Internal Compass Method

A method for making creative decisions by trusting your internal feelings and intuition rather than external validation or metrics. Used by successful artists like Mike Posner for everything from songwriting to career choices.

Core Philosophy

• Focus on what feels authentic and true rather than what might be popular
• Trust your internal knowing/feeling when something is right
• Don't try to reverse engineer what audiences want
• The best way to serve your audience is to ignore them and focus on serving yourself

Key Elements of the Internal Compass

• Physical/Emotional Signals

  • Get a clear feeling when something is "right"
  • Can identify when a choice doesn't align with internal standards
  • Pay attention to what makes you proud vs what makes you uncomfortable

• Creative Decision Making

  • Keep trying different options until one "clicks"
  • Could be spending an hour finding the right snare drum sound
  • Could be testing different word choices until the perfect one emerges
  • Trust when something feels off and keep iterating

Implementation Requirements

• Financial Security

  • Helps remove pressure to make commercially-driven decisions
  • Allows pure focus on artistic integrity
  • Never need to make something you don't want to make
  • Never need to work with people you don't want to work with

• Mindset Shifts

  • Move away from chasing external validation
  • Accept that not everyone will connect with authentic work
  • Focus on personal growth over commercial success
  • Use internal satisfaction as primary metric

Benefits

• Creates more meaningful/authentic work
• Leads to deeper audience connections
• Results in personal pride and satisfaction
• Allows artistic evolution and growth
• Produces work that stands the test of time

Common Pitfalls to Avoid

• Trying to predict what audiences want
• Making decisions based on commercial pressure
• Ignoring internal resistance to choices
• Rushing past the iteration process
• Settling for "almost right" instead of perfect fit

The key is developing and trusting your own creative instincts while having the courage to follow them, even when it means taking risks or making unconventional choices.