The Mind Over Finger Podcast - 086 Gear Up 2021! with Dr. Renée-Paule Gauthier

Starting point is 00:00:00 You're listening to the Mind Over Finger Podcast, episode number 86. Hi, everyone. I hope this episode finds you doing amazingly well. I'm so happy to be here for a solo episode today. Just me and you for the last episode of 2020. I hope you love the guests I had for you this fall. Violinists Melissa White and Elena Uriaste from Intermission Sessions. Cellist Elisa Weilerstein.

Starting point is 00:00:55 Conditioning professional David Cartolano. Bass player Ira Gold. Alexander Technique teacher Lori Schiff, violinist Leila Josefovich, EFT tapping coach Jenny Clift, and pianist and author Kenny Warner. And I also shared with you interviews I had on other podcasts, including The Conditioned Musician with David Cartellano, The Scholarship Roadmap with Trevor Jones, The Violin Podcast with Eric Mragala, and The Musician's Toolbox with Angela and Andrew Coleman. And I hope you enjoyed and found value in those episodes as well. And this special bonus episode is all about transitioning into 2021 with confidence and get

Starting point is 00:01:39 epically aligned for the new year. We're going to gear up for 2021. I hope that after going through the reflections and exercises in this episode, you'll walk away with a renewed vision for the future, clear goals and specific strategies to implement and create an incredible musical future for yourself, unwavering confidence in your ability to succeed, a feeling of dedication to the process, and the motivation to get started, and most importantly, to keep going. So no matter what your goals are, whether you want to be ready to rock the stage for your next performance, win an audition land your dream job transform your online studio or whatever it is it's possible and this episode can help you set things up for your massive success so I encourage you to sit

Starting point is 00:02:36 down and do the guided visualization and the reflection exercises and put all your thoughts to paper you can pause rewind reflect and take as long as you want or need to answer the questions and I also recommend that you take some time between the three different sections of the episode. These gaps are going to give you the opportunity to deepen your reflection and clarify your thoughts. That space gives us information and inspiration. It gives us clues and leaves room for our intuition to show up, speak up, and send us signals. So I encourage you to pause the episode between each section of the workshop to give yourself that time to reflect and come to more powerful insight. Don't rush this process. I've covered this content in the Mind Over Finger

Starting point is 00:03:28 Tribe, my private Facebook group, over the month of December. And today I'm bringing you the reflection and exercises of all three workshops in this episode. If you want to watch the recordings of the live events, they're still up in the Tribe and they're going to stay up for a while. And of course, I'll have that link in the show notes for you. And to make things really convenient, I've put all the questions and exercises of Gear Up 2021 in PDF format, and you can grab it at mindoverfinger.com slash resources. So without further ado, grab a pen and paper, get comfortable. Let's get dreaming, planning and implementing for an amazing year of music making for you. Let's gear up for 2021. Part one is all about dreaming. 2020 brought so many disappointments

Starting point is 00:04:19 and so much grief, but also good things. So let's start with acknowledging the silver lining and igniting gratitude. But why gratitude first? Science shows that when we express and experience gratitude, our brain releases dopamine and serotonin, and these neurotransmitters stimulate a happy mood and positive feelings. And I don't know about you, but I show up differently in the world when I feel happy. I have more courage, I have more energy, and I'm more creative when it comes to figuring out ways to create the things I want in my life and to make them happen. So if I'm to way oversimplify all of this, I'll say that by acknowledging the things that are positive in our lives, rather than brooding on what's wrong, and by focusing on gratitude and creating a more

Starting point is 00:05:11 positive mental disposition for ourselves, we start the game strong. And that's how we want to start 2021. Strong, courageous, confident, and energetic. So the first thing I'd like you to do is to identify and write down three positive things about 2020 that actually contributed to your life in a meaningful and positive way. So you can pause the episode and take the time to write these three positive things that contributed to your life in a meaningful and positive way in 2020. This is an incredibly powerful practice that I incorporate in my daily regimen and I hope that maybe you'll consider taking on a gratitude practice as well. The second thing I want you to do is put aside some time to take inventory of your 2020 schedule. Grab your agenda or open

