The Mind Over Finger Podcast - 228 Not Ready Yet? What Musicians Miss When They Wait to Leap

Episode Date: May 27, 2025

In this episode, we explore one of the biggest mindset blocks musicians face: the belief that you're not ready. I break down why waiting for readiness keeps you stuck and how taking action before you feel 100% prepared is often the key to growth. You'll learn: ·         Why "I'm not ready" is usually fear in disguise ·         What it really looks like to take action before you feel prepared ·         How top musicians move forward despite uncertainty ·         Simple mindset shifts that lead to clarity, confidence, and momentum The Music Mastery Experience is now open for enrollment. If you're tired of waiting and ready to grow with structure, support, and strategy, head to mindoverfinger.com and book your free discovery call. Book your FREE Music Mastery Experience Discovery call with Renée HERE Download the transcript from this episode HERE   Mind Over Finger Click www.mindoverfinger.com/coaching to book your free consultation with me. Visit MindOverFinger.com for my online courses as well as free resources on peak performance. Grab my free workshops and PDF downloads by going to www.mindoverfinger.com/resources. Connect: https://www.youtube.com/@MindOverFinger https://www.facebook.com/mindoverfinger/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/mindoverfinger https://www.instagram.com/mindoverfinger/     THANK YOU: Most sincere thank you to composer Jim Stephenson who graciously provided the show's musical theme:  Concerto #1 for Trumpet and Chamber Orchestra – Movement 2: Allegro con Brio, performed by Jeffrey Work, trumpet, and the Lake Forest Symphony, conducted by Jim Stephenson.

Have you ever caught yourself thinking, I'm just not ready yet. I need to practice more before I start playing mock performances. I need to be better before I sign up for this audition. I just can't do this performance. I don't feel ready. Well, what if that feeling is not a sign to wait, but a signal to go? And if that hits home, this episode is for you. You're listening to the Mind Over Finger podcast, and this is episode 228.

Welcome to the Mind Over Finger podcast, where we dive into the world of mindful music making, peak performance, and crafting a purpose-driven life and career. I'm your host, violinist, certified performance and life coach for musicians, and your guide to unlocking your full potential, Dr. Ranipo Gautier. Welcome back to the Mind Over Finger podcast and welcome to the final episode of season seven of the podcast. I can't believe how much ground we've covered together this season and I'm so grateful you've been on this journey with me. As we wrap up, I want you to know that I've got some exciting and fun things planned for you this summer, so be sure to stick around

because there's more goodness coming your way. And today, I want to talk about one of the biggest lies musicians tell themselves. Here it is. I'm not ready yet. Have you said that before? I'm sure you have. How many times have you said that is a better question. I hear this all the time. From musicians who want to perform at a higher level. They dream of landing bigger opportunities. Who know they need coaching or a structured system to reach their goals, but they tell themselves, I just need to practice more before I play for someone. I need to improve this and that before I sign up for this audition or this performance. I need to get better before I invest in myself. I need to wait until I feel ready. But let me tell you

something that might shig you a little. If you're waiting to be ready, you're going to be waiting forever. Because here's the truth. The musicians who grow the fastest are not the ones who wait until they feel 100% ready. They're the ones who take action before they feel ready. And today I'm going to break down why the I'm not ready yet mindset is actually holding you back. How top musicians think about growth and how you can shift into a mindset that accelerates your progress instead of slowing you down. So think about the biggest career leap you want to take right now. Maybe it's auditioning for a major orchestra. Maybe you're going for that dream performance opportunity or finally stepping up your training so you can play at your absolute best.

Now, be honest. Have you ever caught yourself thinking, I'm going to do it, but not yet? I just need to get a little bit better first. And now let me ask you this question. How much longer are you willing to wait? Because I see so many musicians who keep pushing their own success further and further down the road, thinking that one day they're going to finally wake up and feel ready. They're going to feel it. They will have reached that point where they feel ready. But let me tell you something else. Readiness is not something that magically appears. It's something you can create by stepping into opportunities before you feel 100% prepared.

