How To Kill Self-Doubt Overcome Your Frustrations, Your Fears, And Every Obstacle That Holds You Back From Becoming the Musician You Want to Be.
Self-doubt destroys motivation. It prevents people from reaching their full potential and when left unchecked, self-doubt leads people to give up on themselves and their musical dreams. You don’t have to let self-doubt win. There is a way to become the musician you want to be regardless of where you are now. There is a way to kill self-doubt right now. When you discover and implement the secret to overcome self-doubt, you will develop burning hot motivation that will empower you to make tremendous progress and become the musician you always wanted to be.
Action will kill self-doubt. Forgiving yourself and accepting mistakes empowers you to continually take action, which empowers you to kill self-doubt, which empowers you to be who you want to be.
For example, you cannot overcome stage fright by thinking about it. You can only overcome fear by getting on stage and forgiving yourself for any mistakes you make. Taking action leads to shifts in your thinking and your self-image.
When you are practicing it can be tempting to constantly correct yourself. And this leads to more self-doubt and feeling like you are stupid. These doubts feel real, but they are based on irrational fears. You can make massive progress in your playing by practicing in a calm state, and forgiving yourself for making mistakes. Paradoxically, allowing yourself to make mistakes leads you to make fewer mistakes than if you scrutinize over each mistake and constantly correct yourself.
It is good to evaluate yourself and to make little adjustments and corrections to improve your musicianship. However, at any moment you could correct 4,000 different things. Instead of correcting all 4,000, focus on one thing that you can quickly and easily adjust. Instead of stopping in the middle of a phrase of music to correct yourself, finish the phrase. Then evaluate which parts you did right and which parts you did wrong. If you did a part incorrectly, identify what specifically you did incorrectly.
Many people simply say “Oh that was wrong. I will start over.” This leads to self-doubt and beating yourself up. Instead, you want to be very clear about where you made a mistake, what you did wrong, and what you need to do to fix it. This will empower you to make the change and make instant improvement as opposed to dwelling on your mistakes.
The way you think and act determines your success and destiny in music and in life. You cannot overcome self-doubt without taking action. Action is an integral part of becoming the musician you want to be because to know and not to do is NOT to know. It is not enough to “know” a piece of music or music technique theoretically. Play it, sing it, perform it so that it becomes muscle memory.
To reinvigorate your passion and motivation to become the confident musician you want to be take the following actions:
- Take actions which lead you one step closer to your musical goals every day
*Visualizing yourself performing the song you want to learn counts as practice and can sometimes be more effective than physically playing or singing the song. - Adjust the words you use with yourself and with others when describing your musical abilities. Replace phrases such as “I suck,” “I’m not that good,” “I can’t play/sing” with “I am learning,” “I am progressing,” and “I am on the path to becoming the musician I want to be”
- Remind yourself of how you were when you first started and how much you know now
- Play or sing just for the fun of it without evaluating yourself
- Express gratitude that you have the opportunity to learn and become the musician you want to be.
The good news is, you can be happy about your musicianship right now. You can be a confident, joyful musician right now. And you can become the musician you want to be as a natural byproduct of your joy, fulfillment, and your clarity of purpose.
Enjoy yourself while playing and singing now (regardless of your current level). Take action towards your musical dreams and forgive your mistakes and you will overcome your self-doubt, consistently progress as a musician, and develop a lifelong love of music.
To learn more about how to sing, play piano, or to play guitar, find a music teacher near you who specializes in teaching students to overcome their self-doubt and achieve their dreams. You will benefit greatly from guitar, piano, or voice lessons from a master instructor.
About the author: Josh Ross is a professional musician and the founder of the J-RO School of Music in Troy, MI. For the past decade, he has empowered his students to reach their musical dreams and to experience incredible fulfillment through music. If you are interested in taking guitar lessons, piano lessons, or voice lessons in Troy, MI, then contact Josh at www.jropro.com for a FREE Assessment Lesson. Make your musical dreams a reality!
Josh Ross – Founder J-RO School of Music. Piano, Voice, & Guitar Lessons in Troy, MI