Hi,

This week’s newsletter is more mindset related as opposed to covering a specific tactical strategy.

It’s an idea I’ve been thinking about lately and am trying to apply more my life. I thought it’d be worth focusing on for this week’s edition.

Let’s dive in ⬇️

A few days ago, I was on Instagram and randomly stumbled across a video from a neuroscientist who explained how making decisions or choices can actually create a rush of dopamine within our brains.

(I tried searching for the video to link here but for the life of me sadly can’t find it).

At first I assumed it was just an Instagram influencer wanna-be-scientist but after going to their profile, I saw that they actually had a PhD and were in fact, a neuroscientist. The concept was fascinating to me and I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

After doing some research, I found that when we as human beings are mulling or thinking over a big decision, our brains are in what’s called a “cognitive conflict state”.

Essentially…cognitive dissonance.

Without even realizing it, our thought process and brains are literally in a state of conflict (mostly coming from the prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate cortex) which causes stress and over time.

Making a decision creates a “closure loop” in our brains, relieves that stress, and essentially injects dopamine. We receive dopamine not just from the act of making the decision and knowing what we’re going to do, but also from the newfound anticipation of whatever that decision is happening.

It made me think about a decision of my own I had been torn over for the last few months - whether to stay in my current apartment or move out and find somewhere new to live. I wrote down pros and cons lists, researched new areas, looked at listings, and without even realizing it, put my brain in a cognitive conflict state for months.

Pretty recently, I laughed to myself at how hard I was thinking about it and just made a decision in that moment. Literally, immediately upon making that decision within seconds, I felt amazing. Almost like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. Little did I know it was that science backed dopamine.

The whole exercise made me think a lot about the decision making I observe with creators, artists, and their teams and the stress that I see them endure from it. Creating art and putting it into the world can be exhilarating but is also an inherently scary process.

It’s nerve wracking on some level - it’s so easy to get caught up in what if people don’t like it, is it good enough, is it perfect?

That said, after thinking about it, I realized how much stress I see over decisions that in the grand scheme of things (that person’s life, career, rollout, campaign, etc) don’t actually matter that much.

The artwork isn’t perfect, it has to be just right.

Is the mix and master final? The drums are too low. The snares are too high. It needs another pass.

This piece of content isn’t perfect - it didn’t come out the way it was intended. The angles aren’t great. Is it still worth putting out?

The YouTube thumbnail may not be 100% perfect.

That podcast intro might still need some work.

Should I do this show? Is it a good look? What if it goes bad? What if this thing doesn’t turn out good?

When thinking about it, I realized how easy it is to get tripped up in the decision making process without making an actual decision - spending valuable time and brain power which ultimately creates stress (literally putting our brains in a conflict state) mulling over decisions .

Then I remembered this tweet:

I know, I know….this is a massive generalization and the right decision does matter!

It’s important to be thoughtful, intentional, and put your best foot forward.

That said, it’s also important to also do those things without getting in your own way or causing yourself stress.

That time spent worrying about making that decision and debating with yourself could be spent on creative energy somewhere else.

The truth is…no one really knows what they’re doing and the fastest way to learn by is failing. Often. In fact, most people don’t fail enough simply by not taking enough action.

So…this newsletter is a reminder to whoever is reading as well as a reminder to myself.

Aim. Fire. Correct later. Make decisions. Learn from them. Keep it moving.

Thanks for reading, until next time.

_{The Vault}

1) The Artist Marketing Playbook - I teamed up with my good friend and fellow music marketing expert Drew De Leon to present The Artist Marketing Playbook. An in-depth look at what an artist can do to set themselves up for success in 2025. More info HERE.