The Genius Myth
Jul 29, 2019
Did you grow up thinking that the artists and songwriters you loved were geniuses whose talents were something magical and other-wordly? Do you wonder to yourself, “Will the same lightning bolt of inspiration ever strike me so I can write a song as good as [insert your favorite song here]?”
So many of us have been raised with the belief that artistic talent is magic and you either have it or you don’t.
This, friends, is a myth.
Everyone is born with innate talents and predispositions. Some people are naturally gifted with melody and some are naturally gifted with numbers or flower arrangements or organizational skills, etc. But the main thing that makes anyone successful in any field is . . .
THEY WORK THEIR BUNS OFF.
Successful artists usually only show us the glamorous and matured side of their careers. You see a clip of them sounding amazing in the studio or you see them on stage, making it look so effortless and comfortable.
What you don’t see is that artist as a teenager writing crappy songs in their bedroom. You don’t see them sitting in front of their piano having no idea how to finish the song that they started. You don’t hear the songs they abandoned halfway through. You don’t see them shedding their scales or taking vocal lessons. You don’t even see them taking online songwriting workshops!
But all of this is part of their path just as it is a part of your path.
Everybody has to work for it. And those who make it look effortless and easy have worked HARD. Do not be fooled! To be honest, there is definitely truth to the idea of lightning-bolt inspiration; where a song just feels like it is channeled through you. It is quite magical and it really does feel like a gift from the universe. But this wonderful phenomenon is not just for the geniuses. It can strike any one of us at any stage of our writing.
The thing is, the more you write the more skills you will have to be able to capture that lightning bolt and bottle up its electricity in a song.
And the more time you spend in the trenches, getting down and dirty with a blank page and your guitar, the more open your mind will be to receive those lightning bolts and recognize when they’re on the horizon.
We all have the power to capture inspiration. Successful songwriters just have more practice doing it.
So we hereby give you permission to let go of the genius myth. In its place, you can accept these three important truths:
You can write great songs.
There is nothing your favorite songwriters have that you don’t have.
The main thing you need to do write great songs is write LOTS of songs.
Knowing this, can you set aside some extra time in your life for your writing? We like to set a 15 minute daily goal. Just set your stopwatch and just write for 15 minutes. Don’t worry about what comes out. Just let your mind be free and see where it goes. We find that just writing for a short period every day truly makes a big difference and opens us up to have those inspired moments.
Let your own genius out! We know you have it in you.
xo
Allie & Bess
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