Focusing on the positive can support your creativity
I’ll be honest, the idea of celebrating successes does not come naturally to me.
It has taken me years of intentionally cultivating this tool to begin to feel like I authentically can see and celebrate what I have achieved.
My personality, if left to its own devices, seeks out the things that are wrong, sees what needs to be fixed, and dwells upon what isn’t working.
Does This Sound Familiar?
You create systems and then hold yourself to an impossibly high standard of implementing them perfectly.
You think of the life which I’d like to have and berate yourself for not being there yet.
You see crossing items off a list as doing the bare minimum, not as achieving something meaningful or important.
Something happens when you become a parent.
You become a person who celebrates All The Things. Little smiles and babbles, rolling over, crawling, running, riding a bike, kicking a ball, reading, kindness, forgiveness, creativity, working together, practice, perseverance…
Every single thing your kiddo expresses or accomplishes or makes is 100% celebration worthy.
You know why? Because that little human is putting them self out into the world and that is a very Brave thing to do.
As we grow up, we begin to appropriately transition from needing external encouragement for every act of bravery to learning how to provide that encouragement for ourselves. We’ll always need cheerleaders, those people who believe in us and bolster us and remind us of our truest, best selves.
The stronger our faith in ourselves and our belief in our inherent worthiness as musicians, the more free and confident we become as performers.
One simple way to build your belief in yourself? Celebrate those successes.
Become for yourself what your parents and loved ones have been for you all these years.
Micro-Celebration Worthy Actions
Start here with this list of simple things to celebrate as you consider what this tool looks like in your life:
A good sound day (praise!)
A focused practice session
Running excerpts with a friend
Recording yourself
Getting out of a practice room and into a hall or large rehearsal space to run your concerto
Feeding yourself nourishing food
Being vulnerable with a friend
Practicing your mantra
Journaling
Identifying your negative feelings and reframing them
Movement outdoors
Micro-Celebration Ideas
The goal of these celebrations is to honor your wins with intentional acknowledgement and make them tangible rather than allowing them to fly off into the past, forever forgotten.
Write your small, daily achievements down in your calendar and see yourself execute day after day.
Affirm the thing you are proud of out loud, “I am proud of myself for X.”
Tell a loved one who is one of your cheerleaders.
Reward yourself with something that nourishes your spirit - a hot bath, reading poetry, watching the sun rise.
Create a celebration journal where you record your wins
Positivity begets positivity
The more you honor yourself and your efforts, succeed or fail, the more capable you will feel. If you praised yourself for nailing a passage at 100 bpm, you’ll be more likely to believe you can get it up to 112 bmp.
As humans we thrive on praise and celebration. Don’t be stingy!
Let your inner child smile and puff our her chest and believe the truth that,
Next Steps and Additional Resources
Here at The Musician's Mindset we have some incredible resources for developing and implementing mindset practices that will transform how you perform on stage.
First, check out our Personalized Mindset Tools Quiz to discover the mindset strategies perfect for YOU!
Join the waiting list for my FREE mini-course, How to Stimulate Your Vagus Nerve and Calm the Heck Down.
Katie Frisco
Founder of The Musician's Mindset
Katie is dedicated to helping musicians overcome stage fright and believe in their own unique artistic voice. She believes live classical music is a powerful antidote for the division, pain, and loneliness pervasive in the culture and strives to support all artists to confidently share their work with the world. She lives in Cincinnati with her husband, three kiddos, a dog, a snake, and a goldfish named Orca.
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