Starting point is 00:06:10 your online calendar and look at all the activities listed in 2020, week after week. And as you do this, pay close attention to the way you feel when you see these items. Do you feel joy or dread? Is this particular event on your schedule something you look forward to or something that is positive in your life? Something that's necessary in your life? Something you want to be doing year after year? Or is this something that drains your energy, that brings you stress or frustration? Is this something you could let go of and open up time and space for things that nurture you

Starting point is 00:06:55 and serve your most important purpose? Go through your schedule and ask yourself those questions. And as you do that, put items in two separate lists. The things you welcome in 2021, things you want in your life, and the things you wish to let go of in 2021. Seeing those on the page will begin to give you a clear idea of where your energy and your time are going.

Starting point is 00:07:26 And without making any decision in the moment, start thinking about the ways that you could bring in the things you want in your life, the things that would light you up and energize you, and let go of the things that eat up your time and energy unnecessarily. the things that hold you back and leave you feeling depleted. And when you look at things that you wish you could bring in your life or let go of, but you don't think you can, I'll encourage you to ask yourself if it's really true that you don't have a choice there.

Starting point is 00:08:00 Have you looked at all the angles, all the ramifications, and the true costs of not going for what you want and continuing what doesn't serve you in the long term? And let's say that you don't see how to make that happen right now. Are there small steps you can start taking to change things? And if you really feel like you can't add or take away something, how creative can you get about making do with the current situation in the best way possible? How can you make it work for you?

Starting point is 00:08:34 When you've done the schedule inventory and you have more clarity on the things that you wish to bring with you or leave behind in the new year, let's take a minute to experience 2021 and let's get dreaming. I invite you to sit down comfortably as I take you through a visualization exercise. And before we jump in, I want you to give yourself permission to dream. Give yourself permission to forget about what's possible, what could happen, what makes sense, and just let your imagination and your intuition lead the way. So let's settle in for a few moments and let's take some time to get grounded, get aligned, and get dreaming. if you're not already please come to a seated position ideally with your back supported and your head free close your eyes and gently bring your

Starting point is 00:09:37 awareness to your breath let it flow and experience it fully take your time to find your comfort in this position. Still connecting to the breath. Full inhales and full exhales. Feeling the air going in and out of your nostrils.

Starting point is 00:10:18 Feeling it filling. And leaving your lungs. Noticing the way your ribcage responds to each breath. Expending. And contracting. Now take one big inhale. And as you exhale, let go of the things that are weighing you down.

Starting point is 00:10:53 inhale gratitude and powerfully exhale fear fill your lungs with courage push out doubt. Inhale joy. Exhale stumbling blocks. And in goes inspiration and insight. And out goes fear of failure. Breathe in lightness. Breathe out limits. And with each breath cycle, feel happier, more grateful,

Starting point is 00:11:53 and lighter. and as you're sitting right here right now fully experiencing the present moment let's travel ahead a little bit and find yourself a year from now December 2021

Starting point is 00:12:26 living your very best life see vividly where you are see what's surrounding you what's happening in your life See the amazing projects that have emerged for you. See the ways you've said yes to yourself during this year. See the qualities you've developed, the skills you've acquired, what are they?

