What’s your four minute mile?

Feb 24th, 2006 | By Joe Taylor Jr. | Category: Editorial

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Curt’s thinking about the ways that we impose limits on ourselves, using the “four minute mile” barrier as a great example of how humans are capable of talking themselves out of great achievements.

I meet musicians all the time that labor under limiting beliefs.

For instance, when I lived in Philadelphia, the mantra was: “Bands from Philly never do well nationally.” Yet, a bunch of really creative folks live in Philadelphia that perform all around the world — they’re just not part of the “scene.” And they’re not part of the scene because they’re too busy earning frequent flyer miles to sit around complaining all day.

What other limiting beliefs have you been laboring under? Here are some that I’m used to hearing:

“Nobody in our town likes our kind of music.” Maybe nobody’s booking your kind of music. That’s why the guys from Music Hates You blister the paint off barn walls at house concerts. Few clubs want to call in FEMA after their shows, but eager fans with a spare acre can sustain a night with Noah and the boys, and draw a bigger crowd than the clubs that turned them down.

“You have to have a full-length record out before you can tour successfully.” Tell that to the Arctic Monkeys. I have to send them a fruit basket or something for validating everything I’ve been writing about for the last six years.

“Only a major label can help you record a great album.” Tell that to Grey Eye Glances and Hope for agoldensummer, who look to fans for venture capital to make excellent records.

What other limiting beliefs have YOU heard lately?

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