When you have a performance approaching, it’s easy to be overwhelmed with negative thoughts about your level of preparation. You might have certain passages within the repertoire that are particularly difficult and don’t feel like they will be polished by performance day. The go-to advice you may have heard about positive thinking sounds appealing but can be challenging due to our natural tendency to focus on what could go wrong. This negativity bias can be beneficial to keep us striving to be better musicians, but it hinders optimal performance.
A study by Westgate et al. (2017) focused on how to shift away from a negative mindset towards positive thinking. 142 undergraduate students were asked to spend 6 minutes thinking about enjoyable topics that they had pre-selected, like family memories or future events they were looking forward to. The students were split into two groups: the first group was given on-screen reminders of their chosen topics, while the second group was told to think about them without being prompted.
The students who had reminders found the exercise more enjoyable, had better concentration, and experienced fewer task-irrelevant thoughts. The study also found that those students were more focused on their chosen topics, which suggests that even a small cue can significantly improve positive thinking.
The study’s findings suggest that purposely steering our minds towards positivity requires effort, but a simple “cheat sheet” can help. By creating a list of positive memories and thoughts, musicians can manage their mindset before a big performance. This exercise can lighten the mental load and help maintain a more confident, positive state of mind when it’s needed most.
Read more about the study on the Bulletproof Musician here!
Photo credit: Cathryn Lavery c/o Unsplash
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