REQ: Arn Andersson The Power Of The 4% Rule
Hi there, friend!
Have you ever felt stuck in your progress as a music producer or composer, or felt like you’re not progressing at the rate you know you’re capable of?
… or maybe you get frustrated watching people progressing faster than you, and getting more done in less time - leaving you wondering what you are missing.
… or just simply feeling overwhelmed by everything you need to do, focusing on learning 5 skills at the same time, mastering 20 tools, watching 100 tutorials and feeling like you’re constantly learning - but not seeing any significant massive progress in your work.
When starting out as a creative, there are so many things to learn, and it is easy to feel completely overwhelmed when choosing what to focus on learning.
Well, that's how I felt when I entered the music business (The guy below that is way overdue for a haircut).
If you don't know me. I'm Arn Andersson - composer, travelling musician, and co-founder of Evenant. While I still got lots to learn, I feel very grateful for the cool opportunities and experiences I've been given so far.
For the past few years I've been living the life of a travelling, nomadic producer, traversing nearly 30 countries while composing game and film scores for companies like Lionsgate (Through My Father's Eyes), having music featured in Hollywood trailers (Lego Movie 2, Lady and the Tramp, Cold Pursuit, Welcome To Marwen etc), and advertising campaigns for brands like UNICEF and Pennzoil, collaborating on music for Grammy-winning artists like The Metropole Orkest and world class DJ Hardwell and much more.
However my career certainly didn’t start this way.
Far from it, actually. I honestly had no f***ing clue what I was doing.
The first few months and years were quite a struggle. I can honestly say I made every mistake you could imagine, and in the process wasted both time and money.
It pretty much looked like this:
I'd watch endless tutorials, buying mixing courses, studying EQs and Compressors, learning midi programming, how to make a website, how to treat my room…
I'd spend insane amounts of time on each track, obsessing over every single detail, going back and forth in the mix in a hopeless search to make it "Just right".
I’d check out every sample library out there hoping it would give me “what I needed” to make my tracks sound better. (It didn't, if you're wondering)
I was constantly comparing my tracks to other people’s work, beating myself up over the shortcomings and inadequacies of my music. (This is a bad idea...)
I was scared of what people would think of my tracks, to the point where I didn’t want to publish them online. (This is even worse...)
... I even deleted my first 4 tracks immediately after uploading, feeling embarrassed by the quality compared to other people's music. (And that's rock bottom right here...)
This is how things changed...
I'll be the first to tell you there is no magic pill or shortcut to transform your skills overnight, and I definitely wouldn't listen to anyone who claims that, ever.
But you can change one thing overnight, and that is your mindset.
Here's how things changed for me...
One day while lying on the beach in Cyprus, I read the 4 Hour Work Week by Tim Ferris and came across the Pareto Principle, or the 80/20 rule. If you’re not familiar with the concept, it basically means that 20% of something, yields 80% of the results. So 20% of the products in a store generates 80% of the revenue, 20% of people owns 80% of the wealth, and so on... It’s not always exact but it’s a good estimate. Let's use it for now.
I realized the same principles had to apply to the activities that would move my progress forward and make me evolve in music as well. When I tried to identify what these activities were in my case, I realized I was placing most of my energy in the wrong place.
When I went deeper, I found that the pareto principle even worked on itself, after reading a book by Sabri Suby.
20% of the 20% (4%), actually often yields the vast majority of these 80% results.
In other words, 4% of your efforts are the ones with the biggest return and impact.
It blew my mind when I realized my focus simply wasn’t on these 4% activities.
It was often on the remaining 96%.
That triggered a big mindset shift in me.
I realized I needed to find the 4% and stick to them, and identify the remaining 96% - and try spend as little time as possible on that.
I realized there was nothing wrong with me, I didn’t lack talent, and other people didn’t have any magic key, or superpowers that I didn’t possess.
I was simply making a few big mistakes, that had a detrimental impact on my progress - and lacked a few crucial mindsets that prohibited me from progressing fast enough. And I see countless others making these same mistakes too.
When I fixed these few things, man... did things change!
In less than two years of (very) hard work, I was making a full time income from my music. My music reached millions and I was offered opportunities to do my first game score, to work on feature films in LA, work with artists, and traveled across 5 continents while working on my craft.
And again, I am not pitching some Get Rich Quick Scheme, or magic pill - I just want to show you a simple way to shift your mindset, leverage your time and focus in the same way as successful CEO's, entrepreneurs and top performers do, to get more done in less time.
