I love when books about mental health and self-development explore theories and concepts that can also apply to music, artists, and creators.

Carol Dwyer’s “Mindset: The New Psychology of Success” does just that.

This newsletter covers:

• How “Mindset: The New Psychology of Success” applies to music

Let’s dive in ⬇️ 

The book explores the difference between two mindsets:

1) Fixed mindset - those who believe that abilities are fixed, permanent, and not capable of change

2) Growth mindset - those who believe that abilities can be developed through “hard work, trying new strategies, and input from others”

The book discusses the impact of these two different mindsets across many areas of life, including careers, relationships, academics, parenting, sports, & more.

Here’s an example

A student with a fixed mindset might believe that their performance on a test is solely an indicator of their intelligence and capability. If they bomb a school test, it’s because maybe they’re just not smart and don’t have what it takes. It’s not worth studying harder the next time around because their performance is “fixed” - their performance is a result of their intelligence (not effort or preparation), which is fixed, and not something that can be improved or changed. You are or you aren’t.

A student with a growth mindset, however, might view their performance as something that can be improved with preparation - a poor performance on a test doesn’t indicate being “less than” or not capable, it just means they need a strategy to develop their abilities.

Let’s dive into a few ideas relating to music:

1) Natural talent still requires effort

The book explains how many people with a fixed mindset believe they don’t need to put in effort if they are naturally talented. Many with this mindset believe that “natural talent should not need effort…Natural talent does not ask for help. It is an admission of weakness. In short, the natural does not analyze his deficiencies and coach or practice them away. The very idea of deficiencies is terrifying.”

Essentially…you either have it or you don’t, and if you don’t, there’s no way of improving.

The book explores examples of specific athletes who were immensely talented but didn’t feel the need to improve or develop their craft. As a result, as they elevated to higher levels of the game, where every other player was just as talented, their performance suffered because they didn’t put in the work to continue developing their abilities.

Artists/creators/and their teams: natural talent still requires effort. Being a naturally talented musician may help you achieve some level of success, but longevity and becoming the best version of yourself requires hard work, practice, and investing in yourself.

There’s a reason why some of the top artists in the world work so hard at their craft…

• Being a talented singer doesn’t mean you can’t benefit from vocal lessons

• Being a talented performer doesn’t mean you can’t benefit from practicing your live show

• Being a talented musician doesn’t mean you can’t benefit from analyzing your career and the areas you can improve

Establishing a long, prosperous career as a musician requires knowledge, understanding, and skills in many different areas. Even if you naturally are a great musician, marketer, and business person, there’s always more to learn and a long career requires continued knowledge and understanding.

Let’s say you’re a musician who’s also naturally business savvy - even if you understand the nuances of your record deal, it’s still important to sharpen your sword and understand the economics behind your touring, publishing, merchandising businesses, etc (even if you have a manager and attorney, it’s still important for you to understand the economics of your business on some level). Having a natural understanding of business is great, but hard work and developing your abilities can help give more of a holistic picture.

From a music skill level, there’s a reason why the greats are where they’re at. Was Taylor Swift born with all of the skills and abilities she has? Maybe on some level. But she also spent thousands and thousands of hours practicing and mastering her craft to become the best artist she could be.

Developing your craft as a musician can include:

• Vocal lessons

• Practicing your live show

• Improving your songwriting

• Practicing your breath control when recording

• Understanding and developing marketing strategies

• Studying the marketplace and your competition

This same idea also applies to creators.

Is Mr. Beast naturally gifted when it comes to understanding YouTube and creative content ideas? Maybe. He’s also constantly developing his abilities and skill level.

Mr. Beast advocates for the idea of “putting in 10,000 days instead of 10,000 hours”. As he got into the content game, Mr. Beast studied the YouTube ecosystem - watching hours and hours of videos daily and studying what makes YouTube tick - why were videos a certain length? What made thumbnails perform better than others? Having a knack for interesting or creative YouTube ideas wasn’t enough.

2) Your current ability doesn’t define you

The book highlights the importance of not letting your current ability define you and shares a few interesting sports examples to highlight this:

1. Michael Jordan - Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team. The book explains “When Jordan was cut from the varsity team, he was devastated. His mother says ‘I told him to go back and discipline himself’. Boy, did he listen. He used to leave the house at six in the morning to go practice before school. At the University of North Carolina, he constantly worked on his weaknesses - his defensive game and his ball handling and shooting. The coach was taken aback by his willingness to work harder than anyone else. Once, after the team lost the last game of the season, Jordan went and practiced his shots for hours.”

2. Babe Ruth - despite being a naturally powerful hitter, Babe Ruth was super inconsistent early on in his career and wasn’t always in shape. To improve, “many winters he worked out the entire off-season at the gym to become more fit.” The book explains how Ruth loved to practice and would spend countless hours perfecting his skills.

3. Wilma Rudolph - at one point she was considered the fastest woman on Earth, despite growing up with a mostly paralyzed left leg that required physical therapy and a leg brace. Through training and hard work, Rudolph didn’t let her obstacles define her.

Here’s how the same idea applies to music:

Musicians with a fixed mindset might believe their current talent level is all that they’re capable of and they either have it or they don’t. What’s the point in practicing your craft if your skill level is fixed?

The truth is your process, strategy, work ethic, and mindset define you. Your current skill level can be improved on. While some musicians are naturally gifted and the cream rises to the top - I’m not suggesting that every person on the planet can just pick up an instrument or start creating music and be good at it, but musicians have the potential to improve and refine their abilities in different aspects of their career.

Do you sound amazing when recording music but feel like you need to improve your live show? That’s a skill that can be developed over time and improved.

If you go on YouTube and watch your favorite artist perform early in their career, it’s likely different from their current performance ability.

The same applies to managers, creators, publicists, etc. An inexperienced or unskilled manager has the opportunity to work hard, invest in learning the business, sharpen their skills, and become the best manager they can be (research, reading articles, finding a mentor, networking, etc).

Your skills can be improved and developed with hard work over time.

Thanks for reading, until next time.

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