The Musical Threads

Learning to let go of doubtful feelings is difficult. Feeling inauthentic is a fairly common roadblock among creatives, but a hard feeling to shake. Even Brian May of Queen deals with imposter syndrome, to this day, as he shared on podcast Fret Not with Rosie Bennet. I am going to share with you five well being tips I’ve learned over the years you can use to take control of your destiny.

1. Acknowledge your feelings
2. Give yourself a positive pep talk
3. Celebrate wins
4. Learn to grow from failures
5. Set realistic goals

Acknowledge your feelings

It is so easy to overlook our own feelings and deflect them. Reflect on what makes you feel doubt, anxiety or inadequacy.

For example, your confidence might be wavering because you are thinking about how others will receive your musical skills. You go to an open mic and your equipment malfunctions or you play through your songs too fast.

An example of acknowledgment would be, “Wow, I really didn’t show at my best that night. I felt anxious about what everyone listening was thinking. I just wanted to run out of there. However, I know every opportunity I get to perform allows me to improve for next time. We all have bad days as musicians. As long as I move forward with the right attitude, things will be okay.”

Acknowledge your feelings, find a reasonable mindset, diminish the inner critic, and move forward.

Give yourself a positive pep talk

Learn to reframe those negative thoughts. It is too easy to blame yourself for a lack of motivation, but being a musician is not smooth sailing. You have to practice and be diligent in your skills to work with other artists. There are a couple ways to practice pep talks.

Look at yourself in the mirror, and tell yourself that today is going to be a good day; that you are capable and talented; tell yourself that you can do it *(maybe address something specific to make it more intentional).

Use present and future verbs instead of passive language (I “will” get X done today; I “am” making X happen today)

If you do not want to talk out loud, you can always write down your own motivations. Journaling is an excellent way to set intentions and think thoroughly through your goals.

Celebrate wins, big or small

It is so easy to dismiss wins if you lose sight of them. Often times we don’t recognize our wins because we are too preoccupied with seeking those big achievements. Our small achievements are just as important, if not even more so, towards achieving those big wins. So give yourself credit where credit is due!

An example of a big win would be playing your first open mic or show. Take a moment to break down how you got there, practice some self gratitude.

The only reason you were able to book a show was because: you rehearsed covers/original songs countless times, you reached out to multiple venues and were persistent, you took pictures, videos and audio recordings to present your creative image.

This can be a good exercise for acknowledging how far you’ve come. Be proud of yourself and keep going.

Conclusion

Every moment we have to fail and experiment is a reward in disguise. We can be met with this urge to give in to discouragement but why let it run its course?

We each have plenty to feel fulfilled about if we let go of the biggest mindgames we play with ourselves: doubt and fear.

I hope this short guide will come in handy for the tough times.

If you or someone you know is looking to take their music to the next level, contact me at kos.maximillien@gmail.com. We never stop learning.