Why does it seem that some musicians are lucky and others can't seem to catch a break? Well, Researcher Richard Wison would tell you the only difference (and it's a big one) is whether a person THINKS they are lucky or not. Essentially, whether they expect good or bad things to happen to them.
Wiseman, who set out to discover why people seem lucky, and others don't, did an experiment. He asked people to read a newspaper and count how many photos were in it. People who claimed to be lucky took a few seconds, and the "unlucky ones took 2 minutes. Why? Well, on the second page of the newspaper, a large message read: "stop counting, there are 43 photos in this paper." The unlucky people missed this picture; they even missed the added bonus halfway through the paper that said: "Stop counting, tell the experimenter you have seen this and win $250."
What Wisemen found was that people that had a negative and neutral outlook missed a lot. They couldn't see what others could see just fine. Its scary to think how a netrual or negative outlook affects a musician.
Wiseman proved that a neutral mindset is not enough; a happiness mindset is imperative. Being truly happy doesn't mean your wearing rose-colored glasses. In fact, it means the complete opposite. The key is to train your mind to expect positive outcomes.
So, luck has nothing to do with other musician's success, it's their mindset. They expect to do great, they expect to be great, they expect great things to happen. They can see the path to the opportunities clearly and they prepare to take advantage of them. Turns out, musician that expect positive outcomes are more creative, adaptive, and resilient.
How do you start to train your brain to expect a positive outcome
Make a daily list (not long) of all things good about being a musician. This forces your mind to recall and focus on the positive
Record your milestones, right a journal entry, or make a place where you can see and acknowledge your accomplishments.
Ritualize the above tasks. Do them at the same time, in the same place, and make sure your space is prepped.
So get started on training your brain to expect the positive!
I'll dive deeper into this topic in the next blog.
Your Happy Musician
Candace
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