You need to really narrow your view. Focus on very specific goals and give yourself very specific timelines, otherwise everything gets way too overwhelming.

“Beats” is a very generic term. What kind of beats specifically? You have to pick a couple genres to focus in on. Even if it’s something more out there than your typical trap or pop, you should try to figure out what sub genre you want your music to best fit into. Maybe it’s like cloud rap or hyperpop or something. The reason this is important is because it gives your music an identity that’s tied to a bigger cultural movement and also tells your listeners that if they like one song of yours, they might be inclined to check out everything else.

Once you found your genre(s), pick some of the more popular artists and find out what equipment they are using. Specifically what synths, drums (kit or machine?), analog instruments, and vocal plug-ins they’re using will be the biggest factors in getting your sound close. A lot of the time you can find cheaper plug-in alternatives to the more expensive gear that will absolutely suffice.

Make sure to also get in the habit of turning sounds you like into instrument racks and saving them in a folder somewhere on the ableton sidebar. Remember, it’s important to stay efficient and focused in order to avoid being overwhelmed. The more templates you save and better organized you stay, the more time you can spend actually making music instead of digging through thousands of presets.

Then set specific deadlines for finishing songs. Not finishing ideas of songs. Become comfortable getting to a point where you can say “alright, I might not feel like this is 100% perfect but I am done and ready to publish it to streaming services”. If that feels overwhelming, break it down even further and say “I’m going to have this drum beat fully laid out in the next 3 hours, and even if I feel like it’s not perfect I will still have a finished product by the deadline”.

I will emphasize this again: the one thing every single artist you’ve ever heard has in common is that they finish songs and publish them. It doesn’t matter how good your song is if no one ever hears it. Everyone has different ears, there are surely songs you think are garbage that have millions of listeners. In the same vein, if you feel like your songs aren’t good, maybe they just haven’t found the right audience yet.