Inputs and Outputs

Whether you're building tracks, building a business, or building the best version of yourself, everything boils down to a simple truth:

Your results are determined by the quality of your inputs.

More simply said…

Garbage In = Garbage out

Even the best chef cannot create a gourmet meal with bad ingredients.

Let’s look at how you can apply this idea across different areas of focus to improve your outputs by optimizing your inputs.

Inputs and Outputs in Music Production

In music production, the quality of your final track is fundamentally linked to the initial quality of your recordings.

It’s simple: if you start with low quality sounds - be it due to inferior equipment, a bad recording environment, or poor performance - no amount of post-production magic will transform those sounds into a high-quality record.

To make great music, you must prioritize excellence from the start.

How to Optimize Inputs for Your Music:

1. Start with a Great Song or Composition: Like our good friends at NSAI say, ‘It all starts with a song.’ Make sure you have something that is worth recording and don’t get stuck ‘polishing a turd’. 💩

2. Use High Quality Equipment: If you are serious about making music a career, you have to be willing to make an investment in your business. Wherever possible, use high quality microphones, interfaces, and/or instruments. The quality of your tools will absolutely influence the quality of the finished product.

3. Optimize Your Recording Environment: Even the best microphone won’t save a recording from a bad room. Spend time and resources on acoustic treatment. The time spent on your room’s acoustics will save you much more time would have been spent trying to EQ all those muddy frequencies that get even more amplified through the mixing and mastering process.

4. Use Great Players and Continuously Improve Your Skills: Both musical talent and technical proficiency determine the quality of your inputs. Never stop learning and practicing your own musical chops, but also be honest with yourself about your capabilities. If you know you aren’t the best person to play on the record, find someone who has put in the time to master their instrument. Again, this will save you a ton of time trying to comp and quantize a performance in hopes of making it sound like a great musician played it.

5. Find Top Notch Collaborators: I often say that ‘music is a team sport’. While the DIY mentality may help people embrace the need to expand their skill set, the reality is that you will never be good at everything. Make sure you are leveraging collaborators whose strengths complement your weaknesses.

Inputs and Outputs in Business

In business, the inputs include the team you assemble, how everyone’s time is spent, your strategies and the resources you deploy. A talented, motivated team working efficiently with adequate resources is much more likely to find success.

However, countless businesses with great teams and loads of resources have still failed because they had a poor strategy or were unable to learn from their mistakes.

That’s why you must stay focused on the long game while also being open minded, willing to pivot, and ready to adjust the strategy as you go along.

For more insights on long-term strategic thinking, be sure to read ‘The Number One Reason Why Most Artists Fail’.

Poor management of people, time, and resources will derail even the most promising ventures. Success in business requires strategic planning and thoughtful allocation of every input.

How to Optimize Inputs for Your Business:

1. Select the Right Team: Skills and experience matter, but so does fit with the culture, vibe, and vision. Find people who complement and enhance what you are working on, but don’t underestimate the person who you get along with really well and is willing to learn on the fly.

2. Their Outputs & Feedback Become Your Input: The output of your team is a reflection of the inputs that you gave them. If you did not train them well enough, that will show in their outputs. If you did not clearly communicate expectations, that will show too. The output of your team is a feedback loop that becomes your new input and tells you how to adjust the inputs you give to them. Always seek feedback from people you respect to increase the speed of your growth.

3. Manage Time Effectively: Identify high-impact activities and ruthlessly prioritize them. Eliminate or delegate low-value tasks. High value tasks and projects are usually harder to take on. That’s why humans have a tendency to default to low-value tasks and waste time when given the opportunity.

4. Allocate Resources Wisely: Invest in tools, technologies, and training that offer the highest return on investment. You have to be willing to invest and continue reinvesting the right inputs until the right outputs show up. If you’re not willing to give everything you’ve got to get the level of success that you want, then the chances of you getting it are not very high.

5. Adjust the Strategy as You Go Along: Your strategy is always evolving according to the data and information you gather. The right mindset is to be detached, curious, and willing to do whatever is necessary to serve your audience at the highest level.

Inputs and Outputs in Personal Growth

The concept of inputs and outputs extends beyond your profession to encompass your entire life.

The information you consume, the people you surround yourself with, and how you care for your physical and mental well-being are all inputs that shape your life. High-quality inputs like nutritious food, enriching conversations, and positive, constructive media will enhance your personal growth and the quality of your life.

How to Optimize Inputs for Your Personal Growth:

1. Be Selective About Media Consumption: Choose content that educates, inspires, and aligns with your goals. Remember, GARBAGE IN = GARBAGE OUT. You can’t expect to have a fulfilling and fruitful life if you are constantly filling your mind with nonsense and negativity.

2. Learn to Love to Learn: Too many people think that, because they graduated school, they no longer need to spend a lot of time studying and learning new things. That mindset will keep you stuck where you are at, while lifelong learners pass you by because they are always upping their skills.

3. Surround Yourself with Positive Influences: Spend time with people who support your growth and challenge you to be better. As the personal growth guru, Jim Rohn, said so wisely: ‘You are an average of the five people you spend the most time with’. If you can’t find high-level people to spend time around in real life, do it through books, podcasts, and videos. They will absolutely rub off on you if you spend a lot of time absorbing the way they think and behave.

4. Travel to Strange and Exotic Places: One of the best ways to get new inputs is to put yourself in a new environment. The world is such an amazing place, and it is full of incredible people who may think quite differently than you do. Traveling will open your mind in ways that nothing else can.

5. Invest in Your Well-being: Prioritize healthy eating, regular exercise, and sufficient sleep. Your physical and mental health are the foundation of your life. If your physical and mental health are struggling, nothing else matters.

So make your health your highest priority!

By focusing on the quality of your inputs, you set a foundation for excellence. It’s about making informed, deliberate choices in every aspect of your life and work.

Master the art of input selection, and watch as the quality of your outputs transforms, elevating your music, your business, and your life to new heights!