Name Your Fears, Face Them, and Free Your Music

Last week in our teleclass I laid out the 6 Steps to Claim Your Craft, Ditch Your Delusions, and Discover Your Artist Path, which make up the framework for my Step Up to the Spotlight Program launching next week.

In the majority of the artists I see, teach, and hear from, the thing that’s holding them back from success is fear. Fear stops you in your tracks. It undermines your good intentions and leaves you feeling out of control and even like a failure. You feel like a failure when you don’t act – and you don’t act because of your fear! It’s a terrible cycle, and a way to break the cycle is to first name your fears and then face them – square on.

Every musician experiences fear around their art, but fear comes in many shades, shapes, and sizes. Identify your biggest fears in these 6 Steps below:

Daily Habits + Practices

Step 1 – Craft: this is the foundation and bedrock, your Daily Habits + Practices – the stuff you do that makes you great.

Fears: Are you afraid that your voice won’t hold up for a professional career? Are you so afraid that you missed your chance that you don’t practice? (that’s a big one!)

Mindsets + Methods

Step 2 – Confidence: The Mindsets + Methods that transform your belief system and draw opportunities to you instead of away from you.

Fears: Afraid to stand out for fear of being judged? Afraid that people won’t get you and your songs so why try? Afraid that people in the industry won’t take you seriously?

Identify Your Strengths + Build Your Brand

Step 3 – Core: Finding your Lane Musically and turning Your Unique Strengths Into a Brand People Want to Follow.

Fears: Are you afraid to say how it really is? Are you afraid people won’t like you if you tell the truth so you sugar coat it? Are you scared to commit to a style and so you try to please everyone?

Creating Your Game Plan

Step 4 – Calculate: The behind the scenes gameplan – the action steps to chart your course, the smart way.

Fear: Are you afraid to take the next leap so you freeze? Afraid to launch a crowdfunding campaign or invest more money on a website so you don’t? Afraid to reach out to the people who could really help your career so you keep them at arms length?

Step-by-step: 52 Week Artist Development Plan

Step 5 – Climb: A 52 week Artist Development Plan – a week by week strategy to bring your music to the world.

Fears: Afraid of losing friends because you have to go practice? Afraid of how long this whole thing is going to take? Afraid that you’ll be stuck at your day job forever?

Find Your True North + Become a Leader

Step 6 – Command: Find your true north, follow your intuition and step into your true power as an artist and leader.

Fears: Afraid to stand out and lead? Afraid of the “who-does-she-think-she-is?” comments from friends and family – or strangers? Afraid of your own power?

Afraid of all of the above?!?

It’s normal to have fears in all of these areas and sometimes it’s not easy to admit just how deep these fears run.

But here’s the important piece: They come out in your actions: avoiding practice, waiting until people ask you to play shows to book a gig, not moving beyond your local scene, or even not taking that risk with the next direction for your music in fear of turning off your fans.

But if you keep calling what is actually fear just a bad habit, or laziness, or masking it as uncertainty – you’re not really facing the truth. You’re hiding from it. When you look at your actions and name your fear, it forces you to make a decision. You no longer have the comfort of keeping yourself in the dark.

So be brave.

Name your fear in the comments below and join me for my Google Hangout tomorrow night – Name Your Fears, Face Them, & Free Your Music (Thursday, June 20th at 7pm EST) where we’ll be talking about how to break through your fears and hearing from artists who have done just that.

©2013 Cari Cole, Vocal Mag, Inc. All Rights Reserved.