We all have 24 hours in the day, the only difference is how we spend it.
SO, HERE'S EXACTLY WHAT I DID TO CHANGE THINGS
I started identifying the 4% activities that would help me actually progress, and focused as much of my energy as I could on these few activities
I started to identify all the distractions that cost me time and money, but didn’t really help me progress, and wiped them out of my routine
I worked on rewiring my brain and mindset into a “Growth mindset” vs a “Fixed Mindset”
I realized that 10,000 hours of practice is of little help unless put on the right things, at the right time, in the right order.
I learned there is a right and wrong time to buy new plugins, libraries and tools, and it can impact you in negative ways you wouldn’t ever imagine
I realized the few key areas I could focus on, that helped me progress faster than I thought possible
One of the biggest problems us composers face, is getting lost in the little details of our compositions. Sometimes we can sink hours and hours of time in fixing minor things that make up for a small amount of the final result instead of focussing on the key areas that make a track great. By adapting Arn's methods and focus on the essential elements of composing, my workflow has been dramatically improved.
Sjoerd Visser, Composer & Evenant Student
​THE POWER OF THE 4% RULE
I’ve compiled all the biggest lessons I’ve learned and more in my brand new ebook
"The Power Of The 4% Rule: How To Eliminate Creative Overwhelm, Achieve Extraordinary Results and Accelerated Growth By Doing Less"
This eBook is a result of all my experiences, mistakes and wins over the better half of a decade as a professional musician and producer, as well as my work with the 2000+ students that have been through my online courses. It also features insights from amazing composers and producers we have interviewed about the biggest mistakes they see beginners make - and how to overcome them. I have just written this ebook to ensure people don't have to make the same mistakes I did.
It is a roadmap to help you find your 4% skills and focus your full attention on them, to experience more growth and progress than ever before.
Again, no magic formula to fix all the issues in your life overnight with no effort.
It requires hard work - but it will help ensure you put this work in the right places at the right time, and get the best return on your investment.
It is tested and proven methods that will help you:
Learn where to focus your energy to multiply your results
How to reduce overwhelm and regain clarity around what to work on
Avoid the 6 biggest time, money and energy-suckers that are 99% sure to keep you stuck
WHO IS THIS EBOOK FOR
I specifically wrote this ebook for music producers and composers who want to:
… maximise their time, minimize distractions, and avoid the biggest time and money wasters
… progress faster in the key areas that will make the biggest difference in their career and craft
... reduce overwhelm, and gain a new sense of clarity regarding what to focus on, and the path forward
WHAT YOU WILL LEARN
How to apply the 10,000 hour rule the RIGHT way (It matters a lot where and how you spend them)
Finding the 4% activities that will move the needle and make you progress faster than you thought possible
Why buying a lot of sample libraries is a horrible idea, even if you have the money (The reason is a big surprise for a lot of people).
Why your gear should be the least of your worries
The Top 6 mistakes that will guarantee you lose money, time and progress (and how to avoid all of them to begin with).
How to get the most out of tutorials, books, and all educational resources
How you’re unknowingly sabotaging your growth - and how to fix it!
The mindsets you need to build momentum and growth in your career
ADDED CONTENT AND RESOURCES
BONUS CONTENT
To help you implement everything you learn, discuss with others, turn all the knowledge into action, and see results faster, I have included the following bonuses into the bundle:
BONUS #1: The Progress Compass: ($29)
A visual cheat sheet and 6-page questionnaire designed to help you
Identify your 4% skills that you should focus on to achieve maximum growth and progress, and
Lay down a focused plan for the next months to take your core skills to a whole new level.
BONUS #2: Mindset Video Vault - ($47)
The Mindset Video Vault consists of 11 videos that expands on the topics in the ebook, helping you:
Overcome the most common and detrimental mental obstacles keeping you from publishing more music, and growing as a music producer, and
Find practical tips and tricks to make your workflow more efficient
BONUS #3: The 4% Action Steps - ($19)
The Action Steps are 5 Assignments designed to help you implement the topics from the ebook into your workflow as a music producer, and:
Streamline your libraries and plugins, so you can work quicker and more efficient, and waste less time.
Improve your core skills with effective writing exercises, and have the option to discuss the topics of the book with other readers in our online portal
BONUS #4: Lifestyle & Productivity Email Compilation - ($19)
This is a 21-page compilation of the best emails I've sent to our students the past year, around the topics of health, lifestyle and productivity, with advice on:
My best advice on health and nutrition to feel better, think clearer, and boost your productivity and work power.
