The 6 Secrets of a Confident Mindset for Musicians and Performers

How would it feel to wake up one day and realize that everything you’ve been working towards as an artist has finally come together? 

You’re finally in complete control of your vision and voice, collaborating with other artists you love, and your music resonates with people on a deep level. 

You’ve found your place in the industry and are happy and fulfilled doing what you love.

This is not an unrealistic dream. 

This is the reality of many artists I have guided. 

If you follow me on Instagram and come to our IG Lives then you’ve probably heard me talk about confidence and what its real origin is. 

You may have heard me talk about how commitment is the key to success. That’s because your commitment is the fuel for success. Because commitment is the magnet of opportunity. 

People think that success comes and then you commit. But it’s the other way around. Your commitment is what draws success to you. It’s your commitment that is the key to your confidence. 

Commitment is the natural magnet of opportunity. 

I just got off two calls yesterday with artists whose commitment was eroding their confidence. But they thought their lack of confidence was the issue. After I explained how it works, they realized that it was their lack of commitment that was creating their lack of confidence. 

A whole host of positive movement is set in motion the moment you choose to commit. The real risk is not investing in yourself—in your commitment to yourself. 

However you still might be questioning your talent and abilities. Your music and dreams are sacred to you, but maybe you are feeling apprehensive about taking another leap—that is natural.

But your talent is not the problem. Your talent is not in question. Your commitment is. 

Most of the time when you are struggling with confidence there is something off in the following five areas. 

1. Clarity 

The first step to confidence is clarity. Clarity on where your commitment is. Are you fully committed to your music? What does that mean? 

Commitment starts with passion. Are you passionate about your music? 

That passion is backed up by a belief in yourself. 

See #3 below. 

2. Conviction 

The next question is how strong is your conviction? 

Is your conviction lukewarm or on fire? Or somewhere in between? Conviction is your dedication—that resolve that this is what you want to do. It may be the most important thing to you. Is that you? Most likely if you are reading this—the answer is “yes”. 

In order to climb Mt. Everest metaphorically, you’ll need passion and conviction to make the journey. 

Many artists who struggle with confidence have both passion and conviction. So where is the disconnect between that and the ability to be confident? 

3. Talent vs. Skill 

Here is where the rubber meets the road. Often what stops you from believing in yourself is your level of skill. Because what got you in the game is that you have talent and you have good taste. So you’ve got good ears. That’s a blessing and a curse. Because talent is NOTHING without skill. Skill is about execution. The ability to perform at a very high level. Until you are there, you won’t fully believe in yourself. 

But the ONLY way to develop skill is to put in your 10,000 hours. 

the PROBLEM is – when you work on your skills it kind of sucks for awhile. You don’t sound so good – and it’s devastating to your dream. Sometimes to the point of being unbearable and then you don’t practice. But practice is different than performance. It’s BUILDING your skill. 

implementing a strong daily practice is the FASTEST path to confidence you’ll ever find. 

You need to develop your skill to build out your talent so you can perform with confidence. 

Failure to practice daily is often due to one of these two things.

1) Fear—fear of criticism, related to low self esteem. 

2) A lack of faith in one’s own talent or skill in performance. 

I have found it is usually a blend of both.

4. Daily Practice 

Remember – the cause of your lack of confidence is —your level of skill. The ability to deliver in performance. Which is developed – NOT BY TALENT but by skill. 

The antidote is to a lack of confidence is daily practice— every day. 5-6 days a week. 

Musicians and performers are like athletes. We need the daily drills to get the movements in our voices and bodies so they can run on auto-pilot. Performance will naturally bring up fear or insecurity. It can come out of the blue. You want to be over-rehearsed so you are ready to perform in all settings and situations. 

Here’s my recommendation: 

• Vocal technique: 20 minutes a day. With my Cole Vocal Method I have organized your practice into 20 minutes a day. In just 20 minutes a day of consistent practice 5 days a week will move you ahead faster than 1-2x for an hour. It’s a proven method to grow your vocal skills – range, strength, tone, stamina, endurance, breath control – all of the things you need to execute confident performances. 
• Instrument practice: To accompany yourself well, you need to practice 30 min a day on your instrument (guitar or piano). This also helps with theory and chords for songwriting which you’ll need.
• Performance rehearsal: 30 min a day run a set of 6 songs (singing and accompanying yourself. Run it like you would at a show, not stopping to fix mistakes. You need the coordination between your voice and your instrument to be so solid that nothing can throw you. When it’s solid, the coordinations are so well rehearsed, you can focus on your performance. 

The trick is finding the time. Here’s how I recommend setting it up.

5. Live the Calendar

I call it “living the calendar”. Remember–without this kind of conviction and commitment you won’t reach the confidence you are looking for. Every performer in the world knows this. Daily practice is the key to establishing a confident performance. The surest thing to shake your confidence is a shaky voice or a shaky performance. 

The only way to perform with confidence is to practice every day. 

Andrea Segovia (the famous classical guitarist once said: 

When I don’t practice one day, I know it. 

When I don’t practice two days, my manager knows it.

When I don’t practice three days, my audience knows it.

Luciano Pavarotti, the worlds greatest tenor once said: “If I don’t practice 3 days the voice is gone.”

To live the calendar you need to wrestle with time to find the perfect windows to put your practice. 

I recommend getting the technical stuff out of the way in the early part of the day. 

And then do the rehearsal in the evening. 

6. Consistency  

Are your daily actions aligned with your conviction and commitment? 

To really ace your confidence you’ll need to be consistent. 

Don’t over practice one day and skip the next. 

It’s the repetition of every day that gets results. 

Matter of fact if you don’t have much time it’s better to do a shorter practice than to skip it. 

Consistency grows a confident performance and your overall confidence. 

Try it and see!

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