So many songwriters overthink their music, and it’s easy to understand why. Our songs are judged as good, bad, or forgettable. That judgement can feel personal. So not only do we want to win over audiences, we also want to avoid the pain of criticism. To protect ourselves we seek to make our music perfect.

The problem is that “perfect” is a moving target. If you choose perfection over progress, some of your greatest assets as a music-maker will take a backseat to overthinking. Here are 4 signs that overthinking might be hurting your songwriting process (and how to break free).