Season 2, Ep.20: Losing My Mojo, Procrastination and Utterly Failing With The Song A Week Project…Or Did I?--Yours & Mine

It’s been about four weeks since I last released an episode of

Left Of Nashville. So What happened? Well, the short answer is

Everything and nothing. I had to get my taxes done. I live on nine

acres and it’s mowing season again. I finally got a phone with the

internet at my fingertips. And I was writing an upbeat song, which

for me, is a struggle. I guess you could say that life

happened.

But I still could've found a way to make it all work. But I

made excuses. It takes a full day to mow my yard, so there was a

day off work that I didn’t spend writing. I got caught up with

friends on my phone. I stayed on social media. Basically, I

procrastinated.

Then I hit the resistance. This is what Steven Pressfield

calls the thing that causes writers to procrastinate. Read his book

“The War Of Art” for his brilliant take on the resistance.

And procrastination breeds more procrastination. And then

self-doubt shows up. It didn't matter that I’ve churned out

nineteen episodes, I suddenly lost faith in my ability to write

songs and put out a compelling podcast. I was in another

dip. 

I lost my mojo and felt like a failure. But a funny thing

happened: I kept working. Little by little. I gave myself a little

grace. I remembered what I read in a business book once about

stretch goals. Setting stretch goals is a way to force yourself to

get out of your comfort zone. If you set a lofty goal, such as

writing and recording a song a week, say, you will achieve more

than you would otherwise even if you do not meet your goal.

So I sat my ass down in the chair and wrote. A little here,

and a little there. It was a slog. I hated it. But I was making

progress. And after week seven of my experiment, I have three new

songs. Granted it’s not seven new songs, but it isn’t zero new

songs either. It’s three more songs than I had written in the

PREVIOUS seven weeks before starting this experiment, so I’m

satisfied. I didn’t fail. Not at all.

Hey guys, I am about to attempt another project that I will

explain in detail in an upcoming episode of Left Of Nashville. So I

need you guys to do me a favor. For those of you who listen on

iTunes, would you be so kind as to leave a review? This is

something that I have neglected to ask people to do, but it is very

important.

It helps this podcast rise in the rankings, which makes it

visible to more people. I need this to happen in order to help

launch this other project. It would mean the world to me. Thanks

guys!

Steven

Pressfield-The War Of Art

Ben Rector

Ben Kweller

Maddy And The Groove

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