TIP FOR BEATING "THE KID IN A CANDY STORE" AFFLICTION!

This is just a tip for those songwriters whom, like myself, may have found as their collection of vst's grew? So did the amount of time spent clicking through sounds and instruments, until slowly but surely personal projects started becoming never fully completed.
 
Simply pick a limited amount of sounds, for example: 3 guitar sounds, 1 bass sound, 1 acoustic drum kit, 1 electronic kit and maybe 10 synth sounds (be they synths, pianos, strings etc.) and commit to using only these sounds for the song. 
 
Once you've made your choice hit 'b' and hide the browser with your plugin lists. Pretend that your (vast?) collection of alternate instruments and sounds do not exist! Thusly, begin writing/playing the song until all the musical parts are completed.
 
Do not put on the editors cap until this is achieved! The temptation to tweak dials (any dials) often leads to hours of nothing but that. I realise that everyone has their own way of working. Some people might find that scrolling through sounds and testing every sonic possibility as they go? Is all a part of their process and they still finish tracks. If so? That's awesome and I wish you ever more scrolling and tweaking success!
 
But if you are like me and have amassed a rather ridiculous pile of partially finished tune tidbits (albeit cool tidbits,) that you keep meaning to come back to but never do? You may find that limiting the changeable/clickable options, keeps you focused on the creation process! As a bonus, forcing yourself to work/stick with an instrument can often lead to coming up with a sweet musical played part, instead of relying on effects workarounds or other presets that do most of the job for you.
 
Of course adjusting volume levels are permitted as obviously it's no good if you can't hear some of the instruments. But leave all that processing/editing until after all the bits are done. As a DIY recording muso, it's all too easy to complete a couple of bars of an instrument part and then start editing it, making it sound more polished from the get-go! But remember, bands go into studios to write and play what they wrote. Not to tweak dials. That is what the producer is for. Keeping the roles of songwriter and editor completely separate, will curb the desire to scroll through the myriad of options.
 
Inevitably the time will come where you've finished song parts, started editing and then realised that it needs that extra "something" of a new musical part? Cross that "bridge" when you come to it... Or that chorus... Or verse... You get the point!
 
Using this strategy has lead me to complete more songs in 10 months, than I had in the previous 4 years combined.
 
And after all, when using virtual instruments? Once the music parts are completed, you can always chuck on that editors cap and change all of the sounds until the cows come home; and or RSI renders your mouse/controller hand, a gnarled, hoof-like extremity.
 
Good DAWing!!!

Cheers for the responses guys! Looking back through my list of unfinished bits and pieces. There was one file in particular that made me both laugh and feel sad, all at the same time. It was truly a monument to misspent hours of dicking around, instead of playing.
 
The first four tracks in the song were about 42 seconds of an intro and verse, that consisted of drums, electric bass, synth bass and a rhythm guitar. However, there was actually forty something instruments and synth sounds loaded for the project in total. With a pile of midi tracks containing the same copied and looped midi progression, of C-D-F-G.
 
These notes had nothing to do with the song. I'm guessing I just entered some data so that I could hear the instruments being triggered by something? And here is the kicker! Some of the outputs even had effects automation, dynamics processing and bus sends. Yes that's right. I started mixing test portions that were never going to be in the song. Hence, tweaking dials leads me to more tweaking of dials.
 
With all the other instruments muted, the first four tracks were actually really catchy. I can't believe I let my train of inspiration get so derailed?!! So last week, I sat down to work on this song. I stuck to my plan of limiting options, by picking the best 10 or 12 sounds that I'd created and deleting the rest. A little over two hours later and I had 4 minutes and 39 seconds of intro-verse-chorus-bridge-proggychangeup-verse-chorus-outro. 
 
There are still editing and mixing things to be done but most importantly, all the song parts are there. An almost 2 year old tidbit of nothing much, is now A COMPLETED SONG!
 
I'm not really religious in any way, but can I get a hallelujah?!!

I started years ago collecting tons of vst's that were free. As time went on, I realized that I tended to only use certain ones.
 
So when I built my custom DAW, and it was time to reload the software, I only loaded the stuff I had used in the past 60 days. Lots of things were not loaded.  Amazingly, I don't miss them one bit.
 
So now, I have a very small group of VSTs, synths, samples, and FX that I consider my GO-TO list. It certainly makes life easier in DAW-land. 
 
Just like the guy who has one bass guitar hanging on the wall, I use the same bass sound on every song when I'm playing the bass part on my midi keyboard. I like the sound and it works for me.
 
Keep it simple..... and less is more.