Creativity in the Chaos

Life gets busy, that’s just how it is.

Work piles up, messages keep coming in, people expect things from you, and before you even notice, your days are packed from morning till night.

And somewhere in the middle of that chaos, there’s this small part of you that still wants to make music. 🎧

But every time you finally sit down, you’re exhausted. Your brain’s foggy, your body’s tired, and instead of feeling inspired you just feel… drained.

And it’s frustrating, because you know you love doing this.

You know that when you’re in the zone, nothing feels better. yet getting into that zone feels almost impossible when life won’t slow down.

I’ve been there more times than I can count.

There were months when I barely touched my DAW, not because I didn’t care, but because I couldn’t find the mental space to even open a project. 

But here’s what I’ve learned: creativity is always there. 💡

You don’t need long weekends, full studio days, or some perfect schedule.

You just need to build little moments of space and systems that make it easier to start.

And in this article, I’ll show you how.

Let's dive in. 🤿

Inspiration → Motivation → Action

For a long time, I had a completely wrong idea about how making music was “supposed” to work, or at least that’s how I see it now.

I used to think I had to feel it first. 💖

That I needed to wait until I was inspired, until I was in the right headspace, and only then sit down at my DAW and start creating.

But during a year-long program I joined (Los Angeles Academy for Artists and Music Production (LAAMP)), I had a conversation with one of the producers there (shout out to him), and he told me something that changed my prespective completely.

He said that he doesn’t wait to feel inspired.

He just sits down, starts clicking around, tries different things, and once something starts sounding good, he shapes it.

Like a sculptor working with raw stone. 🗿

And that completely shifted how I think about creativity.

I had heard about the concept of Inspiration → Motivation → Action before, how they feed into each other in a loop, but it never clicked.

Until last year.

Because it’s true: if you start with action, something might click, and that success gives you motivation… which then sparks inspiration.

Or you start with a bit of motivation, which gets you into action… and that action creates inspiration.

Or you get inspired, which pushes you to act, which gives you motivation, and around it goes. 🔁

So these days, my workflow looks completely different than it used to.

I don’t sit around wondering if I “feel like” making music.

I don’t expect that every session has to produce something amazing.

I just sit down and do.

I try to be a sculptor of the moment, to capture whatever comes out of me right now in the best way I can, and shape it later.

Back then, I used to think I needed a fully formed idea before opening my DAW.

And most of the time, I’d sit down with that idea… and watch it morph into something completely different, and then I’d be frustrated and disappointed that it didn’t stay what I imagined. 🧠

Now, I open my DAW, load up a plugin, play a melody, tweak it a bit, throw in a sample, add drums ,and suddenly, a beat is born out of nowhere.

That beat gives me energy to make another one. And another.

Then maybe I jump into mixing, or record a quick demo for someone who hired me to help write lyrics.

I don’t wait for inspiration anymore. I act.

Some days the session flows and everything feels magical. Some days it’s just average.

But it’s just like training. 🏋️

Sometimes you feel unstoppable and the workout is incredible.

Other times you don’t want to move, but you go anyway, and it turns out to be one of your best sessions ever.

That’s the mindset I’ve built for making music.

I don’t wait to feel ready.

I start, and let the feeling catch up.

And... To be honest, I’ve never felt more free in the process than I do now. 🖤

Make It Easy to Start

One of the biggest things that helped me stay creative when life got hectic was removing all the friction between me and making music.

Because let’s be real, when your day is already packed, the hardest part isn’t finishing a song. The hardest part is starting.

So I started making it as easy as possible to begin.

I built a few simple recording and production templates so every time I open my DAW, everything’s already there.

All I have to do is hit record or drop in a loop and I’m already in motion. 🎧

I also keep my physical setup minimal, my mic is always plugged in, my interface is always on, my headphones are right next to me.

I don’t want to spend 20 minutes digging cables out of drawers.

So if you’re struggling to stay creative when life gets busy, don’t try to force huge studio sessions.

Instead, make it ridiculously easy to start.

Shrink the barrier between you and your music until it’s basically one click.

Once it’s that easy, you’ll be surprised how often you end up creating, even on the days when you thought you were too tired.

Create and Edit (Separately)

One of the biggest shifts in my process was realizing that creating and finishing are two completely different things.

They use different parts of your brain, and trying to do both at once is the fastest way to kill your flow. 🌊

When I’m creating, I want to feel free.

I want to feel like anything is possible, like I can follow whatever spark shows up in that moment.

I’m not judging ideas. I’m not asking “does this fit?”

I’m just trying to pull as many ideas out of myself as I can and get them down fast.

If something weird pops up, I follow it.

If a new instrument suddenly fits the vibe, I throw it in.

Sure, I try to keep a decent level of quality, but that’s not the point here, the point is momentum. ⚡

Most of those ideas end up as quick demos or one-minute snippets sitting on my hard drive.

And that’s exactly what I want from this phase.

Finishing is a different story.