Have you ever felt stuck in your progress as a music producer or composer, or felt like you’re not progressing at the rate you know you’re capable of?
… or maybe you get frustrated watching people progressing faster than you, and getting more done in less time - leaving you wondering what you are missing.
… or just simply feeling overwhelmed by everything you need to do, focusing on learning 5 skills at the same time, mastering 20 tools, watching 100 tutorials and feeling like you’re constantly learning - but not seeing any significant massive progress in your work.
When starting out as a creative, there are so many things to learn, and it is easy to feel completely overwhelmed when choosing what to focus on learning.
Well, that's how I felt when I entered the music business (The guy below that is way overdue for a haircut).
If you don't know me. I'm Arn Andersson - composer, travelling musician, and co-founder of Evenant. While I still got lots to learn, I feel very grateful for the cool opportunities and experiences I've been given so far.
For the past few years I've been living the life of a travelling, nomadic producer, traversing nearly 30 countries while composing game and film scores for companies like Lionsgate (Through My Father's Eyes), having music featured in Hollywood trailers (Lego Movie 2, Lady and the Tramp, Cold Pursuit, Welcome To Marwen etc), and advertising campaigns for brands like UNICEF and Pennzoil, collaborating on music for Grammy-winning artists like The Metropole Orkest and world class DJ Hardwell and much more.
However my career certainly didn’t start this way.
Far from it, actually. I honestly had no f***ing clue what I was doing.
The first few months and years were quite a struggle. I can honestly say I made every mistake you could imagine, and in the process wasted both time and money.
It pretty much looked like this:
I'd watch endless tutorials, buying mixing courses, studying EQs and Compressors, learning midi programming, how to make a website, how to treat my room…
I'd spend insane amounts of time on each track, obsessing over every single detail, going back and forth in the mix in a hopeless search to make it "Just right".
I’d check out every sample library out there hoping it would give me “what I needed” to make my tracks sound better. (It didn't, if you're wondering)
I was constantly comparing my tracks to other people’s work, beating myself up over the shortcomings and inadequacies of my music. (This is a bad idea...)
I was scared of what people would think of my tracks, to the point where I didn’t want to publish them online. (This is even worse...)
... I even deleted my first 4 tracks immediately after uploading, feeling embarrassed by the quality compared to other people's music. (And that's rock bottom right here...)
This is how things changed...
I'll be the first to tell you there is no magic pill or shortcut to transform your skills overnight, and I definitely wouldn't listen to anyone who claims that, ever.
But you can change one thing overnight, and that is your mindset.
Here's how things changed for me...
One day while lying on the beach in Cyprus, I read the 4 Hour Work Week by Tim Ferris and came across the Pareto Principle, or the 80/20 rule. If you’re not familiar with the concept, it basically means that 20% of something, yields 80% of the results. So 20% of the products in a store generates 80% of the revenue, 20% of people owns 80% of the wealth, and so on... It’s not always exact but it’s a good estimate. Let's use it for now.
I realized the same principles had to apply to the activities that would move my progress forward and make me evolve in music as well. When I tried to identify what these activities were in my case, I realized I was placing most of my energy in the wrong place.
When I went deeper, I found that the pareto principle even worked on itself, after reading a book by Sabri Suby.
20% of the 20% (4%), actually often yields the vast majority of these 80% results.
In other words, 4% of your efforts are the ones with the biggest return and impact.
It blew my mind when I realized my focus simply wasn’t on these 4% activities.
It was often on the remaining 96%.
That triggered a big mindset shift in me.
I realized I needed to find the 4% and stick to them, and identify the remaining 96% - and try spend as little time as possible on that.
I realized there was nothing wrong with me, I didn’t lack talent, and other people didn’t have any magic key, or superpowers that I didn’t possess.
I was simply making a few big mistakes, that had a detrimental impact on my progress - and lacked a few crucial mindsets that prohibited me from progressing fast enough. And I see countless others making these same mistakes too.
When I fixed these few things, man... did things change!
In less than two years of (very) hard work, I was making a full time income from my music. My music reached millions and I was offered opportunities to do my first game score, to work on feature films in LA, work with artists, and traveled across 5 continents while working on my craft.
And again, I am not pitching some Get Rich Quick Scheme, or magic pill - I just want to show you a simple way to shift your mindset, leverage your time and focus in the same way as successful CEO's, entrepreneurs and top performers do, to get more done in less time.
We all have 24 hours in the day, the only difference is how we spend it.
