It’s OK to Get Discouraged
2012 November 28
As a teacher, I used tell my students, “Don’t get discouraged!” However, I was a hypocrite to offer that advice; I often feel discouraged, too, especially as a musician.
The real challenge is dealing with discouragement. Discouragement is a part of the game, especially when embracing the music business. These feelings can be crippling. However, they don’t have to be. Here are ways I deal with discouragement as a musician:
- Exercise. I can’t tell stress this enough. Having an exercise schedule, at least three days a week, helps clear my head and feel better.
- Have a music goal to practice daily. Music business is unpredictable, but I can always work on my playing. It’s important to feel like you are moving forward. When business plateaus, our instrument is always waiting for us.
- Listen back, and remind yourself you’ve grown. It’s easy to forget how far we’ve come. My friend Stephen Schlaak posted this link about listening back to past recordings, and it’s a great reminder to get a fresh perspective about our playing. I think this idea also applies to our business careers. Review those little victories to encourage yourself to face new challenges.
- Talk to a trustworthy friend or mentor, but avoid publicly complaining. Social media makes it easy for us to whine, but I think the action of complaining increases the feeling of discouragement. While it’s important to get things off our chest, I recommend doing that with a close friend rather than on your Facebook wall or Twitter feed.
- Break it down. We often get discouraged when we don’t meet large goals, but we often need to revise the little steps to get there, which seems more possible.
Remember, it’s OK to get discouraged; it’s just not OK when discouragement interferes.
Lois rarely gets discouraged.
Comments are closed.