Songwriter Theory Podcast: Learn Songwriting And Write Meaningful Lyrics and Songs · Joseph Vadala

Create a 2024 Songwriting Plan You'll Actually Accomplish

·35 min·15 clips

Joseph Adala opens by saying he needs a songwriting plan for 2024. He treats that need as practical, not abstract, because songwriting goals only matter if they can survive a busy year. That is the core problem. The episode keeps returning to the gap between wanting to write more songs and building a life that actually produces more songs, and he uses his own plan, his past mistakes, and a few moments of uncertainty to make that difference feel lived in rather than theoretical. He says the point is to make a plan you can actually carry out. That means thinking about songwriting, recording, and even performing as goals that need structure instead of hope. A goal without structure is just a wish. He pushes that idea by asking what happens when a target stays vague, because the target only becomes real when the work is arranged so the outcome can keep happening. The episode then turns toward habit. He argues that supporting habits are what keep the larger goal moving when motivation is gone. For him, habits are close to automation, and that comparison becomes the clearest explanation for why plans fail or succeed. He compares creative routine to automatic transfers into savings or retirement accounts, where a setup done once keeps doing its job without needing daily discipline. The analogy is plain, but it does useful work. It lets him show why a songwriter should not rely on feeling ready every day, because the better answer is to build small repeatable actions that make the larger outcome more likely. He also points listeners to Atomic Habits and calls it one of the nonfiction books he recommends most often. The book reference stays in service of the main point. What matters here is not self-help as a genre, but the idea that a creative life can be designed with enough care that progress becomes the default instead of the exception. He says he is sharing his own plan partly for accountability and partly for inspiration. He also wants listeners to learn from his past mistakes. By the end, he is not promising perfection. He is arguing for a year that gets you most of the way there, which for him is already a good year. He closes by inviting questions in the comments and pointing listeners to his free guide, 20 different ways to start writing a song. The whole thing lands as a calm argument for process over fantasy, which is exactly the kind of argument a working songwriter can use.

As heard by us

A plainspoken plan for turning songwriting goals into something a calendar can actually carry.

Joseph Adala turns the episode into a practical reminder that a songwriting plan for 2024 has to work in ordinary life, not just on paper. He keeps the attention on concrete work, including goals like recording or performing, and treats the plan as something to build with…

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Why you'd press play

If your songwriting goals keep evaporating, this gives you a sturdier plan.

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