Starting point is 00:13:53 See your musical life. what does it look like see yourself practicing performing or teaching how is it happening what does it feel like see clearly who you've become

Starting point is 00:14:38 who you are and as you hold this vision for your future self know that this person lives within you right now this person is you in this very moment and holding this vision

Starting point is 00:15:19 of your very best life knowing that it's already happening you're already creating it come back fully to this present moment and

Starting point is 00:15:37 still breathing gently open your eyes Now, still holding onto this vision, write down anything you'd like, anything that struck you, strong images that popped in your mind, or any strong feelings that you feel the need to journal. Of course, you can pause the podcast if necessary. And still hanging onto this lightness, this gratitude, this courage, I want you to answer the following questions. If I knew that all is possible and that I cannot fail, what would my musical life look like in 2021? If I knew that all is possible and that I cannot fail,

Starting point is 00:16:41 what would I play or what would I do? If I knew that all is possible and that I cannot fail, where would I be? If I knew that all is possible and that I cannot fail, what home would I be doing all of these things? First, if I knew that all is possible and that I cannot fail, what does a perfect day in my life look like? and finally if I knew that all is possible and that I cannot fail

Starting point is 00:17:40 what are the 10 things I would accomplish by the end of the year at this time we're done with the first part of Gare of 2021. And I invite you to take a little break from this episode. And I'd love for you to set some time aside to sit down and reflect more on those questions and to journal. See what comes up intuitively for you when you ponder on and look at the answers. Now, here's a big PSA. fear or the voice of reason or doubt they will show up I can say without a doubt they will pop

Starting point is 00:18:27 up in your head but I want to encourage you to stay in that space of possibility of courage of intuitiveness of confidence and continue to give yourself permission to receive and consider anything that shows up for you. And as time goes by, start to notice which one of those 10 things you listed earlier seem to jump off the page and really call at you. And when you're ready, go on to part two. And part two is all about planning. Let's zone in on a more specific goal or some goals and let's start planning. So thinking about the answers to part one and especially looking at that list you created, the 10 things you would accomplish in 2021 if you knew that everything was possible and you could not fail. Which one jumps off the page

Starting point is 00:19:31 and feels exciting to you? And pick the one that really lights you up. The one that feels like an exciting, awesome goal. Is it to win an audition or learn a specific piece, learn a new skill, organize a big event, change how you organize your home studio, start a new business? It doesn't matter. Go with the one that really gets you excited. Of course, you can apply the process I'll take you through now to many goals, but I recommend starting with just one for now. So think about this one big, awesome goal, write it down. And when you're ready, let's get planning. First, list the elements or actions needed to make that goal come to life. So thinking about your goal, what do you need to make it happen?

Starting point is 00:20:32 And keep in mind, I'm going to have this in the PDF for you. Do you need specific equipment? Specific knowledge? Or do you need to develop some new skills? How about enlisting help? A coach, teacher, babysitter, help at home? Once you've identified what you need to make it happen, start drafting the unfolding of events starting from where you are or starting from where you

Starting point is 00:21:07 want to be so for example for a big performance or an audition I like to reverse engineer things what do I need to do the morning of the audition the day before the week before the month before how many mock performances do I want and when do I want them when do I want to have the repertoire mastered or memorized when do I want to have all the notes learned do I need to set up some equipment maintenance when is that going to happen etc etc by the way it's always a draft we want to plan but we don't want to pin ourselves so we're going to have a lot of flexibility. Planning helps, but you probably want to see it as a perpetually evolving draft. This avoids a lot of stress and anxiety. So hold yourself accountable

Starting point is 00:22:08 to meeting the milestones when you set it up, but also maintain a flexible attitude towards them. When you have your draft, you can start putting these milestones in your calendar. and looking at the list of things you need and looking at your timeline. Establish the first action item on your to-do list. What is the one thing you can do first to get the ball rolling? Hire a coach or a teacher.

Starting point is 00:22:46 Contact someone for advice. Put something on social media. buy a piece of equipment, do some research, just pick one action item to get started and write it down. So this is it for part two. By now you should have established your one big goal, looked at the elements, skills, or actions you need to take, everything that can make your vision come to life and draft a list of those things. You should have a draft of your timeline and the milestones you're planning for and you should have established the first action item on your to-do list. And before we start part three, this would be the perfect time for another pause to keep

Starting point is 00:23:38 reflecting and noticing the patterns of thoughts that are emerging, the recurring ideas and the words that keep popping back in your head. I think it would also be a good idea to spend some time thinking about the kind of schedule you want in 2021. And whenever you're ready, we embark on phase three, which is all about implementing. And here comes part three. To recap, in part one, we got the dream machine going. We started with gratitude to come from a place of positivity. We did a visualization exercise of your best life a year from now. You took inventory of your schedule and made a list of the things you want to welcome in 2021, the things you want to let go of in 2021. And you answered a series of questions to visualize your future life in even more details and identify your meaningful goals.

