Author Topic: How Important Is A Sense Of Self Efficacy? (Read 5913 times)

Lydian · « **on:** March 08, 2016, 04:26:13 am »

How important do you guys think it is to have a sense of self efficacy as a producer? I've always told myself that producing is the most challenging thing I've ever taken up in my life. I'm not trying to lie to myself at all by any means when I say that. Thinking about it now though I feel like that mindset is starting to hurt me because I have a tendency to underestimate my own ability to rise up to those challenges.

When I think of the mindset of a great producer it isn't along the lines of "This is the hardest thing I've ever done in my life." It's more along the lines of "This is next track is going to be a piece of cake and I can't wait to hear what I'm going to create next." I have a feeling I'm going to get so much hate for saying that and I AM over exaggerating when I say "piece of cake" for lack of a better term but please let me know your opinions.

Do you think that me having this belief is detrimental to my progress as a producer and if so how should I go about overcoming it?

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I've always told myself that producing is the most challenging thing I've ever taken up in my life.

myda · « **Reply #1 on:** March 08, 2016, 02:34:05 pm »

I definitely have the same mindset. now that I think about it too it does seem to be a bit detrimental, but it totally depends on how you look at it. saying "this is the hardest thing I've ever done on my life" could be bad if you think "man, I can't do this" and totally underestimate your actual ability, but if you look at it like "man, this is super hard and I've stuck with it for so long and learned so much. I'm proud" it can be really motivating. so I guess it's all about having a good mindset about your mindset haha

Bertie South · « **Reply #2 on:** March 08, 2016, 04:18:08 pm »

I'd say the more you lack it, the more important a part it will play in (limiting) your development.

I like to think of things like this in terms of bottlenecks. If you had a healthy sense of self-efficacy, you'd never find it to be an issue, and instead it might be some other personal quality or just a lack of resources (like time or cash) that does the most to get in the way of your improving. At some later stage sure, it might be an issue, but right now it wouldn't be the thing that's holding you back. On the other hand, if your confidence in your ability to do something is low enough, it'll be a serious impediment.

A lack of belief in yourself tends to manifest in ways that are self-fulfilling. It saps your energy and makes it hard as hell to keep coming back and hacking away at something, and in the end you give up and ultimately prove yourself right that you weren't up to the challenge in the first place. If that's the kind of thing you come up against regularly, then sure, maybe your sense of self-efficacy is at the root of that.

You might find this book to be an interesting read. One of the things it covers is a sense of personal efficacy. It's very clearly written and I found it contributed a lot to my understanding of myself.

Cosmic Fugue · « **Reply #3 on:** March 10, 2016, 01:53:00 am »

I don't have a reference handy, but I've read a few books on success, and there are studies that kids (and adults) who have the mindset of "This is great, I'm awesome, everything will be a piece of cake" -- the ones whose parents tell them they're amazing to build up their self esteem-- are LESS likely to succeed than those that find a task challenging and frustrating. So really high self-esteem can actually hurt you.

The way low self-esteem hurts you, though, is by stopping you from working. As Bertie said, it saps your energy.

So don't try to think "I'm awesome." Try to think "I am dedicated to this. This is important to me and I want to work hard to succeed." Believe in yourself, but don't believe you're already a great producer. Believe you're a dedicated learner who is willing to do something hard until he succeeds.

And it *is* hard. I've been working on electronic music for about 25 years - yes, I'm old. It's never been my full-time job or even full-time hobby, but I've spent thousands of hours on it. And it is still hard. I won't say it's the hardest thing I've ever done, but it's certainly not a piece of cake.

Also, the number one thing that helps with my self-esteem as a producer -- and it took me about 20 years to learn this -- is to FINISH TRACKS. Every time I finish a track I know I've gotten better. Every one might not be the best I've ever done, but every one taught me something. And if I compare my latest to one I made years ago--I know I've gotten way better.

Good luck.

Lydian · « **Reply #4 on:** March 10, 2016, 03:45:16 am »

Thank's for all your replies guys. I found your response regarding the studies of success and self esteem to be quite interesting Cosmic. Kudos to you for having 25 years in electronic music production. Literally longer than I've been alive.

It seems to me like finding just the right balance between overconfidence and under confidence is what's necessary when it comes to producing.

I 100% agree about the finishing tracks thing. It's something that I've only just recently begun to take to heart thanks to someone on this forum. For awhile it's been something I've struggled with but only just recently do I feel like I've been making some changes. I've spent 70hours on my new track according to project timer these past 2 weeks and I've learnt SOO MUCH within those 70 hours. (New sounds, workflow improvements, mixing epiphanies etc...)

For awhile there I was definitely feeling my energy being sapped away from me due to low self esteem about my producer skills. It's been a constant struggle of not always being able to rise up to the challenge. I don't really think I've been noticing it's obvious affects though until you mentioned it the way you did Cosmic.

Marrow Machines · « **Reply #5 on:** March 11, 2016, 06:01:50 pm »

I've learned to have no expectations, but still remain true to core values as a human. Those go much farther, mindsets come and go with the different situation and age. It will probably lead you to a narrow view point than if you try to accept something a little more amorphous and flexible.

Music production isn't that hard, it's the creation and the underlining human elements that make it hard and quite frankly any thing regarding humans.

You have to be a student of life, and strive to become a master student.

Don't let yourself get in the way of yourself.

Author Topic: How Important Is A Sense Of Self Efficacy? (Read 5913 times)

Lydian

How Important Is A Sense Of Self Efficacy?

myda

Re: How Important Is A Sense Of Self Efficacy?

Bertie South

Re: How Important Is A Sense Of Self Efficacy?

Cosmic Fugue

Re: How Important Is A Sense Of Self Efficacy?

Lydian

Re: How Important Is A Sense Of Self Efficacy?

Marrow Machines

Re: How Important Is A Sense Of Self Efficacy?