Song-A-Day Challenge (I wrote a song everyday for a year)
Photo cred: @daijirou_kaneta (+ my hazy distortion edit)
In 2023, I wrote one song everyday for one year. I wanted to share more of my music and I needed to sharpen some skills (like music production, creative discipline and confidence).
So I did a song-a-day challenge. I even made a separate Instagram account for the challenge (I wanted to keep it private…).
But I learned a lot in the process. Like how some days totally sucked, but if you push through, things usually work out. So this post shares my top takeaways and tips.
Now let’s do this!
Why Do A Song-A-Day Challenge?
So why did I do this song challenge anyways?
I mean, nobody really cared that I was doing it and I pretty much kept it private (well, as best I could anyways).
But there were some specific things I wanted to do.
Here’s why I did this challenge:
To improve my creative discipline
I wanted to proved to myself that I could do it
I felt an intuitive pull to do it
Boost my singing, songwriting and production chops
Cultivate better content creation habits
Build my personal brand
To inspire and reach more people
To meet and network with other musicians and artists
To find new and exciting song ideas (the quantity over quality strategy)
Explore more:
➤ My Favorite Songwriting Tips
Song-A-Day Challenge (my rules)
Challenges usually have some ground rules. These can help keep you accountable and on track.
Here’s how I did things.
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Songs need at least three things (a verse, a chorus and an intro/outro)
Everyday needs to be a different, new song (I mean, duh)
Cover songs are okay as long as they’re different from the original and have some unique take
You can use tech tools (like AI), but you’ve gotta add your magic
Collaborations are okay (as long as you do at least half of the songwriting)
Style, instrument use and tools are flexible — anything is fair game
Songs don’t need to include singing (instrumentals are okay)
You can use old ideas if you’re in a creative rut (just add to them and finish things up)
Song can be simple or complex (it matters not)
Songs don’t need to be professionally mixed (live acoustic recording are fine)
You can plan ahead and occasionally pre-write songs (e.g., if you’re traveling or are hella busy)
Writing A Song Everyday (6 tips)
1. Don’t Be Perfect — Make Mistakes
You may have heard, but perfectionism destroys creativity (and fun).
So my best advice is to stay aware of this trap and do the opposite — make and embrace mistakes.
Whenever you find yourself thinking something ‘sucks’ or you’re not up to snuff, just shine a light on those thoughts. Because they’re not true.
Mistakes and ‘failures’ are creativity in action — something I talk about in this video here:
Everyday can’t be a W and every project isn’t meant to be a home run. But the more you do, the better your batting average gets.
So stay the course, trust the process and embrace the challenge with this simple formula: showing up > being perfect.
2. Have A Clear Why
Sometimes, I forget why I started doing something in the first place. This leads to motivational droughts.
But when I keep my purpose and mission top of mind and clear, it’s easier to keep showing up.
I covered these above already, but here were my core reasons for writing a song everyday:
Improve my creative discipline
Get better at music production
Improve my social media/content habits
Get more comfortable sharing my music
So what are your goals? What do you hope to achieve with this songwriting challenge?
What is your North Star?
Write that down, think about it daily and put it somewhere you’ll see.
3. Work Smarter
Writing a song everyday for a year is already a tall order. So let’s work smarter.
Working smarter means optimizing your songwriting to be more efficient and simpler. Here’s what I do:
Use a creative workflow
Use templates
Have your music-making space all setup and ready to go
Schedule daily time in to write your music
Avoid distractions while writing
Define and avoid your songwriting bottlenecks
Play to your strengths
Remember, simple and short songs are okay
Explore more:
➤ My Music Production Workflow
4. Keep Things Simple
During this challenge, I definitely make some more developed songs with more detailed edits.
But everyday? Definitely not.
Keeping things simple is way more sustainable. So don’t feel bad if all you can do is hit record on your phone and post a raw acoustic singing video for your daily song.
This still counts.
Actually, some of my favorite songs are the simple ones that don’t have too much complexity to them. Sometimes, less is more.
5. Creativity + Motivation Follow Action
Some days (many days), I wanted nothing to do with writing music.
I was tired, busy with other things or dealing with a serious creative block. But I pushed through. I had no choice.
And to my surprise, a lot of my favorite songs came out of these ennui-filled days. Sometimes, on the other side of my creative laziness or hesitation, was creative gold.
Why, you ask?
Because, often, creativity and motivation follow action.
It’s a productivity hack.
So when you inevitably experience those shit days, just focus on taking that first small step.
In chemistry, it’s called activation energy — the minimum amount of energy needed to spark a reaction.
So, harness your activation energy for more reliable creativity.
Recommended:
➤ Mood Follow Action (here’s why)
6. Plan Ahead (have a rainy day fund)
Life gets busy. So I planned ahead for this.
For example, I knew my travel lifestyle would create some issues. So I would sometimes write more than one song in a day (especially if I I had an upcoming trip or felt a cold coming on).
And while I felt guilty doing this the first time, I realized it didn’t matter. I was still putting out 365 songs and staying active online everyday.
My goals for this challenge were not broken because of this “rainy day fund”.
So my advice is to do the same thing. Because even if you don’t have anything to do, it’s just nice to have a day off sometimes.
Later ✌️
I’m absolutely stoked that I committed to writing a song everyday for a year. I feel way more confident and disciplined. But there was one glaring (slightly negative) takeaway from all of this.
I didn’t always prioritize the creative process and rushed through a lot of projects.
This took away the patience required to make a truly good song.
For example, I love to step away and let ideas marinate. This gives me objectivity and allows me to come back with fresh ears. I also love to give idea time to grow and develop. Nuances and ideas don’t always come quick.
But when you’re pressured to publish a song everyday, this wasn’t always possible. I found myself writing for the sake of just finishing the song — not always for creativity or songwriting quality.
Still, I have zero regrets. It was an epic adventure and I definitely recommend it if you’re looking for an epic challenge.
So with that, happy songwriting!