Starting point is 00:24:37 In part two, we zoned in on one awesome goal. we got planning and we worked on a blueprint on how to make that dream come to life. And now we're going to be creating the optimal context for you to be able to implement and make this goal happen. If you've been following me for a while, maybe you've listened to episode 71 of the podcast where I talk about motivation, where it comes from and how to get motivated. And if you haven't, I recommend you do. And you know that I think motivation comes from action. Small actions create small or big wins. And it's those continuous wins that fuel motivation and create massive momentum in our lives. So let's set up a life that supports that dream and makes it easy for you to

Starting point is 00:25:34 spring into action. Creating the optimal context starts with knowing yourself and understanding and assessing your current situation. So have your pen in hand and your paper ready. We're going to create two lists. First, list one, we're going to start with the major areas of your life and the way things are right now. Remember that nothing is separate. Our physical well-being, our mental well-being, our happiness, our finances, all of this affects how we show up in the practice room, at work, on stage, in the teaching studio, everywhere. So let's examine things more generally. On a piece of paper, plan for three columns with a little bit more space for the right column. And we're going to do this a little bit differently than the way we did it in the

Starting point is 00:26:31 tribe. In the left column, we're going to list 10 key aspects of your life. Then in the middle column, I'm going to ask you to assign each area a score based on your own perceived level of satisfaction with that area. Don't base your score on how you think others see this area of your life or how you think they judge you. We're assessing only your own satisfaction with this area. And we're going to go with a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being an area where you feel very dissatisfied and 10 being an area where you feel fulfilled. But again, this is based only on your own opinions and feelings. Also, just to clarify, this is not a ranking, so several areas can have the same score. and the reason we're doing this is to identify the areas where there is imbalance the areas where you

Starting point is 00:27:31 could feel unhappy stressed dissatisfied and that would take away from your focus and your ability to take action towards your goal i'm sure you can see how examining this noticing where the imbalance and dissatisfaction are or where the stress comes from in your life will give you tremendous information and clues about why you've been or haven't been able to achieve the things you wanted in the past. So here we go. Number one is physical health. How do you feel physically? Do you feel strong? How's your energy? Number two is your mental health. Do you have worries? Do you feel stressed or motivated or sad, happy, fulfilled, excited, or fearful? Number three is your environment. It could be your home, your office, or any place where you spend a lot of time.

Starting point is 00:28:41 Are you comfortable there? Number four is joy. Do you have time for hobbies? Do you do things for fun? Do you take the time to relax? Number five is romance. And that's whether or not you're involved with someone. How do you feel about your love life?

Starting point is 00:29:16 Number six is family and friends. How do you feel about your relationships with your friends and family members? Number seven is finances. How do you feel about your financial life right now? Number eight is purpose. What gives you purpose? Do you feel like you spend time on activities that are meaningful to you? Number nine is spirituality.

Starting point is 00:30:02 And finally, number 10 is growth, personal growth, skill building. How do you feel about the amount of time spent or the things you do for personal growth. Okay, we still have the right column empty and we're going to get back to it. But for now, grab another piece of paper and for list two, we're going to turn our attention to the things that are directly related to your goal

Starting point is 00:30:33 and the context you would like to experience in your life. I'm going to mention some things and you'll notice that many are similar to things I mentioned in part two. And I want you to write down the first two or three words that come to mind when you hear them. And please be 100% honest with yourself and really go with the first things that the little inner voice tells you. No filter. You might be surprised by what pops up.

