I have recently started teaching a music business course I have developed called "Above The Noise." The idea is to determine what it takes to be heard above the noise! There are a lot of people out there doing the same things you are and ultimately the hardest part is being heard above everyone else. I have established what I am calling the 5 pillars to being "heard above the noise." They are:
Belief
Product
Brand
Network
Persistence
I have spoken before about just how important it is to believe in yourself and that you have to make a conscious decision that you are going to succeed at what you set out to do. In fact every successful person I have spoken to chose to be successful at what they do. They knew what they wanted and they went for it. But I realize that is easier said than done, otherwise we would all be experiencing high levels of success and there would be no need for a a course like mine...:)
Today I want to discuss the first pillar, "Belief," but I don't want to talk about the simple fact of believing. I want to more importantly talk about resetting your internal thermometer to a higher level of expected success.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, what I called "fear of the summit" was really the fear of success. This may seem ridiculous but it is the reality for a great number of people. You are in a relationship with somebody you think is "too good for you" and sure enough you find a way of screwing it up, the opportunity to land the biggest deal of you career comes and you somehow screw it up and say you "knew it was too good to be true," you never quite reach the goals you set because when it comes down to the wire you are not "comfortable" surpassing your "preset" level of success.
Can You Take The Heat?
We have an internal thermometer that when we go above our level of comfort we can't take the heat so we find a way back down to our preset comfort level. It works the other way too, if we fall below that comfort level we find a way to get back up to it. When we achieve a greater level of success than we are used to we find it hard to handle, however if we fall below our standard then we find a way to get back to our comfort zone.
Success Thermometer
We all need to work everyday at resetting our internal success thermometer. We have to become comfortable and accepting when we move to a higher level of personal success. Know that we can surpass our preset success temperature, achieve our goals and that they are already a reality. Instead of telling yourself you will be successful, don't put it off, tell yourself you are successful and that you are already taking steps toward achieving your goals.
I remember when I was younger taking martial arts classes and being told that you never focus on hitting the target, you always focus past the target and going through it and not just hitting it. I think even the idea of "to be successful surround yourself with successful people" makes sense in part because you can find comfort in a higher level of success because of the level set by your peers. One book I read talked about the idea that we all have stories that we create. If the story we tell is that we always end up with bad luck and can't reach the goals we set, then those around us will believe that IS our story. Our peers will think of us as the person whose luck is always bad and can never do what they set out to. The energy affects you and those who come to know you. We need to change our story, re-write it the way we want it and those around us will come to expect the new version we create.
A musician friend told me not so long ago that they couldn't understand how it was that every time they wanted a new piece of gear they would always find a way to make the funds appear. However when they applied that to their career and other aspects of their life they never seemed to be able to see the goals materialize. I would say that their internal thermometer was set at a level that allowed them to expect purchasing gear to be no problem but that bigger goals were out of their comfort zone, were too high of a heat.
We need not only to believe in what we do as musicians and business men but be able to change our internal success thermometer to be prepared for the success that we will create for ourselves.