Maybe you can make plans...I don't like doing that. I don't need a schedule and I'm sure not going to
create one because there are many things in life to enjoy. Besides...to much of my time as already been scheduled being a provider.
Yeah I can see the grand kids dropping in and you explaining that you have a schedule to keep.
 
If I feel like recording and playing my guitar it'll happen. It'll happen when it's right and don't have something running around in the back of head telling me I should be doing something else.
 
It could be you're simply going through withdrawals. If you were gigging and assuming it was a band that practiced NOT on stage then you were spending a lot of time with music and now having to adjust to a more relaxed state.
I also assume that if you've been playing for that many years then you know you don't have to spend 8hrs a day practicing and can do a lot of that in your head.
You can get a lot done, have a lot of fun or both in an hour or less if your heads on right. If the time is right.
 
Oh...you mentioned "BS" in ones life...I get rid of that stuff fast. No room in my life for it. Maybe that's a big difference. ?
 
 

spacey
Maybe you can make plans...I don't like doing that. I don't need a schedule and I'm sure not going to create one because there are many things in life to enjoy.
...

Being as intuitive and internal as I am, scheduling is an issue, because at that time the visual is not there, and you can not re-start the movie at will, as much as I would like to!
 
But I have never really had an issue on these things, although sometimes things get interesting, like at the moment I'm in the middle of 3 novels! Yeah ... go figure! So, dedicating time and effort to anything is not gonna happen, unless something else shows up! Which so far it has not.
 
The only concern I have is not finishing these things, and I'm determined to close these out for sure.

This may seem off-topic, but stay with me … it is totally to the point.
 
The company I work for (a large Fortune 500 US firm) is committed to promoting a healthy lifestyle for its employees.  To that end, they brought in a speaker several years ago, a former philosopher (or at least philosophy teacher) who transitioned into becoming an advocate for healthy aging.  He suggested seven things one must do daily to stay healthy up to the time of checking out.  One of those was exercise.  He asked the audience how many of them did not exercise daily.  Lots of hands were raised.  When asked why, many responded “I don’t have time”.
 
His reply (and here’s where the philosopher kicked in) was: “Guess what … we always make time for the things most important to us”.  Hmmm … can’t argue with that.  As a result, since hearing that, there are very few days when I don’t exercise 20 to 30 minutes.
 
Now, why did you have the time to do gigs but not to do studio work?  Probably several reasons, one being gigs are scheduled events that you commit to ahead of time, so finding time the day of the event isn’t something you need to debate with yourself.  But another profound motivation (I suspect) is that doing a gig is an experience shared with others.  Sitting down at your DAW is a solitary endeavor.  I certainly have a struggle many days to find time for music at my DAW.  But when I sing in choral groups, there’s no struggle … I don’t even have to think about attending rehearsals.  Both motivations are in play here: shared experience rather than solitary, and someone else sets the schedule.
 
I don’t have a solution to suggest on how to alter your motivations.  But examining it in the framework of all the things you do and the priorities you place on them may give you some insight.  Maybe you need a pre-planned schedule, as one of the other posters suggested.
 
But at least know this: you are not alone when it comes to this kind of internal struggle.
 
Oh yeah … and one more thing: don’t fritter away as much time as some of us here do on music forums. 

dmbaer
...He suggested seven things one must do daily to stay healthy up to the time of checking out.  One of those was exercise. 

So what were the other six?
 
I've got time to exercise, but the motivation tank is empty at the moment.

nice post dmbaer....
 
 

Hi,
 
Indeed a very nice post dm.
 
No excuses from me. But I spend a lot of time doing little things to light up the movie in my head, so that becomes something like ... you write, and then the "characters" take over and they kinda live their own life, which is easier for me ... I don't have to "pre-think" all this stuff, and worry about not being able to get it done.
 
This is the part that is weird to me about most musicians. That they can only think in terms of their schooling or work at the bar, and composing for them is just like that in some ways, and it takes away a freedom that the mind enjoys ... if you don't believe me, check out your dreams one of these days, and how they go all over the place, and there is no stopping it.
 
I'm not cynical enough to say that all writing and art has to be like that, but a bit of that now and then is the best remedy, assuming that you have a reasonable amount of dedication to get on it and with it, and this is where many of us quit ... we think we're scattered, but we just are too stuck up to try something else! We keep thinking that our ideas are more important than our doing, and that is not true!
 
Basically, it's time for your "process" to change, from what it has done in the past, and you are not willing/capable, of letting that change!

craigb

dmbaer
...He suggested seven things one must do daily to stay healthy up to the time of checking out.  One of those was exercise. 

So what were the other six?
 

To be honest, I cannot remember most of the others, although they were mostly common-sense recommendations.  One I do recall is "take one alcoholic drink per day (not more than one and you don't get to save them up for the weekend)".  For me, finding time to exercise is easier than stopping after one glass of wine in the evening. 

Tell me about it... when I was young I had al the time in the world, was full of energy and all I really had to do was woork a little, which was no problem, and then just do whateverm sit on a tailgate or around a bonfire and drink beer. Hand out, play music, no real probems, no responsibility that didn't wasn't easy. All energy, all ideas, all the time I needed and more.
 
Now I am older and I have a list for my lists. I have no energy, WAY more responsibility, ALWAYS something that needs to be done and cynicism has just about killed creativity.
 
My best advice for kick starting your creativity and having the time to do it... get really drunk, get naked, and get arrested. You'll have plenty more time to be creative and some things to write about. Yeah, get drunk and naked and pass out oin your neighbor's frontyard... that should just about do it.
 
Looking forward to some new blues tunes!
 
J

1.  Create a list...

You have to schedule the time to get in the studio and write and record. If you don't, guaranteed...someone else will schedule that time for you.
 
Procrastination seems to be the biggest issue I have recently..... I need to get things done and stop putting them off.... filling that time when I should be doing something useful and productive with just plain laziness and sorriness.
 
Oh yeah..... and on top of everything else.... my wife told me YESTERDAY..... I really need to start putting my Niece's doll house together. I'm thinking... OK , how hard can this be? Maybe an hour at the most?  O>>>M>>>G>>>!!!!  Heck no, this thing is one of those heirloom doll houses that has to be assembled with glue and painted  ... not necessarily in that order either. So I spent hours yesterday staining the roof shingles and painting then assembling the 3 porch railings.... this will be dozens of hours if not hundreds, and I have 22 ... uhhhh ....21 days to get it done before Christmas.
 
And I do have a lot of things I need to do this month before that doll house ever showed up on my radar..... it makes my head hurt thinking of it all..... but one thing at a time. So... that said.... I'm off here and out the door to go to work today to start the new fire alarm installation that needs to be done and working as quickly as possible.