Is Overthinking a Barrier to Creativity? Embracing Flow in Music Making

There’s a curious paradox that many music makers know all too well: the harder you try to make that perfect track, the less likely you are to succeed. You can spend hours tweaking a snare, obsessing over that bassline, or fine-tuning automation curves, only to find yourself further away from the vibe you were aiming for. On the other hand, there are those times when you’re barely trying, just enjoying the process, and the track comes together effortlessly like the universe just leaned over and whispered, “Here you go.”

Why does this happen? Why does trying hard sometimes feel like the enemy? We might call it a “creative block” or “analysis paralysis.” It’s that feeling when every encoder you turn feels wrong, every decision feels contrived, and an invisible force seems like it’s conspiring against you. 

On the flip side, there are those blissful moments when the music just flows. You’re so locked into the groove that hours disappear. You’re jamming, layering ideas, and letting the track unfold almost on its own. The kicks sit right, the bassline punches and your arrangement evolves in ways you didn’t even plan. It feels effortless, intuitive, maybe even euphoric.

You might know this phenomenon as “being in the zone”, “or catching a vibe“. In psychology, it’s called “flow state,” a term coined in the 1970s by psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi. Csíkszentmihályi described flow as being so absorbed in an activity that it feels like being carried by a current – everything feels like it’s happening “spontaneously” and “automatically.”

“Flow is being completely involved in an activity for its own sake,” he said. “The ego falls away. Time flies. Every action, movement, and thought follows inevitably from the previous one.”

Bestselling author and human performance expert, Steven Kotler, explains that in a flow state, the brain doesn’t speed up – it actually slows down. Specifically, key areas of the prefrontal cortex, which are involved in decision-making, and critical judgment, become less active, freeing you to act instinctively. It’s also why we become less aware of time and experience that sensation of being fully immersed in the moment.

Armed with this knowledge can we safely conclude that overthinking is the sworn enemy of flow? Could thinking less actually make you a better music maker? 

We explored these questions at the 2024 Amsterdam Dance Event with artists Nadia Struiwigh, DJ Mell G, and Ableton’s Johannes Russ. Together, we delved into strategies for unlocking creative flow and discovered how these ideas played a pivotal role in shaping Ableton’s latest product, Move.

The Flow of Ideas and Creativity 

What is it about creativity that can make it feel like catching lightning in a bottle? Why do ideas sometimes flow easily while at other times our creative well seems to dry up right when we need it most?

A well-known quote attributed to Mozart, suggests that the best ideas may come when we aren’t particularly expecting them. The quote says:

“When I am, as it were, completely myself, entirely alone, and of good cheer – say, traveling in a carriage, or walking after a good meal, or during the night when I cannot sleep – it is on such occasions that my ideas flow best and most abundantly. Whence and how they come, I know not; nor can I force them.”

​​For Nadia Struiwigh, flow isn’t something that arrives on command either. It shows up in the gaps when her schedule is “blissfully empty.” 

“It’s whenever I have space in my brain”, she says. “When I don’t have a lot to do, and I don’t feel stressed. Sometimes when I’m working on commission-based projects, I feel that stress and this resistance, like, ‘I don’t want to do this.’”

For Johannes Russ, enabling flow is central to designing music tools. “When creating your ideas, it’s really important not to judge yourself and to have instruments that enable fast and intuitive creation”, he suggests. “With Move, we try to reduce complexity where it makes sense, so the music making process can happen quickly. Even down to very basic technical things like startup or loading times. If you wait more than 10 seconds for a patch to load your deep flow state is gone.”

For DJ Mell G, finding flow can be a challenge amidst the demands of touring and running a label. “I need a lot of space and a free brain to get into the flow. If I try to force myself, I can’t do music at all,” she admits. “If I get stuck making a track, sometimes just exporting a bassline from one project and combining it with something else can help,” she adds. “It's like doing a puzzle.”

Strategies to Help us Avoid Overthinking

When someone says “stop overthinking”, for many of us, that’s easier said than done. Quietening the mind is a skill that requires practice. Fortunately, there are some strategies we can use to help us.

For Nadia, overthinking is inevitable, but she’s learned ways to help overcome it. “Overthinking is a given – we all do it,” she explains. Her suggestion? Keep moving. “Sometimes the best tracks can be made in as little as half an hour because it’s straight from the soul. The thinking mind comes in later to refine the mix or adjust the sound design. Creation is all heart; the analysis can wait.”

“I’m the kind of person that needs to clean their whole flat,” says DJ Mell G, suggesting that keeping an orderly home is a good way to declutter the mind and prime it for creativity. She describes overthinking as a recurring challenge at the very start of her process. “I just start pressing keys and selecting sounds, but then I overthink – switching BPMs, trying different ideas – and weeks go by with no finished track,” she says. The fast pace of the industry adds another layer of pressure. “The ego is the worst enemy. If I compare myself to others and feel that pressure to make a banger, it’s so hard to finish anything.” 

