Write Bad Songs

Write Bad Songs

I used to get horrible #writersblock.

Like, write-one-song-in-a-year writer’s block. 

This was bad considering my career relies completely on creating regularly. 

There was a reason I was a “struggling” songwriter in Nashville. 

Writer’s block (and all procrastination) ultimately comes down to one word: FEAR… usually of failure, success, or rejection. 

I developed a solution and even if you’re not a writer apply this metaphorically to whatever you are avoiding:

Write Bad Songs. 

Weird, yes, but I decided to write bad songs. 

I figured there must be a bunch of bad songs in me and I needed to just get them written and out so I could get to the good songs. 

Potentially silly logic, but it worked! 

I just wrote and didn’t care whether they were good or not. 

Guess what? 

They weren’t as bad as I thought. 

In fact, two of them, “Country Cool” and “Lookin’ For The Sunshine” (both on my “Eleven” CD) got me signed to Sony Music Publishing as a staff songwriter. 

What really happened here? 

I detached from the outcome. 

Worrying about whether my work would be good enough – and how that effected my self-worth – stifled me.

I’m wondering if the same is true for you? 

Is your self worth so tied to your outcomes that it’s holding you back? Keeping you from taking a risk? Pursuing a relationship? Doing what you love?  

So, let’s say this in non-musical terms:

Picture a great outcome, let go of it, launch, and complete… then on to the next. 

And… allow yourself to fail. 

Every successful person fails more often than failures… they just keep failing until they succeed. 

In fact, I decided a few years ago my goal is to out-fail everyone I know…or as I’d done 25 years ago, keep writing bad songs. 

Julia Cameron, in her seminal book, “The Artist’s Way” says it like this:

“You worry about the quantity, let God worry about the quality.” 

Just create, produce, take action.

This is true not only for your art but your business. 

In Nashville I worked with some of the great songwriters of our time, ones who wrote huge hits like, “I Hope You Dance,” “Sarah Smile,” “She’s Gone,” “Tulsa Time,” “Long Black Veil,” and on and on… and every one of them lived by this motto:

Don’t try to write a hit, just write a song. 

For you maybe that means… make the call. 

Or take the risk. 

Or make the move. 

Or just… 

Forgive me for this one but… wait for it… wait for it…

Just do it. 

(Yeah, I said it) 

Please pass this along!

Live Truly, Truly Live,

Rayburn

PS For dealing with writer’s block, call aversion, procrastination, limiting beliefs and a host of other challenges that keep us from becoming all we can, as well providing a detailed, proven path for becoming a “Life Virtuoso” – your personal best – I am diligently creating my new VIP – Virtuoso In Progress – membership site. It will have dozens of resources, videos, practices, and weekly events to give you the secrets, systems, the inside track for becoming creating a World Class life and career. More on this soon!

PPS Suggested books: “The War of Art” and “Do The Work” by Stephen Pressfield. “The Artist’s Way” by Julia Cameron