Ahhh.. I got stuck plenty of times so I know how that feels like, it's frustrating In my case, I was overthinking it all. I just wasn't confident enough to get on with it.

Until I was confronted with production jobs that needed finished within 1-2 days. I couldn't say no to these so I was under immense time pressure. And for once, I just stopped overthinking it all and just got it done. And somehow, for some strange reason, it came out perfect. I needed 1-2 days for something that would have normally taken me a month to finish due to getting stuck all the time.

So yeah, just have confidence in what you do, that will motivate you and keep you going.

For me, this has been a problem for which there is no quick fix - the reasons for becoming stuck and "unable" to finish a track are actually quite diverse. Overall, however, I believe the reason is simply a mismatch of intention and the necessary skills. Here are a few things I've done that have significantly improved my ability to finish tracks:

1) Practice Writing -  Do your arrangement first with all basic saw waves. Load a project with 5-6 tracks on a saw wave, one drum rack with only a basic kick, snare, hihat, and crash, and just write a song. This separates out the process of thinking of all the different notes/parts of the song and how they fit together as a whole. Then produce it how you normally would. Do this about 2-3 times, and you will find your brain expanded in lots of interesting ways when you go to produce your next track. Mainly, you start hearing potential, and brainstorming what to do about that potential as you go. This keeps you moving and active - vitally important for the production process.

2) Practice Sound Design - Intensely study one sound design technique, and commit to repeating and mastering it 10-20 times. For me, this was creating FM basses with resampling. I following a resampling tutorial and creating 15 bass sounds in 2-3 sittings. Don't stop until you hit your target and you are finding things trivial - the creativity comes when you master things that would previously get in your way. Music producers don't utilize enough repetition for the sake of sharpening skills and allowing the music to flow out.

3) Practice putting it all together, in a specific/structured way. Try the subtractive arrangement workflow. This is better explained on EDMprod.com, but basically you create a dense loop of musical elements that constitute your "main" section, copy it across your entire project to span about 5 minutes, then arrange by deactivating clips. As far as adding things in later, there are a few rules for this system that you should read about on EDMprod (http://edmprod.com/subtractive-music-production/). Do this one or two times faithfully.

If you do the above, you will approach producing a track with an elevated sense of intentionality and confidence, and finishing tracks will seem (almost) trivial. You just need to brush up on some core metaskills!

Hope this helps,
~Zildy

i think one of the most effective things i've been doing lately has been writing the whole song and getting the structure done before i start really producing it. i don't do this every time, but when i have it's super helpful.

My quick advice is to just listen to songs that you like, and songs that you may me trying to emulate.  People telling you to drag songs that you like into your DAW to study the arrangement is really a good idea!! You might see a song in a whole new light if you can see how it was structured from the perspective of having it in a program!

I also have this same problem and it breaks my heart. I had almost 3 years of unfinished tracks that i recently deleted when i formatted my computer. I want to start again 

I think this happens to almost everyone. You should force yourself to finish the tracks even if they sound horrible. With time, your tracks will start to sound a bit better.