Micro-training
The F.A.S.T. Splurge
The F.A.S.T. Splurge
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What is the The F.A.S.T. Splurge?
Let’s face it. Life is going to be crazy!
Between everything you're doing - family, work, projects, etc. - you're going to feel like there's never enough time.
So you're going to have to put your music on the backburner - right?
18 months ago I would have said yes, but still I'd have encouraged you to keep progressing with these obvious facts:
- To become successful you have to do what most others don't and won’t...
- Making progress WHEN life is crazy determines your success...
- Prioritising music WHEN you've no time or motivation is building a muscle you’ll desperately need when you DO have a successful music career...
No doubt, this is all true. But when you are in the midst of a crazy time of your life...
Isn't it impossible to keep your eyes on the prize?
How on earth do you keep going when there’s no time, energy or motivation?
Isn't it just easier to "put music on the back-burner for now"?
NOT ANY MORE.
Because I’ve just made a shocking discovery...
The “back-burner” is NOT your only option!
INTRODUCING THE F.A.S.T. Splurge
The FAST Splurge is an idea generation method I developed through making 524 pieces of music in 17 months.
I have almost no time to make music, but it's important to me and my mental well-being! Since returning to music - if it’s going nowhere I get sad and angry FAST!
So I asked myself how I could make maximum progress on much better music with zero space in my life for deliberate practice.
Out of my 17 month long extended experiment came this simple, turbo-charged process to make much better music with much less effort by explosively improving your idea generation.
The FAST Splurge makes your practice way more potent...you improve as a music producer at a startling rate...and it consistently delivers clarity on your highest impact next steps.
How it works is by focusing your mind before a session...
Stretching you (beyond what you believe is possible) during a session...
And embedding a lightning fast feedback loop after each session.
It’s everything I discovered through completing 524 pieces of music in 17 months...distilled into a potent, powerful process of ever increasing improvement.
If you’d like to make your music fly DURING any busy season...YOU’VE FINALLY FOUND THE SOLUTION!
What do I get?
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F.A.S.T. Micro-Activation
A simple set of steps Mike has designed to automatically deliver much better ideas in a lot less time...making deliberate practice fun, quick and easy.
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Short, Clear Videos
Each step is clearly delivered in a short, to the point video. No fluff or filler, just a clear and simple explanation of what to do and when to do it.
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Personal Help
You will also gain access to our coaching community so if you have questions or anything is unclear you won't be left high and dry.
How does it work?
FOCUS before your session
First you'll decide what your idea could express which:
1. Reduces option overwhelm...
2. Automatically delivers an musical arc which you know will work...
3. Means your ideas pack an emotional punch...
...without getting caught up in pointless technical details.
ATTACK in your session
You'll use a countdown timer for a challenging time limitation so you can...
1. Turbo charge your idea generation, boosting the amount of gold you'll find...
2. Build your "fast music muscle" so you become a music producer who makes great music in very little time...
3. Develop your music production skills quickly in all areas...
...without getting bogged down in boring, long and painful sessions which reinforce the false belief that "hard and slow = good".
SPOT after your session
In just 5 minutes you'll identify problems so you...
1. Gain the insights you need to improve from every session (especially those which produce crap)...
2. Send "how to improve" problems to your back brain to process which means you'll be making progress - even while you asleep...
3. Create the magic multiplier of a recursive feedback loop where you're improving your ability to improve...
...without getting hopelessly lost in problems you can't and don't need to solve right now.
TWEAK after your session
You'll set yourself a strict time limit to upgrade your setup and workflow so you...
1. Constantly improve and iterate as a result of what happens in your music (and not a random tip, trick or gear you saw on YouTube)...
2. Design a setup which you control as an instrument, rather than being controlled by an overwhelming bunch of gear...
3. Develop a workflow which plays to your strengths and de-emphasises your weaknesses...
...without getting lost in random gear/software purchases or the perpetual tutorial trap.
C'mon Mike, this sounds too good to be true!
Look, I totally get it. There's GOT to be a catch - right?
In the image above, that expression on my face says it all. THAT'S how shocked I was.
So you're understandably skeptical.
But hear me out.
Once you understand where it came from, you'll get how it works.
Because in hindsight, this new mechanism makes complete sense...
When I made 524 pieces of music in 17 months, my music was anywhere but the forefront of my focus. Mostly, it was an afterthought.
Every day I’d have thousands of to dos for my coaching business and run out of time. Day after day I'd end up with max 30 minutes before I'd have to stop to make dinner for my wife and little boys...
So I’d slam out a quick session without thought or effort. I was tired, often bored and tbh I was calling it in.
This was as far from "deliberate practice" as you can go!
Sure - I was doing it, which is a win, but it felt like I was spinning my wheels. As if my music was firmly stuck on the back burner.
Between you and me. I'm amazed I kept going for so long!
And the reason I stopped this practice (at the end of February 2022) was because I believed I was going nowhere fast...I thought I could do with a break.
How WRONG I was!
A few weeks later I had to find some music for some new videos I was making. And as I had 524 pieces of music I could use for free immediately, I decided to take a listen back.
What I found blew my mind...
The quality of the music I was hearing had no correlation with the periods I was "in the doldrums".
(These were most of the time!)
Similarly, when I had more time, more focus, more excitement and energy DID NOT produce better music!
By no means was the improvement a straight line up. Just like all improvement, it was bumpy.
But where I ended up was with WAY BETTER music. And the inevitable leaps in quality tended to be when I WAS NOT excited. The most progress was being made when I invested LESS time.
In short, the less I thought I was doing, the quicker the improvement.
So what the heck is going on?
I know this makes no sense on first reading.
It didn't to me. But then, the penny dropped...
You see, when I was in the doldrums, and had almost zero time or energy, I admit I did beat myself up.
I felt guilty that my music which was so important to me had become an afterthought.
So to feel better, I developed a repeating process before and after a session.
Much of this process I could do in a few minutes on my phone anywhere. So I'd often do the "after" bit on my phone when I was cooking the sausages for the boys dinner.
Over months (and 100s of sessions), I developed, distilled and refined this process...
I made it quicker, easier but also more potent.
It was as if the lack of time I could invest in making music was creating the conditions where I HAD to make what little time I had COUNT.
And what I was doing every day had an unexpected and unintended effect...
I thought my music was on the back burner.
But it wasn't...it was somewhere else entirely...
IT WAS IN MY BACK BRAIN.
Day after day, I was accidentally sending the “how to improve my music problem” to my unconscious processing.
(I like to call this my "back brain".)
Ever had that thing where you are completely stuck on a problem, and have no idea how you're going to solve it?
Then next day it's obvious?
Or it comes to you in the shower?
Or (if you're anything like me) on the toilet?
(I now call the loo the “Throne of Wisdom”)
That’s your back brain at work.
By definition we're not conscious of what our unconscious mind is doing. So we ignore what it can do and automatically does.
Instead we believe (and so ensure) that the ONLY way we can improve is by trying harder...
Spending more time. More effort. More MONEY.
Of course, hard work, deliberate practice and killer gear result in better music.
If you can afford them, and know how to use them.
But what if you can't?
What if you don't have the time?
The energy?
The money?
By using the alternative I've just discovered...
Engage your back brain!
You see, you CAN enjoy life while producing lots of music by practising the FAST Splurge...