The Mindset You NEED as a Musician

And it's something that I think you don't even begin to learn a musical instrument unless you're a little bit on this side.

And what I'm talking about is mindset.

Now, I think different people fall on a spectrum.

So when I talk about two types of mindsets, I think you can be solidly in one or the other, but you could also be leaning towards the middle on one side or the other.

So I doubt any of you who are actually bothering to listen to a podcast about getting better at musicianship.

I doubt any of you are fully on the side you don't want to be on, but you might possibly be in the middle.

And I want to encourage you to nudge fully over to the other side.

So what am I talking about? I'm talking about fixed mindset versus growth mindset.

This is a concept that has been mentioned many times in books and videos and podcasts and articles.

But it was first popularized by the psychologist and author Carol Dweck in her 2006 book called Mindset.

And in a nutshell, it's simply this.

A fixed mindset believes that I am who I am.

I'm either good at this thing or I'm not.

It either comes easy or it doesn't.

Also, I look around.

I look at the job I have.

This is the job.

that I deserve.

It's the best I'm going to be able to do.

I say the same thing when I look at the house I'm living in and on and on it goes.

You believe things are fixed for you and that you are the person you are and who you are going to be.

You have a fixed mindset.

And if you have a fixed mindset, you don't really handle difficult situations very well.

Because either clearly out loud or subliminally, you think that you are not the right type of person meant to solve that difficulty.

So when something's hard when you're learning it, you start to think, well, maybe I'm just not that good of a musician.