Create Mind Set – How To Overcome Life Challenges
by Wyshmaster Beats
September 19, 2019
With over 20 years of working in the music industry, running my own business, and also becoming an educator, I have had a lot of obstacle to overcome. I wrote this guide to share with you some of the techniques I used to get through the tough times and get my mind right. I hope this will help you in your journey to your creative goals.
One commonality that we have all shared in our lives is that we have faced challenges. There have been times for all of us when we felt lost and didn’t know how to move forward towards a goal. This has happened to us in a number of situations: music, relationships, business decisions, and even a situation of life and death.
Being able to have a stronger mindset towards these challenges is an important step towards overcoming them. The reality is that we will all struggle at some point but choosing how we respond to it is what matters. Getting knocked down is fine as long as we get back up once more.
The ability to overcome life challenges is not something that you are born with and it isn’t something that you can develop overnight. It is something that you need to work towards, to develop and strengthen. Then, after you have learned to hone this ability, you will have the confidence to face the versatile challenges that life presents to you.
Build a support team
The one thing to remember about facing adversity in life is that no one can, nor should they, go it alone. Needing help is not only okay, it goes without saying. Finding that support system of friends, family members, other artists, or co-workers to lean on is as important a step as there is.
Having that support system can give you a place to fall and will provide a pillar of support to help push you forward. They will help you remain accountable without beating you down or killing your motivation. That support team is as imperative to your personal success as anything.
When creating music, having someone to bounce ideas off of or listing to your songs can be hugely important in the development of those ideas or creative projects. Knowing that you can rely on their opinions is an important step as you develop that creativity.
Productivity is key
When creating something – music, song writing, a poem, whatever it may be — actually getting something done is imperative. Where a lot of us stumble is setting these impossible to reach goals because we feel like we need to be ultra productive on a consistent basis.
But the thing about creating anything is that it is a process. It does not get done all at once and if it does, it usually isn’t very good. Set goals for yourself for creating each day, even if they are modest goals. Write a verse if you are trying to create a song, a hook, or a couple hundred words if you are a song writer. You may work hard to get to that goal but you’ll have accomplished it. And you may also find yourself driven to the point where you produce far more than that.
I set a goal December 2nd that I would release a beat a day for a month. When I hit my first month I told myself that I would do 3 months. After I kept pushing myself till I finally went 150 days of dropping 1 beat a day! This was one of hardest goals I have ever accomplished in my life but it taught me to push hard and prioritize my goals.
Being creative takes work and implementing that work can take time. Be patient with it, set attainable goals, and make productivity your habit, no matter what.
Remember your goals
While setting short-term daily goals is a great way to keep productivity going and to keep you chugging along towards the completion of a project, it is important to set long-term goals. This is what you will strive to work towards as you put in that daily grind.
Not only that, there are studies that have proven that those who not only set goals but write them down are far more likely to be successful in those goals than those who don’t keep track of those goals. As always, being able to strive towards something tangible makes it far more likely that you will stick with those goals and follow them through to a conclusion.
Focus your mind
For many of us with a creative mind, the biggest detriment to that creativity is a busy mind. Ideas are always bouncing around in our heads, distracting us from the ultimate goal of finishing the project that we are working on.
This is why it is important to take time each day to clear our minds and focus. Be still, sitting in silence for ten or fifteen minutes each day, clearing the distractions away, and just be alone with your thoughts. This gives you an improved ability to focus on finding those solutions that you need to each challenge and gives you a calming presence to handle the tasks ahead of you.
Being able to calmly breathe and focus on the tasks ahead allows you the peace of mind to focus on productivity and not on the thousands of other things that can cloud our minds on a daily basis.
Sometimes I will just put my headphones on and vibe to some music to clear my head and get motivated. This not only helps you to get creative but also clears all of those thoughts from racing through your head.
Give yourself credit where credit is due
When setting those daily, weekly, monthly or even bigger goals, it is important to take time to appreciate when you complete them. Setting goals is an accomplishment in itself and achieving those goals is nothing to take for granted.
Maintaining that level of productivity is highly important and meeting even the smallest of goals is important. This helps to boost your confidence levels, which are highly important when creating something, and will drive you to continue to achieve those goals. Feeling good about those achievements will no doubt lead to more achievements.
A grand party isn’t necessary for all of these achievements but allowing yourself a mental pat on the back will go a long way towards completing more goals and, ultimately, those long-term goals that you have set up for yourself.
Let’s get physical
If you are struggling with your productivity and maintaining those goals that you set for yourself, there is a method that has proven to be effective: exercise. It is found that those who exercise have been shown to improve their habits in every area of their life and best of all it improves overall self-confidence.
Additionally, working out can actually provide you with more energy. This seems contradictory as you expend energy while working out but the feeling you get after a workout can provide you with the mental energy needed to tackle those tasks.