SO, HERE'S EXACTLY WHAT I DID TO CHANGE THINGS
I started identifying the 4% activities that would help me actually progress, and focused as much of my energy as I could on these few activities
I started to identify all the distractions that cost me time and money, but didn’t really help me progress, and wiped them out of my routine
I worked on rewiring my brain and mindset into a “Growth mindset” vs a “Fixed Mindset”
I realized that 10,000 hours of practice is of little help unless put on the right things, at the right time, in the right order.
I learned there is a right and wrong time to buy new plugins, libraries and tools, and it can impact you in negative ways you wouldn’t ever imagine
I realized the few key areas I could focus on, that helped me progress faster than I thought possible
One of the biggest problems us composers face, is getting lost in the little details of our compositions. Sometimes we can sink hours and hours of time in fixing minor things that make up for a small amount of the final result instead of focussing on the key areas that make a track great. By adapting Arn's methods and focus on the essential elements of composing, my workflow has been dramatically improved.
Sjoerd Visser, Composer & Evenant Student
​THE POWER OF THE 4% RULE
I’ve compiled all the biggest lessons I’ve learned and more in my brand new ebook
"The Power Of The 4% Rule: How To Eliminate Creative Overwhelm, Achieve Extraordinary Results and Accelerated Growth By Doing Less"
This eBook is a result of all my experiences, mistakes and wins over the better half of a decade as a professional musician and producer, as well as my work with the 2000+ students that have been through my online courses. It also features insights from amazing composers and producers we have interviewed about the biggest mistakes they see beginners make - and how to overcome them. I have just written this ebook to ensure people don't have to make the same mistakes I did.
It is a roadmap to help you find your 4% skills and focus your full attention on them, to experience more growth and progress than ever before.
Again, no magic formula to fix all the issues in your life overnight with no effort.
It requires hard work - but it will help ensure you put this work in the right places at the right time, and get the best return on your investment.
It is tested and proven methods that will help you:
Learn where to focus your energy to multiply your results
How to reduce overwhelm and regain clarity around what to work on
Avoid the 6 biggest time, money and energy-suckers that are 99% sure to keep you stuck
WHO IS THIS EBOOK FOR
I specifically wrote this ebook for music producers and composers who want to:
… maximise their time, minimize distractions, and avoid the biggest time and money wasters
… progress faster in the key areas that will make the biggest difference in their career and craft
... reduce overwhelm, and gain a new sense of clarity regarding what to focus on, and the path forward
WHAT YOU WILL LEARN
How to apply the 10,000 hour rule the RIGHT way (It matters a lot where and how you spend them)
Finding the 4% activities that will move the needle and make you progress faster than you thought possible
Why buying a lot of sample libraries is a horrible idea, even if you have the money (The reason is a big surprise for a lot of people).
Why your gear should be the least of your worries
The Top 6 mistakes that will guarantee you lose money, time and progress (and how to avoid all of them to begin with).
How to get the most out of tutorials, books, and all educational resources
How you’re unknowingly sabotaging your growth - and how to fix it!
The mindsets you need to build momentum and growth in your career
ADDED CONTENT AND RESOURCES
BONUS CONTENT
To help you implement everything you learn, discuss with others, turn all the knowledge into action, and see results faster, I have included the following bonuses into the bundle:
BONUS #1: The Progress Compass: ($29)
A visual cheat sheet and 6-page questionnaire designed to help you
Identify your 4% skills that you should focus on to achieve maximum growth and progress, and
Lay down a focused plan for the next months to take your core skills to a whole new level.
BONUS #2: Mindset Video Vault - ($47)
The Mindset Video Vault consists of 11 videos that expands on the topics in the ebook, helping you:
Overcome the most common and detrimental mental obstacles keeping you from publishing more music, and growing as a music producer, and
Find practical tips and tricks to make your workflow more efficient
BONUS #3: The 4% Action Steps - ($19)
The Action Steps are 5 Assignments designed to help you implement the topics from the ebook into your workflow as a music producer, and:
Streamline your libraries and plugins, so you can work quicker and more efficient, and waste less time.
Improve your core skills with effective writing exercises, and have the option to discuss the topics of the book with other readers in our online portal
BONUS #4: Lifestyle & Productivity Email Compilation - ($19)
This is a 21-page compilation of the best emails I've sent to our students the past year, around the topics of health, lifestyle and productivity, with advice on:
My best advice on health and nutrition to feel better, think clearer, and boost your productivity and work power.