Music Production Insights

Inspiration is overrated

Ilpo Karkkainen Avatar

Updated

Do you think that you should feel inspired when you start working on music? You may have a problem.

We all rely on inspiration a lot to do our work. We also sometimes go wrong with it. To wait for inspiration to strike so that you can start your work is an amateur mindset.

If you are only making music for fun, that is fine of course. But if you are looking to make a career out of music, it’s a different story. If you want to be a professional, you have to start thinking like one. Professionals do not want to leave things to chance. They pursue results instead of waiting for something to come to them.

A professional knows that the best ideas often don’t happen before the process. They grow out of the process. The action allows emergence. ​

You must know the feeling when you hit those magical moments… When you (often by accident) come up with something, which then leads to a great new idea that you can refine. And suddenly everything falls into place and starts to make sense. Aren’t those the best moments of creative work? And they only happen because you set out to do something in the first place. Whether you began working inspired or not is completely irrelevant to the outcome.

That is the true nature of inspiration: You don’t have to begin inspired. You can (and often will) still end up inspired through the work.

Remember that the next time you’re feeling uninspired. Just go for it anyway. Start grinding away and see where that takes you that day. In 15 minutes you might feel super inspired. Or you might not. There are no guarantees and we all have off-days. No matter what, you still have to start working. ​

In the long run, that’s what makes the difference between whether you can succeed or not. It’s not going to guarantee that you will succeed – there are other things involved in that too. But starting your work, whether you feel like it or not, is critical. Music is no different from any other field of work. You must get to work, no matter what. Make a habit out of it. If you can do that, you may have a chance.

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7 responses to “Inspiration is overrated”

  1. Slope Avatar
    Slope

    Powerful Stuff ….makes me feel like a proper amateur 😉

    1. Ilpo Kärkkäinen Avatar
      Ilpo Kärkkäinen

      Nothing wrong with that! Choosing to enjoy making music as an amateur is great. It can still be a way of life. Professionals suffer for their choice also. There is so much more to making music than the professional/success aspect of it. Making music and art is a source of wellbeing and a spiritual process, valuable in itself.

  2. Michal Avatar

    Agree to that but also when you creating something, inspiration comes the second you decide what that would be inside you. Thst thought becomes a music note, progression comes after and at the end of the day you have a piece of music inspired by you.

  3. eMCKc Avatar

    That was exactly what I needed to hear. Thanks, Ilpo.

    1. Ilpo Kärkkäinen Avatar
      Ilpo Kärkkäinen

      Cheers!

  4. Andrej B Avatar
    Andrej B

    Hey Ilpo, thanks for this post. Was thinking about this recently – how to get going even if you don’t have any great particular idea in mind in the moment..?:) Wasn’t quite sure about the answer, but your post helped me address this issue. Props for the other posts as well.

    1. Ilpo Kärkkäinen Avatar
      Ilpo Kärkkäinen

      Hey Andrej and thanks for the thoughtful comment. I have noticed people are quite different in this, too. I never needed a particular idea to begin working. Of course there are exceptions but I usually just begin with a mood and see what happens from there. But then I have observed others who always seem to start with something very particular in mind. I think this might be a more difficult approach, but of course probably also more educating.

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