The hardest part of progress. The truth about creativity.

Many of my close friends know that I’ve been working on producing a song called “Good Things” I wrote back in 2011. I started recording it in May of 2012. It includes the voices, sounds and musical skills of some amazing friends. One of my friends involved in the project dubbed it “our musical anthem” because so many great friends are involved in it. So far a total of seven lovely people. Almost eight actually. Time will tell.

I recorded parts in multiple locations with a simple laptop setup. Guitars, drums, violin, vocals, piano, bass and a little more. Some of these friends no longer live close to home anymore either. One lives in Arizona, one in Chicago, another in New York, and even one more down in Florida.

And now I sit here with this project on the back of my mind. I worked on it a lot at first. Almost every day. Then I just felt stuck with it. It’s been nearly 18 months now since I started this project. I would mix and edit and it just never felt “good enough.”

I wanted it to be a grand production… but that’s where I went wrong.

I’m not a professional producer. I’ve never produced anything as polished as I want this to be. So why do I expect this from myself? I realize that great recordings can be done from a home studio and a simple laptop, but I’m still learning, still growing, still carving my craft.

Reminding myself that when you create things, you learn to let go. Something that was once a part of you is now going to be a part of someone else’s life as well.

When you create things you worry. You worry about what everyone will think. You consider the imperfections more often than any other task in your life. It can consume you… enough to a point where you never “finish” something. Or think of it this way… it’s finished, but you just don’t think it’s “good enough” for the world to see.

You forget that the beauty of creating things is that you can create more in the future. You focus so much on a single event of making something that you lose sight of greater things to come. Progress means you can move on to something else and if we don’t teach ourselves to be satisfied with “less than perfect” we only hold ourselves back from creating more.

That’s exactly what I’ve decided for this music project. I’ve decided to just finish what I’ve started and be satisfied with the fact that I have created something from nothing with my friends. That simple idea of making something awesome with your friends should be enough. It doesn’t have to be a radio hit or a viral video. It doesn’t need to please the masses. It just needs to “be” so that you and your friends can celebrate it now and years from now.

I’ve had too many songs sit on hard drives and never be shared. I don’t want that anymore.

If you don’t share what you create, no one will know what you are capable of. Just remember that you don’t need the whole world to see, just people that care.

I hope to share the song with all of you before the end of the year.