Let me say it again because it's so important. Readiness is not something that's going to appear magically. It's something that you can create. You can create it by taking action, by stepping into these opportunities before you feel 100% prepared. and here's something most musicians don't realize the musicians who succeed are not always the most talented they're not the ones who don't make mistake more often than not they're the ones who trust themselves enough to take action before they feel 100% ready this is very important because the truth is feeling not ready, that's just fear in disguise. It's misplaced perfectionism. It's self-doubt and it's keeping you from growing. Every successful musician you took up to, every artist that look confident, they look accomplished, looks like they're thriving. They didn't wait until they felt ready. They took the leap. They took the leap with fear and they figured it out along the way. You've heard this before, right? Feel the fear and do it anyway. That's what it is. That's what it feels like. And that's one of the big things that separates musicians who stay stuck from the ones who actually reach their goals.

let's talk about what it actually looks like to take the leap before you feel ready it's not chaos it's not recklessness it's not pretending to know everything it's building the plane as you fly it you jump and you build the plane as you fly because when you jump before you're ready when you move forward without having all the answers but with full trust that you're going to figure them out, you push outside of your comfort zone. And when you do that, you discover capacities in yourself you did not know were there. You stop waiting for clarity. And the beautiful thing is when you stop waiting for clarity, you create it you create it through action another thing you stop waiting for is confidence

you stop waiting for confidence and you build it through movement through action you start collecting real data you start collecting evidence you can use to improve adapt and grow and that momentum that opens doors that are going to stay shut when you're still preparing and if that sounds risky let me remind you that's how we're wired to grow think about how a baby learns to walk they don't wait until their balance is perfect They don't practice in private until they're confident. They wobble, they fall, they get back up. And through that process, through that messiness, they develop the strength, the coordination, and eventually the mastery. And you'll tell me, yeah, but baby don't cares what

they look like? Well, what if you could reclaim some of that? Some of that innocence? What if you gave yourself permission to have imperfect balance? What if you gave yourself permission to wobble? What if you gave yourself permission to fall so that you can get back up and learn? What if through the mess, you give yourself permission to develop strength? What if through that process, you allowed yourself to gain mastery? And that's what this leap looks like. It's not polished. It's not perfect.

But it's powerful. Because that's the moment when transformation begins. Let me tell you about one of my clients. When we first talked on Zoom, she told me, I know I need help with performance and confidence. I know I need a system for preparing effectively. But I don't feel ready to join MME yet. I think I need to work on my playing first. I need to work on myself first. I need more lessons. Then I'm going to be ready. Does that sound familiar? But then she stayed stuck. Nothing changed.

and when she finally decided to take the leap to show up when she didn't feel ready things changed and within weeks she started seeing that change in her performances in her playing she tried the scary new things i was suggesting that she didn't feel ready for and she stopped second guessing herself and she took bold action and she started to trust her preparation. Can you believe she's trusted her preparation? And just a few months later, well, she landed an opportunity she never thought she'd be ready for. And she would not have been ready for it ever if she had waited. She became ready for it by going for it before she felt ready, right? She became ready by going for it before she felt ready.

And when I asked her how she felt looking back, she said, I can't believe I almost talked myself out of this. And she said something amazing. She said, I was ready. I just didn't believe it yet. I was ready. I just didn't believe it yet. So let me ask you this. Are you actually not ready? Or are you just afraid to take that first step? As I'm sitting here recording this podcast, I'm just coming out of a coaching inside of the Music Mastery Experience. And I was talking to them about that. And I was telling them, anytime you say, I'm not ready, that's probably the sign you should

do it. If you're thinking, I'm not ready, it's probably the sign to move forward, right? Have you ever heard this saying that sometimes the reason not to do something is the reason to do it? Well, if you don't feel ready, that's a reason to start taking action forward. Because again, feeling ready is something that you create through your actions. So, let's work. I want you to think about something you would really love to do. but you don't feel quite ready for that yet.

Maybe you've been wanting it for a while or maybe it's a new idea, but just pick something you haven't gone for because you don't feel ready for it. Okay? Maybe it's an audition that you want to take. Maybe you want to go play for this one person that scares you.

Maybe you want to apply for this teaching position that you don't feel fully qualified for yet. Whatever it is, This thing you want to do, you want to start making progress with it now, instead of waiting for some imaginary perfect moment that's never going to come. So here's what you need to do. All right, take some notes. The first thing I want you to do is to flip the question. Instead of asking, am I ready? Ask, what do I need to do to make this happen?

