The #1 reason why musicians seek out career coaching is probably not what you think. It’s not about needing more strategies or information.
It’s because there’s something they know they need to be doing for their career but they’re NOT doing it.
So let’s great real: what’s the crucial career action step you’re avoiding? My theory is we all have at least one. I know I do.
Maybe it’s overhauling your promotional materials, or sending out pitches for booking concerts. Maybe it’s networking — you just can’t seem to get yourself to do it. Perhaps it’s launching that ambitious project you’ve been dreaming about, but not starting.
Hiring a coach can be a great way to make a real commitment. And to get the objective feedback, support, and accountability you need to be get on track and stay in forward motion.
But here’s the thing: you still have to take those scary actions.
Taking charge of your career takes courage
Sometimes I find that the musician who contacts me is imagining (on some level) that I have a magic wand and can find them a miracle artist manager. Or give them a list of presenters ready to book them, or that I can pull strings to get them their dream job.
Believe me, if I had a magic wand to wield, I’d be using it!
Full disclosure: actually, I do own a magic wand — it’s the plastic one above that I dug out of my desk drawer just now. I’ve tried all of the incantations I can think of and it doesn’t seem to produce the desired effects.
But guess what?
There IS a REAL “magic wand.” It’s something we all have: it’s the power to take charge of our own career and take the next career action step.
We just fail to recognize and use the power we have.
Instead, we tell ourselves convenient half-truths (AKA lies).
We tell ourselves that the reason our career is stalled is because we don’t have a manager, or a label, a sponsor, or a lucky break. Or we say we don’t have the time, tools, and space we need to get our best work done. These are rationalizations.
They are excuses we use to let ourselves off the hook. We pretend that our future career is up to somebody else. That it all hinges on an audition or search committee, a mythic teacher, coach, or manager. Or that everything depends on ideal circumstances.
What can we do instead?
Identify Your Resistance
These stories we tell ourselves are simply Resistance — the force of inertia, fear, procrastination. Resistance is the force that tries to keep us living small. It keeps us “hiding” instead of taking on the risk of challenging ourselves to live up to our potential.
Here’s how it works. There’s typically a career action step that we’ve been avoiding. And it’s the one thing we most need to do to propel our project and our career forward. It’s the thing we fear most because it would set our project in motion.
Typically we find an obstacle that prevents us from taking that crucial next action step. We tell ourselves we need to clear our schedule first, or line up funding, or that we need a new website before we can get started. (I’ve used all of these excuses and more.)
Maybe we tell ourselves that we need the right space to work in. Or the right connections or to learn a particular program. These are all perfectly reasonable excuses to never start the work we need to do to live up to our potential.
As I write this I’m thinking about the stalled project I’ve been slaving over these last 6 months or so. I’m coming to terms with the reality of my very slow progress being a form of procrastination. I’m doing the work but it’s at a snail’s pace.
Don’t let perfectionism be the enemy of “done.”
My excuses include needing to make things “perfect” or at least a whole lot better, before moving to each new step.
It’s an online course I’m creating and the tech is way outside my comfort zone. As is the investment of time and money to test and promote a beta version. My fear of failure is just as bad as my fear of success.
Funny, these are all problems I can easily spot in my clients — but it’s not so easy to call yourself out on your own bullshit.
I’ve been reading Steven Pressfield’s amazing new book The Artist’s Journey and there’s a passage that cut me to the quick. It’s on p. 44. I can’t recommend the book highly enough. Here’s the bit that killed me: maybe you, too, will recognize some of these symptoms.
“On the Artist’s Journey All Enemies are Mental
Fear of failure.
Fear of success.
(And) Fear of the new, of pain, of loneliness, of exertion, of intensity.
Need for external (third-party) validation.
Self-doubt.
Arrogance.
Impatience.
Inability to defer gratification.
Shallowness of thought and purpose.
Conventionality.
Insularity.
The need to cling to the known.
None of these enemies is real in the sense that, say, a lion is real, or a man with a gun.
All are products of the mind.”
The line that shocked me out of my complacency is “the need to cling to the known.” Ouch.
Name the crucial career action step you’re avoiding
I saw in a flash that what was preventing me from moving ahead with the project was my need to feel sure of myself. I wanted to feel that I knew what I was doing.
But that’s crazy because of course the first time you’re doing something you’re not going to feel confident in your abilities.
Seth Godin says the right attitude for startup projects is to give it your best shot knowing full well that “this might not work.” It’s an experiment. That’s the whole point.
Take a calculated risk: take that crucial career action step you’re avoiding
Just as in booking your own concerts — rejection is part of the game. But you do it anyway — you ship the work.
Thank you, Steven Pressfield and Seth Godin. Thanks for helping me confront my own Resistance so I can help more musicians get past their own.
I’m choosing to move ahead knowing that this might not work. So yes, there’s going to be fear. There’s going to be mistakes — how else can we learn? I’m going for this. Bring it on!
How about you?
Find additional help with getting past resistance and taking action HERE and HERE.
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