About Taking a Long-Term Mindset

Christopher: I’ve got something special and a bit different for you today. Recently we had David Andrew Wiebe from Music Entrepreneur HQ come in to Musical U to present a masterclass, on the topic of “Entrepreneurial Essentials for Musicians”, and he covered some really fantastic stuff around mindset, and following through on projects, motivation, and in short how to really be as effective as possible in your musical life.

Today I wanted to share a particularly great section of that presentation where David was talking about taking a long-term mindset to music, and the importance of nurturing your love of music itself. It’s a bit that really stuck with me, and although there were a bunch of really great lessons before and after this bit of the presentation, I think it also stands alone okay and you’ll be able to really get something from it.

Fittingly, you might need to take a long-term mindset, because this may not be something that knocks your socks off immediately, but let it sit with you and over the next few days I think you’ll really start to see some of the wisdom that’s packed into this short section.

David: All right. Okay. So next, adopting a long-term mindset. I’ve taught hundreds of guitar, bass, ukulele and piano students through the years and that just happens as you continue to follow that path of being a music instructor. People come and go, you work for different studios, you teach people in their homes, and over the time that number of people just continues to add up, so it’s been hundreds of students to this point. The difference between someone who stuck with it, and this is what I’ve noticed, and improved versus someone who rarely practiced and didn’t improve, was a love of music. That’s not something I can foster in you. It wasn’t something I was able to foster in any of my students. They had to foster it within themselves.

So here’s a little challenge, if you can’t list your favorite artists in the heads off the top of your head, you might be in trouble. You may not be as passionate or have as much of a love of music that you need to be able to improve on your instrument, and so what I would do is I would develop a genuine interest in music and begin to follow your impulses. Get a magazine subscription or join an online community, or begin reading about the artists that fascinate you and pitch your interest. This is exactly what I did. For instance, when I first started playing guitar, I was listening to quite a bit of rap and hip hop music and one of my favorite groups at the time was The Beastie Boys and you might know Adam Yauch or MCA. He talked about how he’d become obsessed with Jimi Hendrix at different points in his career and I found that intriguing, so it wasn’t long before I started listening to Jimi Hendrix and then learning his songs on guitar.

But none of that would’ve happened if I didn’t pick up the guitar to begin with and I didn’t have a teacher helping me along and show me how to play guitar, but as I began to follow that track, I started developing a love for classic rock and rock music in general. Of course the blues too was pretty significant, because in a way Jimi Hendrix was kind of a blues player, depends who you ask. Some people say he was more rock, or funkadelia or psychedelia and what have you, but that was definitely at the core of his playing, was blues. So I started going down that path as well.

So your love of music will carry you through any disillusionment or setbacks you might experience in trying to learn an instrument. Like I talked about, most of my bands that I’ve been a part of broke up within a year to a year and a half. Those were at times pretty heartbreaking experiences because I could see us going somewhere. There’s one band called Angels Breaking Silence, we were getting the types of gigs that I hadn’t been getting in any other group or even solo such as cap gigs and skate park gigs and outdoor gigs and things like that, to where I thought, “There’s real potential here. We just have to keep honing our craft and make some great shows,” but unfortunately, people in the band had different ideas. So there’s something to be said for vetting the people you work with, but until you have some of those experiences, sometimes it’s hard to know what people are looking for, so it is going to be a little bit of trial and error and hunting around for the right people.

Now, many people overestimate what they can do in a year and underestimate what they can do in 10 years. That’s kind of classic Tony Robbins, but it is very true. Don’t think about what you can do today or in a year, keep at it and begin thinking about what’s possible, three years, five years, seven years, or even 10 years down the line, and then work daily towards the achievement of what you envisioned in your mind. The mind is a very powerful tool we’re ever capable of visualizing and seeing a future for ourselves, and so utilize that. Take advantage of that.

There is something magical about that number, 10 years, just look at the Beatles, Metallica, or even Billy Talent. It took them 10 years to break through in their careers, as it’s often been said, every overnight success has been 10 years in the making. If it even took the best bands that long to get to where they want to go, why would it be any different for you and I? So no matter what it is you’re looking to accomplish and you don’t need to aspire to be the Beatles or Metallica or Billy Talent, you can start at whatever level that you want your career to be, or even just learning an instrument, whatever level, but think about what feels good tomorrow, not just today, and that helps you make longterm decisions around that.

Now we’re going to talk a little bit about taking responsibility for your own growth. Unfortunately, I think it’s something that a lot of people don’t do.

Christopher: I hope you enjoyed that short excerpt from our Musical U masterclass with David Andrew Wiebe.

Now if you’re wanting more of David’s insights, please check out his website musicentrepreneurhq.com.

Of course if you’re a member of Musical U you’ll find the full masterclass waiting for you inside the members website. And if you’re not yet a member head to musicalitynow.com/join for a special podcast listeners offer on membership. At the time of recording that actually lets you try Musical U in full for free for 7 days, so you could watch this masterclass plus a dozen others, as well as getting full access to our 50+ training modules and a lot more. This offer may change or expire in future so if you’re curious then do head on over to musicalitynow.com/join and dive in. And I’ll see you in there!

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