Game, Set, Match: the Mindset of the Creative

When is it done?

Answer as a creative: probably never. Sorry to break the bubble.

HOWEVER, if we watch tennis and the greats that play it, and see them struggle, reset and recover and find success - it’s not just about their technique or skill, it’s all about their mindset.

We are all human in our creativity. We are not robots, nor AI. We are human with nuance, emotion, physicality, mentality and psychology.

Our humanness is what allows our craft to have unique authenticity.

Our mindset needs the same focus and development that our craft and skill has. One without the other doesn’t land - in any field.

You don’t WAIT to train. Can you imagine Serena Williams waiting until she was in competition at Wimbledon to actually train??!?! That’s ridiculous, and she and ANY athlete that works at the top of their game would never do that. They train, cross-train and focus in season and especially off-season.

Why would it be any different for the stage athlete? Why do I still get emails, calls and texts from people who haven’t been training and are in crisis and are begging for a quick fix?!?

Mindset.

Sorry, but you are not in a mindset of success if you do not embrace long standing and consistency in training. Singing isn’t an “extra” - singing demands mind, body and soul.

I get it: it can be daunting; it can be overwhelming and frightening; often we are afraid of study for fear someone is going to change our voices (and that’s real). You have to find someone who truly understands YOU and what you do and what you need to do and will meet you in the inbetween to collaborate WITH you and not blow sunshine up your butt. This takes effort. This takes will. This takes knowing yourself well enough to be vulnerable enough. Vulnerable enough to trust the process and to explore and discover.

Get started before you need it. Keep engaging while you are doing it. Maintain so you can achieve it consistently.

Doing a pirouette ONCE by chance doesn’t make you a dancer. It doesn’t mean you have technique.

It means you did a pirouette once.

Just cause you say you sing, doesn’t make you a singer. Can you find endurance & sustainability? Do you know how you do what you do? Can you replicate it at will? Can you call on your technique and your knowledge and your mindset at will to sustain you?

Craft, skill, mindset, focus, awareness, physicality, and athleticism all need to be developed. Knowing how you develop each part of you as an artist and creative is ongoing. It is never done. We do not work in linear lines - we work and develop and evolve through experience lens. We learn to access and develop our lowest common denominator no matter what - so on our worst day we know we can achieve what is needed.

Learning how you do what you do, and how to access it fully, and how to adjust when needed is all about skill and craft and technical behavior. Having the raw talent gives you possibility and potential. You have to COMMIT to the practice to take that to the level or realization. The commitment to your potential and your possibility and then to how you are developing that into craft is all about your mindset.

Are you ready to commit? Are you still making excuses? Why? Why not?

Are you aware of what you need? Are you aware of who you might need to help you figure that out? Get to that before the need becomes stressful. Don’t ignore it.

Game, set, match is VICTORY. It’s decisive. It’s clear. There is no ambiguousness. There is no question. You determine that through the work, the focus, the mindset.

Get into it! Work regularly, cross-train regularly, work your body regularly, work your voice regularly, work your mentality regularly.

Physical health, vocal health, mental health. The trifecta of game, set, match. Victory. Don’t leave out a step.

BE the singer because you DO the singing.