“Mindset” is probably not the topic which would spring to mind first, when thinking about musicality or “becoming more naturally musical.” And yet I expect you would agree that as an adult musician, your own mind can be your greatest ally—or your worst nemesis.
In the previous chapter we highlighted the considerable importance of addressing the Heart component of all our music learning and music-making: everything emotional and psychological which goes into learning music and being a musician. “Mindset” is a large part of that. By intentionally and carefully choosing our beliefs, attitudes, and mental habits, we can have a significant positive effect on our outcomes.
To be clear, I’m not talking about Polyanna-like rose-tinted spectacles, simplistic “positive thinking”, or old maxims like Napoleon Hill’s “Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve.” or Henry Ford’s “Whether you believe you can do a thing or not, you are right.”
Those all have their place, and they do have value. But “Mindset” is much bigger, more complex, and ultimately far more rewarding than anything which can be summed up in a sentence or two.
Depending on your background, you may love personal development, introspection, and this kind of “meta” game of learning music. Or you might be itching to skip ahead, thinking this is fluffy nonsense you can do without!
Either way, let me just say that of everything we help musicians with at Musical U, mindset is almost certainly the most important. Why? Because it’s the “big domino”. With the right mindset, everything else becomes easier or unnecessary. Without it, you will inevitably struggle and suffer more than you need to, and achieve far less than you could.
In this chapter we’ll introduce some overarching concepts and principles, as well as one powerful exercise, which can all have an outsized effect on the results you get with everything else in the book.
So if the word “mindset” seems fluffy or impractical to you right now (as it once did to me) I want to strongly encourage you not to skip over this chapter. It might prove to be the most important one you read.
Overview
We’ll begin with the single highest-impact activity I’ve come across, for shaping a musician’s musical journey and their success along the way: the Big Picture Vision. We’ll explain the exercise and guide you through doing it, and then offer several tips to help make it as effective as possible.
Then we’ll look at your musical identity, through a framework we call “Your Musical Core” which can help you to understand more deeply who you are as a musician, and who you wish to become.
Next we’ll introduce four “Pillar Beliefs” that can liberate and empower you in music. We’ll then turn our attention to a series of mindset choices you can make, to open yourself up to maximum success with everything which follows in the rest of the book, and your musical life as a whole.