Digital Marketing And Social Media PR – The Future Buzz

Many readers here know this, but for those who don’t – for more than 8 years, I’ve been producing/remixing/mashing up digital music. It’s my hobby and the avenue that I focus idle brainpower when not working as an Internet marketing/PR professional or blogging.

My reasons for doing so are purely intrinsic, I openly share what I make under a creative commons license, and aside from selling one of my albums in 2007 as a CD and being in iTunes/Beatport for some selected productions, I don’t actively seek revenue for my work. Over time, many have asked why I do not actively attempt to monetize my art, and the answer is simple – it provides me something far more valuable: life balance.

It hit me the other day that while I’ve shared some of my experiences as a creative commons artist with you, I haven’t shared the back story to how I actually got into audio production, or how it has helped me achieve greater self-discipline in all my interests in life.

What if…?

You lived everyday like it was all that mattered.

You put your passion to work 24/7.

You changed everything.

The structure around you was just an illusion.

Taking the first step in anything in business or life itself is concurrently the easiest and most difficult. It’s also the most important. After the first step, you will naturally move to the next step, as the initial hurdle is always the highest, and things will begin to flow.

Learning to overcome the roadblocks in the beginning phase of something new is vital to getting into a proactive mindset and diving right in. As Tim Jahn sagely advises:

“What separates the successful from the unsuccessful is the acknowledgment of weakness. Bring your weaknesses to the front of the line, acknowledge them, and learn from them. Think of them as a valuable tool rather than trash to take out.”

Let’s first map out the roadblocks that may be stopping you from taking the first step on whatever is next for you – whether it’s a new business idea, marketing strategy, form of art – anything you’re considering. After, we will go through some activators.

Writers block, unsuccessful brainstorming sessions and other creative stopping points generally occur from one of two things: stress or overthinking. Stress I’ll leave you to handle on your own – but overthinking is something I can help you with.

It’s a problem that happens to the best of us, but it’s curable. The first step is a brief understanding of the physiological reason why overthinking is harmful:

A recent article from Scientific American outlines some interesting research:

Trying to concentrate on monitoring the quality of your performance is counterproductive because the cerebellum, which controls complex motor tasks, is not consciously accessible.

I have a theory about creative individuals – that they have infinite potential reserves, if they figure out how to access them. It’s difficult to see this sometimes because while we have incredible moments of inspiration and flow experiences, we also have plenty of downtime where we are seemingly unable to extract from our inner creativity. The thing is, if you’re a creative person of any sort, your internal inspiration is perpetually available if you know how to access it. What I mean by this is even on days you’re feeling stressed and/or unproductive, you still have reserves you can tap at your whim.

In the beginning of 2009, I compiled 22 smart, inspirational quotes from bloggers to share with you. Today I thought it would be fun to mash-up the quotes with visuals to make them come alive (be sure to view full screen):