Be Open To Learning

Stop thinking some knowledge or skill you have is “good enough”. Be open to learning.

How can you strive for success, while also telling yourself that you’re “good enough” at what you do?

Don’t seek validation for where you are. Sure, it feels good for someone to validate you. But what you really want is insight into how to improve.

You aren’t so arrogant as to believe you can’t improve, right? By nature, we all can improve on literally everything. There isn’t really a peak to reach where we can’t go one step further.

I play piano. I play piano more than well enough to do the music I write. I can play piano and sing at the same time. But you know what? I can and should absolutely get better.

Maybe I can do even cooler piano stuff. Maybe I can play some advanced composition during live shows to mix it up. Maybe I can just get better because I’m a musician, so why not?

Don’t seek validation for where you are. Be open to learning.

Seek mentorship on how to get to the next step.

What is your weakness? Lyric writing? Melodies? Chord progressions? Music theory in general?

Whatever it is, go try to get better! Don’t just tell yourself (and others) how “you don’t need music theory to write great songs!”

You also can cut your grass without a lawn mower. You can be a professional athlete without eating healthy. Finally, you can live past 100 years old having smoked for 90 years.

But you’ll cut the grass a lot better and faster with a nice ride-on lawn mower. You would probably be an even BETTER athlete who gets closer to the peak of what they were capable of if you put down the skittles. And your chances of not getting lung cancer is quite a bit higher if you don’t smoke.

So stop pretending that “some great songs were written by people who knew nothing about theory!” even remotely implies that music theory would not significantly improve your songwriting toolbox.

Be open to learning. Stop seeking validation for your current state. Stop telling yourself that you don’t need to improve. We all need to improve. Do you think the greatest guitarist on earth got to be the greatest and then was like “eh, I’m the best now, no more practicing for me!”

Let me answer that for you. No. The answer is no.

Learn something about music theory you need to know.

Learn some tests to ensure you have a great melody.

Learn about writing lyrics.

Learn about the total process from song idea to recorded and released song.

Finally, learn the golden rule of arranging.

Since we talked about being open to learning, I’ll assume you clicked all of those and gave them a read.

I’m learning every day. I want to learn at a faster rate every day. I hope you’re doing the same.

What are some of the main things you want to work on being more open to learning? Let us know in the comments below!