It doesn’t have to be a crazy workout each time; you can go for a walk briskly around your neighborhood, do some jumping jacks in your living room, or something of that nature. Getting your heart pumping can be enough to fuel you towards the completion of your daily and long-term goals.
Write down your thoughts & ideas
When you have a creative mind, it is filled with ideas, thoughts, lyrics, conversations that existed or may exist, scenarios of the same, words, etc. While it is impossible to get all of these thoughts down, it is essential to get at least some of them down.
This exercise allows for you to separate yourself from the overall impact of the experience and to get out of your own head space. Not only that, it brings into play the conscious brain while limiting the effects of the unconscious, emotional part of your brain.
Best of all, writing down your thoughts or putting them into your phone can be a great way to remember ideas. We have all had fleeting thoughts, images or flashes of an idea, that we wish we could remember some time later. When keeping track of your thoughts in writing, you can call back to an idea that seemed particularly grand and incorporate it at a time where you are better able to knock it out. This helps with your overall creative productivity, and can lead to new, attainable goals.
Try to be positive as possible
Psychologists have noted “The Negativity Bias.” This means that our brains are naturally inclined to focus on the negative aspects of something, even if those negative aspects are something that we have created.
It is important to combat this inherent negativity by focusing on things that are good and positive around you. Finding a reason to appreciate the challenges in life will make them far less daunting and allow you the ability to handle them more efficiently.
When maintaining a positive attitude, it becomes easier to take on those challenges and push towards the completion of that goal or challenge. When you dwell in negativity, production suffers and you can find yourself wallowing in the depths of despair.
We also have to choose the people we want to be in our inner circle. Sometimes the hardest decision is to move on from those people that aren’t trying to support or can’t elevate our career. In my lifetime, I’ve had to separate myself from childhood friends, artists that were too negative, and even family that wasn’t supporting my goals.
Remaining positive helps to push you forward, keeping you confident that you can complete what you have set forth for yourself.
Set a schedule
As much as it may feel like you are forcing it, setting a schedule and sticking to it can be quite helpful when trying to accomplish a task or a variety of tasks over a period of time. Talking about it and envisioning it is one thing but if you put it down into a schedule, then it becomes something more real.
Setting things down into a calendar gives real weight to those goals and gives you more drive to complete them than if they were simply thoughts or dreams. Challenges that you want to overcome — writing a song, writing a verse, creating something that you feel is great – is much easier to conceptualize when they exist on paper.
Give consequence to these goals by putting them on a schedule and you will notice a marked improvement in terms of completing them. When the goals are real, they have weight and gravity unlike ever before.
I personally write down my goals inside my notes on my iphone. You might think it won’t work but I learned that when you do write them out, they become easier to complete. You will feel a lot less overwhelmed and won’t miss an important task.
Embrace life & music
For a great many of us, there is the time we spend wishing for things to be a certain way. “I wish I were richer.” “I wish I was on the radio.” “I wish I was signed to a record label.” We spend a great deal of our lives wishing for things to be different than they currently are.
But instead of wishing for things to be different, we need to learn to embrace what they really are. Embracing the circumstances of our lives allows us to appreciate the good things about it and to work on the things that aren’t. It gives us perspective and allows us to focus on goals towards improvement instead of simply playing the wishing game.
When you embrace life you have a far greater appreciation for what you have and what you’ve worked for as opposed to simply wishing it away. When you achieve something with this mindset, it feels like a far greater achievement because you spent time appreciating the process and your life around the process.
Don’t Race to the Finish Line
When the creative mind is going full force — again, writing a verse, completing a song — it wants to finish with the project far sooner than is truly possible. This is because our minds are always thinking of the next creative project, thinking of the idea we want to explore next, and being in a rush to get to it.
But taking your time with ideas and in achieving goals is essential to actually fleshing those ideas out and succeeding in achieving those goals. If you slow down to work on those goals you have set for yourself, you will look at them far more thoroughly and take the time to make them the best that they can be.
Disciplined, slow, incremental growth is the type of approach that can lead to lasting change in the way you deal with adversity and in handling challenges. This will only set you up for further success in the future when setting goals or dealing with adversity.
Embrace your emotions
Part of the challenges that life brings to us is dealing with the emotions of success or failure. We often are afraid to get near those feelings that are heavier, more scary, or confusing, keeping them at arm’s length so that we don’t have to acknowledge their existence.
But keeping in touch with our feelings is how we find meaning, satisfaction, and pleasure in our lives. Feelings are often the source of motivation. These feelings drive us, give us personality, and provide the creativity we need to thrive.
These are just a few of the tips that you can use to help overcome challenges in life in any field that you are involved in. It won’t be an overnight change but it is one you will see gradually. Keep that in mind as you work towards your goals and see the progression that you make over time. Your life will be greatly improved when you take the time to stop, appreciate what you’ve done, and continue to work towards those goals.