DISCIPLINES IS A KEY FOR SETTING YOURSELF UP TO SUCCEED

One of the biggest lessons I have learned in my years in the music business is that nobody wants me to succeed as much as I do. My publisher, my co-writers and my song pluggers all want me to do well. They are heavily invested in my success. But, at the end of the day, I’m going to have to do most of the heavy lifting if I’m going to succeed. They will help but they will do what they can do, and that’s my job to do “my job”. If they were up to do what I am supposed to, they didn’t need to work with me from the first place. And to do my job, I need to have a very strong discipline coming from myself, because in this industry we don’t really have such thing as “boss” or someone who force us to do anything. Everything, including all success or failures come, are direct reflection and consequences of our own actions. The way I always explain it for my mentees is, “We need to have a military level of discipline, and there is no commander to force us. We have to have it from inside our own will power”. Here are a few things I try to do every day to keep myself moving in the right direction:

I work on song ideas. I try to add at least as many ideas to my database each day as I use that day. If I write two songs from my list of titles, then I try to find at least two new ideas to replace them plus one more to extend my list. That gives me confidence that I’m always going to have something good to write about. And it is not just about my confidence. The bigger my database of ideas is, the more I have for writing a new song or the more I can offer to a co-writing session.
 
I look for one new opportunity each day. I have a team of people that help set me up with great writing opportunities. But I don’t leave it all to them. I try to think just like I did before I was with a publisher. I’m always looking around for new artists or writers to write with that I believe are going to succeed. If I can add one good opportunity to my calendar each day then I’m moving toward my goals.
 
I touch base with my “team”. I’m continually touching base with co-writers, publishers, producers and singers who are in my team. I to talk to them about pitch ideas for our songs, follow up with on-going projects and give them necessary directions of what to do next if they need to make a new move. When I hear that an artist is about to cut that I have a connection to, I call my co-writers and ask if they have any ideas for good pitches to that artist from our co-writes. I also talk to my song pluggers and ask them about upcoming meetings. Sometimes they know more about what artists are looking for than I can find on the pitch sheet, so I get a lot of good information from them. And, they are choosing songs to pitch from a catalog of thousands of songs. I know my catalog better than they do, so I will often suggest pitching certain songs to certain artists. They value my ideas and I get more songs pitched if I stay in touch with them daily.
 
I make the most of every day. I try to wake up early every day and show up prepared for every co-write – I usually prefer to set up the co-write sessions in the mornings, when my co-writer and I are in our sharpest condition. By prepared I mean rested, in a good frame of mind to write and with lots of ideas and ready to pure them out on the song we are going to work on. I give everything I have to every co-write. If someone cancels on me, I use the day to network or pitch songs – or in my case as a producer and mix engineer, I sometimes use these “cancelled” times as an opportunity to mix the songs ahead of schedule, so I will have a bit of free time in coming days. There are no wasted days. Every day, I’m doing something to move my career forward.
 
I enjoy myself. Stop thinking wrong! By enjoying myself I mean I try to practice gratitude every day. I’m getting to write songs. That is a gift. That’s a chance I can’t be any more grateful to have. I try to soak it all in and enjoy the experience every day. I’m enjoying the journey and not just looking at a destination way down the road.
 
Practicing these daily disciplines helps me stay focused, it prepares me to succeed and it gives me a lot of satisfaction. I hope they can do the same for you!

Author

Hangi Tavakoli is our in-house established and professional music producer with more than 18 years of experience in songwriting, music production, mix and mastering. He has produced more than 3,000 and written more than 4,800 published songs to-date, including some major hits in international scale.