Starting point is 00:31:05 So here we go. what comes to mind when you think about an environment that nurtures you what do you need in that environment what is present in that environment what comes to mind when you think about the things that help you show up as your best self And it could be things that you have, like the proper equipment, or ways that you want to feel in order to show up as your best self, like feeling well rested or prepared. Anything that helps you show up as your best self. What comes to mind when you think about the things you need to do your best work? It could be anything from a mindset to the way you set up your workspace, anything.

Starting point is 00:32:08 Once again, in the spirit of honoring who you are and what your specific needs are, write down the first things that come to mind, two or three words. What are some habits that would support you and lead to success? So some habits. What kind of help do you need? A babysitter, help from your family, financial help. Are there any other needs you can think about? Maybe materials or tools, new instrument or a practice space,

Starting point is 00:32:53 better physical environment, free time. any other needs that you can think about? What kind of schedule would support that dream? Do you need to set up accountability like a coach, a teacher, a mentor, accountability with a friend or a trainer? What kind of accountability do you need? and now we're starting to have a clearer picture of our current situation and the kind of context we want to create for ourselves to allow for these goals to come to fruition in 2021 so let's talk

Starting point is 00:33:39 about something crucial in making this happen in giving you confidence and keeping your motivation going. And that is the utmost importance of easing into it and maximizing the aggregation of marginal gain. One of the best ways to ensure that 2021 unfolds the way you saw it in part one's visualization is to ease into it. Think about it. How often have you sabotaged yourself or shot yourself in the foot by tackling something that was too big? Or you were trying to bite more than you could chew or you started sprinting too early in the race. I know it's tempting to dive in head first and go strong, but be extremely respectful of your needs and your limits and very, very judicious with how you expend your energy. Again, you want to ease into it the same way that you run

Starting point is 00:34:37 a 5k before you sign up for a marathon or build your way up to a 2,000 pounds leg press or the way you don't expect to learn and memorize an entire recital program in two days. So especially when you're tackling on projects that are long haul, big dreams, meaningful, personal, you want to bank on the power of easing into it and on the aggregation of marginal gain. Now, what is that the aggregation of marginal gain? If you've never heard of it, it's a concept that was made famous by a British cycling coach, Dave Brailsford, who led the British cycling team to 10 gold medals in 2008 at the Beijing Olympics. He decided that he and his team would focus on improving every aspect of their lives that related to the performance and that these aggregations would add

Starting point is 00:35:32 up. Brailsford believed in a concept that he referred to as the aggregation of marginal gains. He explained it as, quote, the 1% margin for improvement in everything you do, end quote. His belief was that if you improved every area related to cycling by just 1%, then those small gains would add up to remarkable improvement. And this works in our musical lives and in every aspect of our lives. In the beginning, there's basically no difference between making a choice that is 1% better or 1% worse. In other words, it won't impact you very much today.

Starting point is 00:36:14 But as time goes on, these small improvements or these small declines, they compound and you suddenly find a very big gap between people who make slightly better decisions on a daily basis and those who don't. This is why small choices don't make much of a difference at the time, but add up over the long term. Think in terms of brushing your teeth every day. showing up in the practice room day after day making healthy decisions about how you eat every day or do that trill or vibrato exercises five minutes a day for a year those small decisions

Starting point is 00:36:53 add up and they get you where you want to be of course many other authors and speakers talk about it Darren Hardy the motivational speaker and author talks about it in the compound effect It's a big part of James Clear's Atomic Habits. And Gretchen Rubin talks about the argument of their growing heap. And I have a blog post about this, and I'll put the link in the show notes for you. So when you look at those areas of your life and these elements that help you show up as your best self, when you're trying to create the best possible context for yourself, the environment that's going to help you make your dreams become reality, how can you incorporate

Starting point is 00:37:35 little by little, some habits and mindsets that are going to support you and lead you to success. Look back at all the answers you've written so far in part three. Do you notice any similarities between list one and list two? Any recurring themes? Can you see tiny little tweaks you could do to create an optimal context? For example, in both lists, you seem to need more time, but you have young children. Is there a really easy way that you could enlist help? Find a local babysitter, get help from a family member, or maybe make small changes in your schedule and coordinate better with a spouse or partner?