That’s when I slow down and get methodical.

I make the tough calls, muting parts that don’t serve the song, cutting sections, shortening structures, removing sounds that felt exciting when I made them but don’t support the track anymore.

That’s when I mix more deliberately, polish the rough parts, and decide what actually deserves to stay. ✂️

Right now I’ve got around 60–80 projects sitting at about 70% done.

And I know that soon - probably this winter - I’ll stop chasing new ideas and just spend two or three focused hours per session finishing them one by one.

The distance helps.

I’m no longer emotionally attached to the version I made six months ago, so I can hear it clearly and shape it with fresh perspective.

This two-phase system gives me the best of both worlds.

In the create phase, I’m totally free, I experiment, follow impulse, and build a massive bank of ideas. 🌌

In the edit phase, I shift into a different mindset, I work on mixing, arrangement, structure, and the discipline of actually finishing. 🖥️

Over a year, I end up with just as many finished tracks as I would if I forced myself to complete each song the day after I started it…

But now I’m not stuck in that loop where I rush to finish, hate it a week later, and reopen it a hundred times.

Instead, I let the create phase be wild, and the edit phase be calm and clear.

Because of that both sides keep getting better, because each one finally has space to breathe. 🧘

Capture Ideas on the Go

A lot of people swear by this one, and honestly, it makes sense.

I’ll be real though… it’s not something I personally do very often when it comes to music.

Most of my ideas are born when I’m already in the studio, fully locked in. 🔒

But I’ve seen how much this helps other artists, so I wanted to include it here for you. 

Because inspiration doesn’t care where you are or what you’re doing. 💡

It might hit when you’re walking to work, sitting on the bus, at the gym, or cooking dinner, and if you don’t catch it, it usually disappears just as fast as it came.

That’s why a lot of artists carry their phone like a portable studio.

They open the voice memos app, hum a melody or mumble a lyric line.

Others keep a running note in their phone for random bar ideas, hook concepts, or just one-liners they might flip into something later. 🎙️

It doesn’t have to be perfect, it just has to be captured.

Because once the spark fades, you won’t remember it exactly the same way.

Even if you never use half of those scraps, just knowing you caught them gives you peace of mind, and every now and then, one of those quick notes turns into a full track.

So if your life’s hectic and studio time is rare, this can be a game changer.

Keep your phone ready, keep your mind open, and don’t wait until you’re “in the mood.”

Embrace Small Creative Wins

The truth is, some of your most important sessions won’t give you a full track.

They’ll give you a piece - a chorus, a verse, a melody loop, a demo - something small that doesn’t look like much now, but might become the core of your next release. 🔊

And honestly, collecting those small wins keeps your momentum alive.

Because when life gets busy, you won’t always have five hours to dive deep into a full production.

Sometimes you’ll have one quiet hour before bed, and in that hour, laying down one hook or sketching one beat is more than enough.

Those little creative wins stack up.

They keep the habit alive.

They remind you that you’re still doing this, still growing, still moving forward, even when you don’t have time to finish something big.

So stop thinking every session has to be “the one.”

Let it be just a step. 👣

Because all those steps are what build your path as an artist.

Protect Your Energy, Not Just Your Time

I learned the hard way, that time doesn’t mean much if you’ve got no energy left to use it. 🔋

You can block out three hours for a studio session, but if you walk in exhausted, drained from work, sleep-deprived and mentally done… nothing good is coming out.

Creativity needs fuel. ⛽

And that fuel is your energy, physical, mental, emotional.

That means sleeping enough.

Taking real breaks without guilt.

Letting yourself rest, do nothing, play games, go outside, be a human for a while. 🌱

Because music doesn’t come from discipline alone, it comes from having something to pour into it.

And you can’t pour from an empty cup.

So if your life is chaotic right now and you feel like your creativity disappeared,
maybe it didn’t.

Maybe you’re just running on empty, and the best thing you can do for your art is to recharge.

Protect your energy first, and the music will come back naturally.

Wrapping It Up

Life gets messy. Work piles up, stress builds, and your days fill with everything except music, and when that happens, it’s easy to start thinking your creativity is gone.

But it’s not. 💪

It’s just buried under the noise.

And all it really needs is a bit of space, a bit of energy, and a system that works with your life instead of fighting against it. 

You don’t need to force yourself into long sessions, finish something every time you sit down, or post new music every week to “stay consistent.”

You just need to stay connected to the part of you that creates, even if it’s only for 20 minutes at a time.

Because creativity isn’t about intensity. It’s about continuity.

If you keep showing up in small ways, protecting your energy, and letting your creative process flow naturally, the music will keep coming, even in the busiest seasons of your life.

And one day you’ll look back and realize… you never lost it. 

You just had to make room for it to breathe. 🌬️

I kind of enjoy this mindset articles. I hope you too.

If you need some tools that might help you with making music I have some templates and beat packs, or if you are looking for high quality beats you can always explore through my catalog.

Take care,

Baxon 👊