A Musician Mindset is the Secret Sauce (11 powerful skills)

Mindset is a tool and a skill. It makes a difficult journey a little lighter and an awkward failure not so bad. It’s a state of being — a perspective. And it can make life infinitely better or infinitely worse.

A musician mindset is what pushes me to keep showing up. It helps me smile when I’m fumbling and laugh when I look like an idiot.

It keeps me stoked.

So this post shares my favorite non-musical skills worth honing. These are perspectives that make me feel happier and more in control as a musician.

Now let’s do this!

What’s A Musician Mindset?

A musician mindset is how you think and see the world as an artist. It’s the way you perceive yourself, your music and your community — both in the studio and outside of it.

Making music takes a lot of technical hard skills. But your mindset is an essential soft skill.

I mean, think about it, when you’re in the right headspace, you write and perform way better. But when you’re in a freaking funk, everything sucks.

Your mindset is the lens you perceive the world through.

And a strong perspective means you’re less impacted by things like social media, failure, difficulties and external influences.

So you know, it’s important.

Recommended:
➤ Why Mindset Matters

Build A Solid Musician Mindset (11 non-music skills to hone)

1. Emotional Awareness

Great music — great art — is emotional. You can feel it, see it and hear it. It also creates emotion in the listener.

This is a bottleneck for AI. But a strength in the human. The more I strengthen my emotional awareness and agility, the better my music becomes.

So here are some ways I like to boost my EQ:

• Meditate

• Practice observing your feelings

• Don’t ignore negative emotions

• Pay attention to how you react

• Practice more self compassion

• Listen to your body

2. Creativity

Making music is an intense creative act. You’re already naturally creative. But as you know, creativity is sometimes fickle.

So this mindset skill is about fine-tuning and strengthening your creative muscles — a journey that never ends.

Here are some ways I like to strengthen my creativity:

• Be more creative in other areas of life

• Spark creativity with travel

• Study everything — connect more dots

• Practice intuitive thinking

• Dress the part

• Stack the cards in my favor

Explore more:
➤ Hone Your Creative Mindset

3. A Growth Mindset

Anyone can learn anything. What you don’t know right now and what you cannot do in this moment are not fixed states.

As musicians — as humans — we’re constantly learning and growing. Leaning into this by embracing it and owning it makes you a stronger artist.

With a growth mindset, you don’t shy away from challenges or you never accept failures, weaknesses or setbacks as final positions.

You’ll grow.

Here’s what a growth mindset means to me as a musician:

• Staying process-oriented

• Loving the ride

• Constantly learning

• Okay with making mistakes

• Patient

You may have proclivities, but they still require watering. And even if you don’t, you can get good at anything.

4. Self-Awareness

Music is an incredible form of self expression. So the more self aware you are, the better your music will be.

Self awareness is knowing (and owning) who you are a musician and a human. This boosts your musical authenticity and helps you stand out.

So here are some self-awareness questions worth pondering:

• What are my quirks?

• What are my values?

• What are my beliefs?

• What are my strengths and weaknesses?

• How would other people describe me?

• Why am I even a musician?

Explore more:
➤ How to Look Within

5. Self-Belief

“Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right.”

— Henry Ford

Great music has no room for doubt. So self-belief becomes important.

For me, this means having conviction in my decisions and believing I can succeed. It’s accepting who I am, what I’m making and where I’m going.

Self belief is the belief in your ability to make good music and reach your goals.

From stripped down demos to complex 100-track masterpieces, self-belief is key.

So always show up for yourself first, especially in the beginning when that empty room is creating extra echos in your proverbial mix.

6. Confidence

I’ve struggled with creative imposter syndrome my whole life. This put a pretty big dent in my confidence and growth as a musician.

I never shared my songs or played live or let my artist self truly be seen.

Luckily, I worked past this and I now feel much more confident and I love to share my music. But I still struggle some days.

But when I feel my most confident, my music is better and I’m more able to grow my brand and connect with people more authentically.

So here are some ways I like to practice musical confidence:

• Identify weaknesses and work on them

• Stop doom scrolling — take a social media detox

• Teach — it’s called the protégé effect

• Practice visualization or mental rehearsal

7. Focus

Making music was always easy for me. But finishing music? Not so much.

I get distracted, I lose interest and I want to start new things rather than finish existing projects. Maybe you can relate.

The excitement of a fresh song feels better than tinkering in my DAW for hours or days. Put another way, finishing music is hard and it takes discipline and focus.

So here are some ways I like to sharpen my focus and finish more projects:

• Get rid of distractions

• Use a music workflow

• Prioritize tasks

• Don’t spread yourself too thin

• Break down big projects into small tasks

• Identify focus bottlenecks and remove them

8. Curiosity

I never like to assume I have all the answers or that my musical tastes, skills or opinions are final.

I try to stay curious. Because we’re not cats. We’re musicians, damnit.

So here are some simple ways I like to keep my musical curiosity:

• Get lost in more rabbit holes

• Let go of needing to be right

• Practice listening more than speaking

• Observe more

• Follow your spontaneity

9. Happiness

“Anger and depression and sorrow are beautiful things in a story, but they are like poison to the artist. You must have clarity to create.”

— David Lynch

When I’m bummed out, my music sucks. Sometimes, I can’t even get started, much less make something cool.

But when I’m stoked, my music flows out.

I write my best when I’m happy. So I continuously work to optimize my life for happiness.

Everyone’s situation is different, but here’s what works for me:

• Meditate

• Practice gratitude

• Make time for my passions

• Practice follow-through — do what you said you would

• Stay in the present

• Stop watching the news

• Laugh more

• Detach

Explore more:
➤ How to Be Happy-go-Lucky

10. Flexibility

I’m not committed to any single strategy, sound or style. I’m open to new ideas and fresh perspectives.

I’m flexible.

And I believe this makes you a stronger artist. Dogma is never good. As musicians, it’s often our job to challenge the status quo. This requires adaptability and the willingness to try new things.

Becoming more flexible will improve your songwriting through more testing and less judgement.

So if you find yourself being rigid or stuck to an idea — try letting go (or be dragged).

Explore new paths with an open mind. Flexibility is an asset.

11. Thick Skin

Whether you’re playing shows, busking or putting yourself out there on socials, you know it’s hard.

It feels like an empty room — the void!

Sometimes, it feels fruitless and disheartening.

Great music takes vulnerability and it’s hard to see it fall flat and get lost in the noise, like nobody cares. But that doesn’t mean your music isn’t good. It doesn’t mean you’re not good.

It’s just the process. Because remember:

“Success doesn’t come from what you do occasionally, but what you do consistently.”

— Marie Forleo

Being a musician requires thick skin.

There’s plenty of rejection and haters ready to share their opinions. And looking for signals to tell you that what you’re doing is working aren’t always there.

Music requires a lot — and a thick skin helps.

Later ✌️

Your musician mindset is perhaps your greatest asset. It’s the thing that pushes you to start and finish projects. It helps you embrace failures and handle haters with a smile.

Focusing on skills like emotional awareness, confidence, happiness and self-belief can get you through most anything.

So practice the technical stuff of being a musician. But don’t forget about your mental chops. It’s everything.

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