Starting point is 00:38:29 How about those needs? maybe you can't buy all of your dream equipment but can you get or borrow one thing? Can you change one thing in your practice space to make it more comfortable and efficient? Is there one thing you can say no to in order to free up some space in your calendar? Can you squeeze in one more practice session per week

Starting point is 00:38:57 or a few more minutes per session? how about one more mock performance before an audition now going back to list number one the 10 life areas you rated earlier turn your attention to the right column and at the top write one percent tweak pick two or three areas that maybe concern you the most or maybe you feel they're the ones that are the most out of balance or maybe the ones you feel would have the biggest impact on making you more motivated and efficient. And in the right column next to these areas, write one thing you could do differently that would be so small and so easy to implement that you would hardly see

Starting point is 00:39:51 the difference on a daily basis but compounded might have a massive impact by the end of the year. meditating 10 minutes a day drinking one fewer glass of wine or one more glass of water exercising briefly twice a week spending five minutes a day on a vibrato exercise going to bed 15 minutes earlier checking your budget once a week read 10 pages of a book Taking five minutes a day to memorize one measure? Think about what you could accomplish by the end of 2021 that way. With only a few small tweaks in your schedule, you could change your entire life. Now, with all of this in mind, go back to the plan you've established in part two and edit as needed.

Starting point is 00:40:53 at this point there are no more exercises you've been dreaming planning and developing your optimal context and i hope you feel inspired motivated and that you have clarity on your goals and how to accomplish them and that you feel confident about the incredible amazing things that you will make happen in your life in 2021. I strongly recommend that you go back, maybe do the visualization exercise again a few times and keep on refining your plan. But mostly start taking action. And I'm not kidding when I say that. So go back to that first action item on your to-do list and begin right now. Is there one teeny tiny little thing you can do right now to start implementing your plan right away. One person you can call, one email you can send, one internet

Starting point is 00:41:53 search you can make. You've got the vision and the plan, so go confidently. That's all I have for you today. I hope this Gear Up 2021 workshop was helpful for you and that you gained clarity, motivation, and confidence for what's coming up next. And please reach out to let me know what your biggest takeaways were and keep me posted on your progress. Let's do this together. And sure, not many practice or performance tip today, but there's plenty of that coming in 2021. So I hope you'll spend some of it with me. I'll have more podcast episodes with awesome guests coming up for you. And of course, I'll be in the tribe throughout the year. You'll find me there for the weekly Q&A. And I'm going to have an amazing practice challenge for you later in the spring.

Starting point is 00:42:45 And I'm really excited about the Music Master Experience, my life-transforming group coaching program to be coming back in June. Over three months, I give you targeted trainings, high-impact strategies, and the support that will allow you to unleash your true potential and get massive results in 2021. It's not too early to reserve your spot, so send me a message and let's talk. and of course you can always get in touch with me to see how we could work together one-on-one and make 2021 your best year ever coaching is a tool that is life-changing and brings empowerment and results in your life if that's something that sounds interesting to you get in touch and let's have a conversation i have all of the info on how to get in touch with me in the show notes For the PDF version of all the questions and reflection exercises in Gear Up 2021, visit mindoverfinger.com slash resources to download it.

Starting point is 00:43:48 Before I let you go, I want to express my gratitude to my incredible producer, Bella Kelly, for her awesome work this year and for being an amazing person. I send you guys much love and all my best wishes for an amazing 2021 and Aiden and Evelyn join me in saying have an amazing holiday and a happy new year

Starting point is 00:44:14 à bientôt

The Mind Over Finger Podcast - 086 Gear Up 2021! with Dr. Renée-Paule Gauthier

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