How To Set Goals As a Producer!

This consumed me. I would often overlook the ‘smaller things‘, like:

• practicing my piano scales and chords daily
• networking and developing relationships
• finding the best mentors, and
• making beats every day to perfect my craft

But after some time passed, I felt like I wasn’t progressing fast enough as a producer and couldn’t figure out why.

I come from a sports background, so when I get lost in life, I often harken back to those days to find some clarity.

I used to play baseball back in my younger days, and I can recall a particular game when my coach decided to change the line up at the last minute, literally right before the first pitch.

Out of the blue, he told me to bat ‘leadoff’ (first) this game, so I could focus on getting on base to set up my teammates, who honestly weren’t as talented as me. This would be a drastic change for me, as I was used to blindly swinging for the fences, and trying to hit home runs all the time.

I genuinely despised his request because I was used to batting fourth in the lineup, which was ‘clean up‘. And while batting clean up, I was primarily a power hitter, and didn’t need to use many tactics to get on base. For me, it was less responsibility, and I liked that!

But since my coach had asked me to bat leadoff, I now had to learn and utilize various strategies to try to get on base for my team’s success. This was really a drag for me.

I quickly learned the importance of the smaller details in baseball. I learned to shorten my swing so I could make more contact with the ball at a higher rate. This would increase my likelihood of putting the ball in play and exponentially raise my chances of getting on base at a higher clip.

But it didn’t stop there. Once I got on base, I studied the opposing team’s pitcher and discovered countless ways to pester him.

I would aggressively call out to him right before he made a pitch, and yell at the top of my lungs, the most unsavory thing I could think of. This would abruptly distract his pitching motion and make him less accurate. Consequently, he would have to pitch more balls to my teammates, which meant he would get tired quicker. My teammates could now see more of his pitches and get a better look at what was in his arsenal, and better prepare for him.

I also tried to steal bases as often as I could, to put myself in a better position to score a run for my team. If I didn’t steal a base, I ‘faked‘ like I would because I knew that would frustrate the pitcher even more and distract him from dealing with my teammate up at the plate.

I solely focused on getting BASE HITS and didn’t worry about home runs anymore.

You see, in life, the base hits are what counts. I mean, don’t get me wrong, there are times when you will knock it out of the park, and it feels damn good! But it’s still the base hits that you’ve strategically accumulated that will put you in a position to win.

So what does all this mean to you, as a producer? Base hits simply equate to any of the ‘smaller things‘ you can do to achieve any goal you set. You know, the goals within goals.

As a producer, for me, that was:

1. Preparing a daily routine.
2. Understanding what my strengths and weaknesses were.
3. Learning to cater my music production to enhance strengths
4. Figuring out how and where to meet people that would understand me and help me achieve my goals
5. Finding qualified mentors
6. Humbling and challenging myself each and every day. Getting comfortable with being uncomfortable.

I started to understand that all of these base hits were keeping my momentum going. These small wins were opening doors for me and creating opportunities. I stopped wondering if a song would get placed and concentrated more on building my rapport with the artist or producer that was gracious enough to come to my studio and collab on that track with me.

I focused more on my major and minor triads, and how they would be building blocks to more exotic chords down the line, that would help me attain that coveted soulful sound I was looking for. I took this same approach and applied it to every facet of my production.

To summarize, the devil is in the details. Learn to appreciate the smaller things. Don’t take the base hits you earn in life for granted and take time out to give thanks throughout your journey to greatness.