Maybe the takeaway here is to let our emotions lead more, remembering that not every decision has to be perfect. Perhaps overthinking feeds on perfectionism and the external pressures we all experience. 

Designing Music Tools That Spark Creativity, Not Overthinking

A lot of thought goes into designing music gear so that it works in harmony with our creative intuition. Controllers, groove boxes, and other devices aren’t just random clusters of encoders and pads; they’re carefully engineered to keep you in the creative zone. It’s all about reducing friction – eliminating those tiny interruptions where you stop to ask, “Wait, where’s that parameter again? or “Why is this menu three clicks deep?”

Johannes explains that enabling flow is at the heart of Move’s design philosophy. “We think very hard about how many functions we present to you”, he shares. “We carefully consider how many options you have; how much complexity there is to deal with in a certain moment. Too much can lead to decision paralysis. Focusing on simplicity and immediacy allows artists to capture their ideas without getting bogged down in overthinking. That's how the concept of Move came about. We wanted to build something that is specifically suited to this free state of mind, where you can just shape ideas without judgment. Move lets you play the pads, use the sequencer, and capture ideas effortlessly. Everything loads super fast. We even included a Capture button, so you don’t have to think about recording; it saves the phrase retroactively. We designed Move so that when you get the urge to create, nothing is in your way.”

Building Move: From Concept to Reality

Developing Ableton Move was no small feat. As Johannes explains, “The process began with broad conceptual ideas – sketching, prototyping, testing, and reworking. We’d draw a lot, test a lot, and put it in front of artists,” he shares. 

Even in the early stages, the potential was clear. “We had something that felt really different,” Johannes recalled. “It had fewer tracks and a lightweight feature set, people were creating so quickly and with so much joy, so we pressed the proverbial Capture button and stuck with it.”

But turning a prototype into a finished product was no easy task. “Move is small, but it’s very dense and complex,” Johannes says. “We had to include WiFi, make the transitions to our other products work seamlessly, and ensure it wouldn’t crash. Prototyping all the hardware components was incredibly challenging.”

The team also iterated heavily on design details, like how to browse sounds and optimize the pads. “It was constant testing and feedback – asking ourselves if we were heading in the right direction or if we needed to pivot”, Johannes adds.

The Different Stages of the Creative Journey 

Johannes describes music creation as a journey – one that moves through different states of mind and creative stages, from sketching initial ideas to refining finished tracks. This concept has shaped Ableton's approach to product design in recent years, leading to tools that offer multiple entry points for various creative needs.

“We’ve embraced the idea of making tools that are suited for the beginning of a creative journey”, Johannes explains. “This is usually about capturing ideas and expressing the essence of what you want to say. Products like Move and Note are made for this. On the other hand, tools like Push and Live are better suited to flesh out the details of your idea, with the full tapestry of sound. That is a unique opportunity we have with our ecosystem of products” 

The beauty of this ecosystem is that it keeps the creative process fluid. If you’re out and about with Note or Move, you can capture an idea quickly, and upload the project to Ableton Cloud, and when you open Live on your desktop, it’s all there waiting for you. ”It enables these very fast transitions between tools”, Johannes adds. 

Progressive Disclosure: Balancing Simplicity and Complexity

Nadia reflects on the evolution of music tools and the challenges of balancing functionality with usability. “You see the shift button all the time these days,” she observes. “Whenever there’s a shift button on a piece of gear, you know, okay, there’s menu diving involved. That’s because things are smaller now.” While she acknowledged the added complexity of modern devices, Nadia also emphasized the opportunities they present. “Digital software and analog hardware go hand in hand these days, so there’s so much possible in one piece of gear. Why not include extra features and create firmware updates, right?”

Johannes explains how Ableton approaches this balance in products like Move. “We’ve adopted a concept called progressive disclosure,” he shares. “On the surface, we present a clean, uncluttered interface, but there are layers of depth if you want to go further. It’s about making sure the essentials are intuitive and immediate while still offering complexity for those who want to dive deeper.”

Happiness: The Sign to Stop Overthinking

Whether it’s tools like Move that help reduce friction from the creative process or personal strategies to quiet the inner critic, our panelists all echo the same sentiment: stay connected to the joy of making music and let things flow. 

Our talk concluded with a thoughtful audience question to the panelists:

What’s your signal to recognize it’s time to stop overthinking? What’s the trigger that tells you to move on?

“Happiness,” Nadia says. “For me personally, if I feel it, I don’t try to second guess myself by asking ‘Is this good enough?’”

Keep up with Nadia Struiwigh and DJ MELL G

To learn more about Move, watch Johannes Russ answer questions from the Ableton community in this video.

Text and interview by Joseph Joyce