will finalize next week, I am not sure which I will pursue first, it’s a bit random at the moment so I might take January as the month to get the list of ideas in order and set up the environment and plan on how to execute them. Besides music I need some alternative projects so I can switch between activities when I am not able to do music. As my brain damage is an unpredictable factor in everything.

So I need alternatives, so writing, coding and drawing are good contenders as these things can be done most of the time. Projects in these areas also need consistency so I will plan them regardless. It sounds like a lot and maybe it is. But I am giving it a good go.

I would also like to connect with other creative people to learn from them and maybe help them grow and build the right process for them to build a better working environment and process. I have no idea how I am going to do this but it’s something I have been thinking about.

Moving forward is the most important, moving forward can only be done when learning from the past.

New avenues – Thinking about the music making proces & other topics

I have been documenting my album journey for the past months. In a weekly format discussing the ups & downs of my attempts in producing an album. As I felt I written all about it I put an end to that series.

But I enjoy rambling about the creative proces a lot, as I do on other topics. I haven’t decided on a format yet, other than the weekly occurrence. I will just let my mind wonder around and see what topic springs to mind.

I am thinking about creative processes for some time now and I found them in almost everything I do, making music, writing software, researching things, cooking. All these things have a few things in common. On the surface its all about the end result, a program has too work, a song finished and a meal eaten. But when you look a little closer, it has everything to do with creativity as well, balancing the ingredients into something beautiful.

Most of these processes are defining the boundaries of the project, or problem you want too solve, searching for the right ingredients and make them work together. And a lot of attempts fail. Is that a bad thing ?

Failure is learning, as with anything you learn by doing. In a society were only succes gets shared it might seem that only talent is needed and the rest is inspiration. And then as some sort of magical cocktail the end result is there.

I know that this is not the case, I have made countless mistakes in my coding, investing, running and musical adventures. The only failure is quitting.

This is not just some bolstered never quit anything mantra. Sometimes things are not meant to be, a chosen field just doesn’t fit, and giving those up for thing better suiting is a smart thing to do. But if its something you really feel you want too achieve just keep going. Because after the initial joy and energy boost of a new endeavor, the energy levels drop whenever things get hard. The results are not what you envisioned, the problem seems unsolvable and so on.

Remember that the passion and the inspiration are the beginning and the end of a circle the rest of the circle is hard work and showing up. Next week I will go into the showing up part and how to create habits that benefit your progress.

The music journey – Making an album (week 9)

Finally back making sounds, instead of just reading manual & books. Making sounds and noise is the fun bit really. Got a few short modular recordings in this week. Still very slow progress and my project is going to take much longer than I originally anticipated. Which I won’t let in the way of having fun. It’s about the journey after all.

In order to keep the structure and momentum going I am planning a few smaller projects along the way. Just making sure I release music while working on the bigger album project. Although I am still a bit reluctant putting stuff out there.

Every time I listen too someone else’s music I am thinking, that’s far better than my stuff. So I really need to get over this hurdle and start putting stuff out. Only things I am happy with off course , and I am not there yet. But I will.

Really missed the actual music making and really hoping I can get back into my rhythm and keep at it. Practice makes perfect after all.

As well as being back at making music, I also listened to some music. Amongst others the DJ Kicks mix by Andrea Parker, a very good mix in the outstanding series that DJ Kicks is. Released in 1998 and massively important for me in discovering unknown artists & music at the time. And the mix still holds up and sounds futuristic nowadays. Recommend listening.

In my planning I added a moment in my week for listening too an album, mix or a few EP’s for inspiration and enjoyment.

Onto a new week!

Book review – The war of art , Break through the blocks and win your inner creative battles.

I am reading more frequently nowadays and increasingly run into fun and interesting books, in this case a book written by Steven Pressfield, primarily a fiction writer. I had never read anything from him and came across this book in a search for better managing my projects and the aspiration for big(ger) goals in life than I previously aspired.

The war of art is about the resistance within ourselves to give into our own (creative) goals. The creative between accolades because it is also perfectly applicable for the non artists among us. And moreover a lot of professions and goals you want to achieve require a high degree of creative and artistic thinking to materialize.

It’s about overcoming your own internal blockages , the resistance that leads to procrastination , seeking distraction and basically doing anything but get started on the stuff you like to do most.

Writing that book, making that music album, starting your own business, going for that one study you always dreamt about. The first part of the book goed into that resistance and how it manifest itself.

The second part of the the book is about overcoming the resistance and what it takes to stay productive on a constant level over a long period of time.

The final part is about inspiration and how it manifests itself. The book is very compactly written and it has a lot of the known elements of getting things done which are mentioned. Start now and keep at it, which we all know deep down.

But this book describes it in a wat that keeping busy and the overcoming of the resistance is very simple all of a sudden. No extra complicated descriptions and elaborate plans, no simplicity. A nice and elegant solution for getting things done. And it reads like a breeze.