Stop Judging Yourself

“You are your own worst critic.”

You have probably heard this phrase a million times, but have you ever really given it any thought? It is so true. You are much more likely to find and point out your own flaws than anyone else! You are the most aware of your abilities, so you know when you could’ve done better, looked better, worked harder, etc, so it is easy to pick yourself apart. As a singer, it is so hard not to fall into this trap, but it is imperative to avoid it.

It is a fact of life that no one is perfect, but if you spend your time judging yourself, how can you expect anyone else to spend their time enjoying you? As a voice teacher I see this all the time; my students will be in the middle of a song and shake their heads after every phrase or hold back because they are too busy worrying about their sound to let it all the way out. When you do this, not only can your teacher not tell if you are making a mistake, holding back, building bad/good habits, but you are showing anyone watching you that you know you aren’t doing what you consider your best. The director auditioning you may be thinking you are crushing your audition, then see you judge your own performance and think, “Hm, well I was loving it but she seems to disagree, so maybe it wasn’t that great…” Why would you give anyone this chance?!

It is never you job to judge your own craft. It is your job to work hard, take risks, listen and learn from your instructors, and do your very best. How can you expect anyone to cut you some slack and sit back and enjoy your performance if you can’t do it for yourself? You won’t be able to take risks and explore new choices if you are too busy judging yourself. True art and exciting performances and discoveries come from committing fully to your ideas, even the ones that may not work! That’s what makes art so much fun! You have the chance to let go and find new ways of doing things, but only if you give yourself permission and stop worrying so much. If you do the work, you have nothing to worry about.

Go out there and slay, my friends!