Are you suffering from dread?

 This was a blog post of mine from several years ago. I came across it in my materials and thought the message was great so I am sharing again. Thanks for reading!

Dread: anticipate with great apprehension or fear. Ugly cousin to fear & self-doubt Synonyms:  apprehension, trepidation, anxiety, worry, concern, foreboding, disquiet, unease, angst;  
fright, panic, alarm, terror, horror. 
 
     Dread. It is impossible to reach your destiny or achieve your goals if you are constantly being overcome by dread. Fear & self-doubt alone can do this, but dread seems like it is the nail in the coffin. I am writing about this because I just went through this last week. But I could not pinpoint the exact feeling. I was fearful, I was full of doubt, but the feeling was more, it was a bit crushing & anxiety producing… it almost stopped me. Dread was the perfect word to describe what I was feeling. 
What was I dreading? 
 
     Well, as you know I write music for Film & TV.  I do some of my own production, but usually I am paired up with songwriters who produce better than me and can help with that process. I started a song, was contacting some co-writers, and then I saw a listing (a search, or basically a description of a piece of music needed for a TV show). My song seemed to fit the listing well. BUT the deadline was about 24 hours away!   So, I got on the horn with a couple folks to help out, but they were too busy.  EGADS! Was I going to have to do this myself? 
 
That fear & dread just ate at my stomach. These questions floated through my mind: 

• Would I be able to produce this well enough? 

• Would I be able to record the guitar, ok?  (I still have timing issues & make mistakes.) 

• Would the house be quiet? 

• Is the song good enough? (FYI- I also had to finish writing it.) 

• Would I have the time between music lesson students and conference calls in the next room (hubby works from home too). 

• Will my vocals and harmonies be good enough? 

• What FX would I use? 

• Will this be close enough to what they are looking for in the listing? 

• AM I GOOD ENOUGH to do this??? 

     Blah blah blah blah… on and on the doubts piled up. I almost bagged it. But I knew… I knew that if I didn’t try, that when that deadline came and went, I would feel even worse. I had to shake this horrible self-doubt. So instead of watching the clock, and fretting over how the song would come out, I just started… 
    I took ACTION (and prayed). ACTION, no matter how small, is one of the steps you MUST take to move past dread, fear & doubt.  Instead of focusing on the big picture, I broke down the steps. You can do this to for any goal. 
Here is what I did:  
 
Big Picture:    Write & Produce a Song in 24 Hours 

• Step 1: Finish writing song (throw out the editor, use the muse in this case & edit on the fly while singing if needed). 

• Step 2: Pick tempo & roughly chart the song. 

• Step 3: Open & set up DAW (digital audio workstation) template.   

• Step 4: Set up and place mics around guitar.                                                  

• Step 5:  Record guitar (I usually do many takes and punch ins depending on how well I am keeping time & any mistakes).                                             

• Step 6:   Record vocals, main & harmonies (about 4 takes then comp later).  

• Step 7:  Add any other elements 

• Step 8:  Start comping, editing, add, subtract any midi notes, etc 

• Note: I recorded all the artistic parts first BEFORE I started to edit.  My time and sound level in the house is limited, so anything that needed a live mic, I did as soon as possible. Editing requires just headphones.    

• Step 9:  Mix then get quick feedback 

• Step 10:   Mix like 10 more times (LOL, seriously though..) 

• Step 11: Master (then go and listen on at least three devices and tweak if necessary.) 

• Step 12: Bounce, tag & submit: Then, LET IT GO, even if it is not perfect. 

            (We have a saying Write, Submit, Forget, Repeat- courtesy of Steven Guiles) 
 
PHEW. I am not sure exactly how much total time I worked on the song, but that is a lot in 24 hours! I did take many breaks, both forced by other things & by choice.  That is a necessary element.   Had I looked at that entire list I could have easily gotten overwhelmed, so I just went and did one thing at a time.  I became extremely focused. Most importantly, I didn’t judge my work too much. Are there things I wanted to add? Maybe change? YES. But after all that, I will probably not go back to it. That can take you down a rabbit hole. 
 
So, how can YOU take a goal and break it down to manageable, actionable steps that allow you to move forward without being overwhelmed?  
Write down your seemingly impossible goal. 

• Break it into as many steps as you think it takes to accomplish the goal. 

• Start with a step that seems easy OR is necessary to move to the next step.   

• Try NOT to stress about getting to the end point or a looming deadline.  -Employ focused, calm energy to achieve each task you have set.   

• Take action, don’t talk yourself out of it with ifs, ands or buts. 

Dread is a trap. Focused action is the releaser. Sometimes all it takes is one small action and you will break through your dread, fear and doubt and accomplish great things!    
 
P.S.  The results of the song submission:  They liked the song, but the lyrical content didn’t exactly fit what they were looking for.  So that’s good, they liked my production… which is what I was most worried about . 
 
P.P.S:  Here is a Bandcamp link to the song if you wanted to check it out  
https://michellelockey.bandcamp.com/track/long-way-home-to-you 

Michelle is an award-winning singer-songwriter with Film & TV music placements in over 70 shows on over 45 networks globally. To read more about her Music Licensing Consulting and get a FREE Sync Checklist go to  Sync Licensing Checklist