It’s normal to have crippling self-doubt as a musician.
We all have it as a built-in feature.
But here’s the problem…
It can kill your interest in making music and it can block your creative muscles.
So I’m going to share what I’ve learned about breaking through self-doubt as a musician.
What Is Self-doubt?
First, let’s be clear about what self-doubt is and isn’t.
Self-doubt is not low self-esteem, although it can be related.
Low self-esteem is a lack of confidence in your worth as a human.
Self-doubt is a lack of confidence in your abilities.
According to Merriam-Webster, self-doubt is “A lack of faith in oneself. A feeling of doubt or uncertainty about one’s abilities, actions, etc.”
Basically, it’s the opposite of self-confidence.
Doubting yourself has a lot of negative side effects, like:
- Writing fewer songs
- Producing less music
- Not sharing the music you’ve made
- Procrastination
- Giving up on music entirely
Now that we’re all on the same page about self-doubt, let’s talk about how to conquer it…
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Encouraging Quotes About Self-doubt
Before I give you my tips on beating self-doubt as a musician, here are some things super creative people have said about it…
“If you hear a voice within you say ‘You cannot paint,’ then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.”
― Van Gogh
“Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt.”
― William Shakespeare
“Doubt kills more dreams than failure ever will.”
― Suzy Kassem (poet)
“The moment you doubt whether you can fly, you cease forever to be able to do it.”
― J.M. Barrie (creator of Peter Pan)
9 Tips for Overcoming Self-doubt as a Musician
Okay, here are nine ways to help you overcome self-doubt as a musician. (I’m writing from personal experience here).
Accept self-doubt as natural
The first step toward emotional intelligence is to acknowledge and accept whatever emotion you’re feeling.
And that’s the first thing you must do to overcome self-doubt.
Self-doubt is natural. Even the greatest musicians doubt themselves.
In fact, if you didn’t ever doubt yourself, that would be worrisome.
Play Angel’s Advocate
You’ve heard of playing Devil’s Advocate. It’s where you present the opposing view (usually a negative one) as a possibility.
Playing D.A. can be helpful, but what if you actively presented yourself with the best-case scenario as a possibility?
As humans, our natural tendency is to expect our plans to not work out.
So playing Angel’s Advocate is reminding yourself that your plans could totally work out the way you want them to.
You’ll reach your goals. You’ll make the music you want to make. And you won’t get overwhelmed by it all.
It’s like you’re being your own guardian angel.
Make something crappy
You may love or hate Ed Sheeran’s music, but he’s written so many songs and has some helpful advice.
This applies to songwriters, producers, performers, and any type of musician:
“You view it as a dirty tap,” he says of songwriting. “When you switch a dirty tap out, it’s gonna flow sh*t water out for a substantial amount of time — and then clean water is going to start flowing. And now and then you will get a bit of sh*t, but as long as it gets out of you, it’s fine.”
Being great at something takes practice. So if you never practice, you won’t get better. In fact, you’ll get worse.
Make music, even if it’s crappy. You don’t have to share it with anyone.
As you see yourself improve, your self-doubt will shrink.
Know that progression can feel like regression (VIDEO)
In this TEDx Talk, YouTuber Mark Rober talks about learning — and how it can sometimes feel like going backward.
So if your self-doubt is triggered by a setback, remember that it’s the only way to progress.
Set your own bar of success
Success is subjective. And comparison is a self-doubt igniter.
Every person is different and every musician has different goals. This means we all set our own success.
One person might want to be a full-time touring musician while another person might want to be a hobbyist producer.
We all want different things, so our definitions of “success” will naturally be different. Don’t compare yourself to others.
Be sure of what you want
On that note, you must know what your “success” is so you can know how to work toward it.
You have to know where you want to arrive before you get in your car and drive. Otherwise, you’ll just end up driving in circles. You’ll get lost.
Figure out what you want to be. Then you can make a clear plan to get there.
You’ll notice your doubt will simply be a passenger, not the driver.
Track your completed goals
Once you know what your “success” is, you can create goals to get there.
And as you accomplish your goals, I highly recommend you keep track of them. It’s one of the most encouraging things I do as a musician.
I use The One-Thing-A-Day Worksheet to track my completed goals.
So whenever I want to swat away my self-doubt, I look at my list of accomplished goals.
Devour your self-doubt in little bites
You can go one step further and chunk your goals into little bites.
You break them apart into manageable tasks you can do on any given day.
In other words, you take baby steps.
A small step is better than standing still. Self-doubt will hold you back, baby steps will move you forward.
Talk to yourself like a good friend would
Someone who struggles with self-doubt (ahem…me) tends to speak to themselves harshly.
“I haven’t gotten anything done today.”
“I’m so lazy.”
“Why do I keep procrastinating?!”
But think about this: a good friend would never say these things to you.
So why are you letting yourself talk to you this way?
Instead, try flipping the above statements upside down:
- “What’s one win you had today?”
- “Everybody needs rest. It’s okay to not always be grinding.”
- “It’s okay if you didn’t accomplish what you wanted to today. Try again tomorrow.”
Conclusion
Bookmark this blog post. Then, when you struggle with self-doubt as a musician, come back to it and try one of these tips.
If you put in the effort, I know these methods can help you stop doubting yourself.
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