How to Overcome Self-Doubt as a Beginner Songwriter

Have you ever told yourself, after writing something – a poem, a song lyric, or any kind of creative art – that what you’ve created is rubbish? Did you ever beat yourself up for not being good enough?

If the answer is yes, then you’re in the right place, right here, right now.

If the answer is no, then I reckon you’ve never created anything!

Let’s push the boat out…

Why Every Masterpiece Starts with Imperfection

Do you think that any great artistic masterpiece was created on the first draft, the first time the artist had ever tried to be an artist?

Of course not!

That masterpiece was the result of hours, weeks, years of trial and experiment, sweat and practice, multiple attempts and failures, building knowledge and skills, and dedication to the cause of their improvement and growth. A compound accumulation of lessons learned, and experience gained.

Nobody creates a masterpiece the first time they try to do something….no one!

So, let’s not judge ourselves by the standards of what other people have achieved. We should only judge our work by the standards of what we’ve done ourselves so far. The focus being on our own growth and improvement over time.

The Beatles’ Songwriting Journey: Lessons for Beginners

Was the first Beatles song a true masterpiece? Their first release, Love Me Do?

Hardly.

It took a lot of incremental improvement, mentoring and help from producer George Martin, and dedication to the practice that brought us over time to Eleanor Rigby, Strawberry Fields Forever, A Day in the Life, and Hey Jude. They steadily built on what they’d done before, improving their craft step by step.

Let’s face it, if the Beatles were only known for Love Me Do, we would have forgotten them long ago. You might not have even heard of them today.

How to Embrace Failure as Part of the Creative Process

So, let’s be ok with where we are. Let’s just aim to follow the path to bigger and better work with dedication to the practice. We’ll improve as we go along, trying things and failing from time to time, learning from failures, and making steps forward at other times. Let’s embrace the journey of our skill development.

Songwriting – and any creative art – is a skill that can be learned. We don’t expect to do differential calculus when we are 6 years old. We need to learn basic arithmetic first. And we try and fail at that as we improve.

So, let’s not expect that every song we write to be a masterpiece when we’re starting out on our songwriting journey. It’s learning from the failures along the way that progress is made.

Without the failures, we don’t really learn anything.

The Importance of Consistency in Songwriting

Let’s take the steps to grow, one rung up the ladder at a time. But consistency is crucial. If we stop climbing, we won’t get anywhere. So, keep taking the steps along the way, and sooner or later you’ll be able to see how far you’ve come.

You may not notice that at first. The further you travel, the better the view and the more you’ll have to look back on – the lessons learned, the experience, the growth, what works and what doesn’t.

Even when we have many years of experience writing songs, still not every song will be golden – we still write rubbish along the way. That’s just part of the process. It’s not easy. It’s always going to be a struggle at times. It’s important to just keep going!

How to Stop Comparing Yourself to Other Songwriters

Judging yourself by the standards and achievements of others is not a healthy view.

Other people have their own trials and errors along their own paths, as well as their crowning glories. They may be further along the road than you are. And they have a different view of life than you do. They are not you.

Nobody is a better you than you are. Only you have your voice, values, opinions, experiences, and life. Write and create fearlessly from there, making your own way forward – boldly going where only you can go.

Commit to the journey. Let your uniqueness shine and embrace the process of becoming a better version of yourself, step by step.

The Courage to Keep Going: Overcoming Fear in Songwriting

It takes courage. Courage to step forward.

Courage to fail and get back up again.

Courage to keep going through the thick mud, sweat, tears, doubt, fear, pain and rejection.

Courage to speak out with your own voice.

Courage to risk being criticised by those who are too cowardly to do what you’re doing.

Courage to stand out from the crowd and be seen. To be vulnerable.

Courage to be truly yourself.

Let’s go!