Do I have potential to sing well? No... you’re not special

A common question I often get asked by people starting off is

Is hey Ivan.

My voice sucks. I’ve got a voice that makes people want to block off their ears. I think I’m just naturally bad.

Do I have potential to actually sing better? Or at least sound ok..

And I know you’re secretly wondering about this too. I mean, why else would you be listening to this.

I mean after all, if we don’t even have potential why would we even try?

In today’s episode, let’s talk about this. I’ll share,

Do we all truly have potential? Why we’re even asking this question? And I’ll leave you with 2 solutions that will help you overcome this.

Real quick! For those of you who don’t know me. My name is Ivan, I love making music and also teaching singing to students all around the world. On this newsletter my goal is to make learning to sing simple. If that’s up your lane, consider subscribing. If you want to improve your voice faster, check out the links down below for ways to work with me

If you want to inspire our next episode! Drop in the comments below what you want me to talk about next.

Alright, let’s dive in.

So let’s start here & define what potential is.

Oxford dictionary defines potential as

“having or showing the capacity to develop into something in the future; latent; prospective.”

The key word is capacity to develop.

Recently I’ve been reading this book on human evolution call Sapiens. Once interesting fact was that humanity is one of the only species to rise to top of the food chain in such a quick amount of time. Most other animals like lions did this through long periods of evolution and natural selection.

How did this happen?

It wasn’t because we had bigger muscles or stronger teeth.

But rather our ability to learn quickly, adapt beyond our physical limits.

We forget that one of our biggest strengths is that we’re designed to learn. And this includes singing.

Now also notice how talent/gift wasn’t part of this definition.

Many of us confuse potential with talent.

We think that if we don’t sing well at the end of 30 days. It means we don’t have potential.

Now talent is a real thing. But rather than a limiting factor on if you can learn to sing or not. Talent is simply the ability to pick up something faster.

Reminder - the only difference here is speed. Which also means on a long enough time line. It’s anyones game.

So hopefully, you realise by now beyond medical issues such as unable to speak or enjoy music because you’re truly tone deaf.

You have got potential.

But chances are you secretly know this.

So why are we so concerned about potential anyway?

Personally, I think the deeper issue is fear.

It’s a fear that if I actually tried to improve my voice. Maybe I’d realise that I was right. I could never improve. It was a waste of time after all.

And most importantly, I’ve confirmed to myself that I was never good enough. I knew it.

And so we hide behind this question. It feels safe.

If I had no potential to begin with, then I don’t even have to try.

The solution - reframing your thinking

1) Focus those initial small wins

Let’s face it. You wouldn’t be asking this question if you were seeing progress and results. That’s why getting initial quick wins are important. It lays the foundation/proof t ourselves that if I put in the right work I can get better.

Personally I think the first few months is key for someone starting off on the journey. It’s that make or break point.

We either see enough results to keep going and wonder what’s next.

Or we don’t see results and we give up.

This is why I encourage students. The best time to take lessons is RIGHT when you start. That way you see progress faster and then also build your voice right.

2) You’re not that special (in a good way)

Lets borrow an example from Kobe Bryant.

I recently listened to this interview of his and he was asked. How did he deal with 5 air balls in some of his earlier games.

And his answer was this - Get over yourself. I’m not that special

Post game. There was no embarassment. There was no “maybe i just don’ thave potential”

There was simply a logical deduction. He looked at his game footage, noticed that every short was accurate. But just consistently fell short.

From there he deduced that he had weak legs, which gave him his next steps. To strengthen his legs

All of this stemmed from an underlying belief that if someone else can do it. I can too. I just need to figure out what’s going on.

Apply this approach to your singing. There’s nothing special about your voice. Even in a previous episode, I shared that the anatomy of our voice isn’t really that unique to the point we even use cow larynx to understand how the voice works.

If you can’t sing, it’s not because YOU specifically don’t have potential. It’s because you haven’t built the right coordinations and control yet.

Anyway that’s a wrap team! Hope you’ve found value out of this episode. If you did, please share this with a friend or on your social media. It really helps this channel grow and would mean the world to me.

Also if you’re looking for some tailored/specific help. I’ve got ways to study with me down in the description. Apart from that, my name is Ivan - I’m your voice teacher and I’ll see you next Thursday/Friday for our weekly episodes.

Take care!

Extra Links/Resources

🌍 Book Private Singing Lessons here: https://calendly.com/singingsimply 

🌍 Step By Step Singing Course: https://www.singingsimply.com/courses/singing-fundamentals 

🌍 Stream my music: https://linktr.ee/singingsimply

🌍 Business/other inquiries: [email protected]