Right? Instead of asking, am I ready? That's irrelevant. You'll become ready when you do it. Ask yourself, what do I need to do to make this happen? That's the first thing. You flip the question. Then I want you to recognize fear for what it is.

because feeling scared does not mean you're not ready. It means you're human. It means you're about to do something different. You're about to step into something bigger. And that's a good thing, but that can be scary. It usually is scary. So identifying the fear is going to unleash your power moving forward. Then the third thing I want you to do is commit.

Commit before you feel 100% ready. The biggest breakthroughs happen when you take the leap before you feel totally prepared. That's where growth happens. happens. I've experienced that in my life time and time and time again. And every time I took the leap, I figured it out. And you can too. So here's your challenge today. Think about something you've been putting off because you don't feel ready yet. And number one, flip the question. What do I need to do to make this happen? Don't ask yourself, do I feel ready? You're never going to feel ready. If you feel ready, it's probably because it's something that's too easy for you to do.

Second, acknowledge the fear. Recognize it. Validate it. It's normal. You're about to do something new, something bigger. So it's normal to feel a little bit of fear, a little bit apprehensive. It's normal. And then you commit.

You take the leap of faith and you go for it. And if you need to, ask yourself, what's the worst that could happen if I just went for it? What's the worst that could happen if I just went for it? And what if I were able to handle the worst? What if the worst was actually the key to the best in the future? So take one small step toward making it happen today. not tomorrow, not next week, right now. Because the musicians who grow, they don't wait. They decide. You hear me? They don't wait. They decide. And that's what makes the difference.

So I want you to decide what that thing is that you're going to go for. I want you to flip the question. I want you to recognize the fear. I want you to commit. and I want you to take one action today towards making it happen. And then I want you to reach out to me, either send me an email or post on social and tell me what you did today to make it happen. And if you've been telling yourself you need to wait until you're ready before you level up, consider this your sign. You are ready. You just need a system that's going to help you build the plane as you fly it. And guess what? I have a plane. That's exactly what we do inside the Music Mastery Experience. MME is not about waiting for perfect conditions. It's about creating

them. And inside the program, you're going to get a step-by-step structure that's going to help you develop consistency and clarity in your practice. You're going to get the tools to train your performance skills under pressure so you don't fall apart when it counts. You're going to get real mindset work that is going to rewire your self-doubt and fear into grounded confidence. How amazing would that be? You're also going to get weekly support and expert coaching to keep you moving forward, even and especially when it feels hard. And finally, you're going to get a powerful community of musicians who are building their next level right alongside with you. You're not going to be figuring it out alone. You're going to be supported, you're going to be

guided, and you're going to be equipped every step of the way. Whether your goal is to show up with confidence in every performance. Or step into bigger opportunities. Apply for that audition. Apply for that big university job. Or maybe you finally want to stop second-guessing yourself. Let me tell you that you don't have to wait to be ready. You can decide to grow now. enrollment is open go to mindoverfinger.com to learn more and join us inside the music mastery experience we're going to build your next level together so i hope today's episode gave you a new perspective on what it really means to be ready if there is such a thing because the truth is growth does not happen when you wait

It happens when you decide to take action, even before you feel 100% confident. All right, my friends, that is a wrap on season seven. I couldn't think of a better topic. But stay tuned because something special is coming your way this summer, and I cannot wait to share it with you. I send you all the best, and I say à bientôt. And there you have it. Thank you so much for spending this time with me today.

If you enjoyed this episode, I'd love it if you'd share with your friends and colleagues. Take a screenshot, post it on social media and tag me. I'm mind over finger everywhere. I always love hearing your favorite takeaways. And if you're ready to take your playing career to the next level, I'd love to invite you to join the Music Mastery Experience. This is my signature group coaching program, where we're going to dive deep into building

your confidence and mastery and set you up for success and fulfillment in your life and career. You can find all the details at mindoverfinger.com. While you're there, check out the free downloads and online courses available to support your journey even further. And don't forget to subscribe to my newsletter so you never miss an update or a tool to help you thrive. Again, thank you for being here. Until next time, much love and à bientôt!