What to do when you get stuck?

It doesn't matter why it happened.

How you get out of it is what matters.

Should you just throw it out?

Ignore it? Leave it on some page in your notebook buried amidst all the other unfinished notes.

Give it to someone else and admit defeat?

Hey, that song is yours.

After all, if that song were not important to you, you wouldn’t worry that much about finding the right words.

You would just get it out there and move on.

But you want to finish the job yourself because that is your song, and it's important. That's why you want to do it right.

But how?

Maybe you’ve already got all the music written, including 100% of the vocal melodies, but you need help with the lyrics.

And you try to find the right words that help you finish that song.

There’s this unfulfilled feeling when I can’t cross something off from my to-do list that I wanted to achieve that day or week. And when you’re like me, I get really frustrated with myself when that happens, but it should not get to a point where this feeling holds you back.

Because we won’t get anywhere in life when we allow those struggles to keep us from going where we want to go.

And I don’t think you want to stay stuck.

So, let’s discuss how we can get out of being stuck and tackle the problem (that got us here) head-on.

If your motivation to work on this song does not come from your heart and soul, you won’t be able to reach your own expectations.

Because your mind is not free to allow your inner power to work.

You’re thinking about so many things that are just not that important.

What’s important is investing your full self into your song.

Dedicating your energy into making that song the best it can be.

So to find out why we’re stuck, we need to understand what keeps us from creating.

And the first thing you need to do is face the problem that you have.

If something is important to you, like this song, don’t feel ashamed of yourself for not having finished it yet.

You can’t get something done quickly that has a lot of personal meaning and value for you.

It’s no simple task like uploading a song and be done with it.

So remember, it’s not helpful to be hard on yourself.

So don’t beat yourself up about it.

Be proud of yourself.

Because you are trying to do something that is outside of your current skill level.

And that is the very definition of how you can grow as a songwriter.

You’re trying to take the next step.

Make that song even better than all the options you’ve thrown out before.

There’s a reason why you feel like this song is too hard to finish.

Because it’s not only the lyrics you need to write, but it’s also beating that inner resistance that is trying to hold you back from reaching a new skill level.

Understanding where you are at in your songwriting process, helps you focus where you want to go and how to get there.

So try to understand the specific problem you’re facing.

Is it hard to find the rhymes?

Or do you not know where to place the hook?

Or struggle with finding the words that fit the mood?

Did you get stuck writing the second verse?

Maybe that's because you did not know where to take your song? Maybe it feels like it's a repetition of the first verse just expressed using different words.

So maybe you can think about your song's main character's own journey from their problem to a possible solution?

Or maybe you can add some more specificity that paints a better picture of who that song's main character is and what they are going through as they try to deal with their problem?

If you struggle to write the chorus, think about what's the one thing that your song revolves around.

Is it all about the importance of the place where your song's main character is, just like in "Hotel California"?

Or is the song's main character stuck in a crisis like in "If I Let You Go" by Westlife?

Or maybe you want to highlight the transformation of them, just like in "I'm A Believer" by The Monkees.

Once you define the problem, you can work on the solution.

Maybe that’s how you can find your way to overcome that challenge and grow as a songwriter.

If you still have problems with writing that song because you just can’t identify the specific problem, maybe it’s time to dig deeper.

So, answer this question first:

Maybe it’s getting more fans, sell more, reach more people, create a hit single. Everything that Tim Finn mentioned in his quote.

Maybe that is your motivation.

But let’s go deeper than that.

Ask yourself this question:

Those questions are not the same thing.

The first one was an objective. An objective can be accomplished like finishing a task. Uploading a song is a task.

But a purpose is much bigger than this.

You are a creative person.

So your purpose is probably to be able to add something good, beautiful, and meaningful to this world.

So maybe someday someone will say:

Or like Eminem phrased it in his song ‘Sing for the Moment’:

Know your purpose and finishing the lyrics of a song don't seem that overwhelming anymore.

And if this is your purpose then completing the lyrics for this song isn’t that overwhelming anymore? Is it?

Focusing on your purpose as a musician, songwriter, or storyteller is just another example of how changing your perspective can change your attitude.

Some problems aren’t as big as we make them.