You have most likely heard it before: if you want to achieve something, the best way is to set goals and follow through. While this may not work in all circumstances, I believe that goal setting is a fantastic exercise to realising and determining what you want to do, as well as measuring how achievable it is. It’s also great when you want to build additional skills along the way and build the desired discipline that is required in a professional performer. Achieving a long term vocal goal takes time and perseverance. In singing, most goals are easy to break down into smaller goals and work on over a suspended period of time. This refers back to a crucial set of ideologies that is prevalent among the singing community: practice and consistency is what makes you a successful singer. Singing may come naturally to people, but it is absolutely not exclusive to those who are born with the ability to vocalise with ease. In fact, I would say that most successful singers nowadays had some sort of system during their training to help them become the vocalists they are today. A system that relies on the dissection of upcoming actions to guide your singing journey is not only important in understanding what it takes to achieve that goal, but also helps you prioritise your voice within your performance identity. As I believe that it is essential for singers to set goals, here are some little tips and tricks to help you get started!
Be Specific
When you are setting goals, it is really easy to get overwhelmed. When looking at a massive but general goal like “become a professional performer”, the feeling of drowning of self-doubt is also guaranteed. However, if you look at that goal and try to think of what it means to you, you could turn the scary “become a professional performer” into a less scary “book my first professional gig”. From there, you can make smaller, specific goals to help you. The key is to think about what you feel like you need to improve on vocally, and what else is going to influence you achieving this goal (for example, getting contacts, working with specific people).
Be Realistic
With enough hard work, passion, contacts and diligence, I believe that most goals are achievable. However, the success of these goals are completely determined on you and what you make of them. Basically, if you are unwilling to put in the hours upon hours of training and put yourself out there, you will not “be on Broadway”. This is where realism comes in. You need to determine how much you want to achieve your goals and what you are willing to do. I wish it was as simple as attending one audition and then suddenly you’ve won a Tony, but it is not.
Be Time Considerate
Another side of realism refers to time. If you have not had a single dance class, don’t expect that your goal of “become a Rockette” will be achieved in the next year. I hate to sound like a negative Nancy, but you have to put in the work and the time to achieve big goals. When we are specially talking about singing, we also need to be considerate of how long it takes our voice to learn things. Our voices are incredibly versatile, but they are also fragile. If your goal is to “learn how to belt”, the reality is that you should probably only practice belting for 20 minutes at a time when you are beginning. This will therefore drag out this process, plus depending on your skill beforehand, you may even need to learn additional skills before attempting to belt!
Be Flexible
This is such an important step. Being flexible means that you can adapt your goals considering your circumstances and progress. Didn’t complete a task in the set time frame? That is totally fine, simply push that time frame back. This point is also to say be kind to yourself. Setting goals is perfect for your development, but they are also easy to adjust. You are on this weird and wonderful vocal journey and your voice is going to change and shift as you develop more skills. Some days, singing will be harder than others. And that’s completely okay.
Let’s Start at the Very Beginning
When setting goals, it is important to acknowledge what you can already do. By taking note of what you have already achieved can give you an indication of what to do in your next step. Then it is time to think about your long-term goal and break it down into smaller goals. By taking the time to figure out your path, you will be less likely to hit an “inspiration” slope. It is important to note that this method works for both career long term goals (such as “I want to originate a role on Broadway”) and skills-based long term goals (such as “I want to be a versatile vocalist”).
Along with this post, you will find a free downloadable! This downloadable is a 4-page worksheet to keep record of your goals and progress. This worksheet is intended to be used over a week, in which I encourage you to start over a new set of worksheets to keep up with your goal journey. I have started to fill out one for you to see as an example.
Page One: You will see spaces to fill out your 4 long-term goals. It is also important to recognise why you want to achieve these goals. Make sure you look at the above tips to guarantee that your goals are specific, realistic, time conscious and flexible.
Page Two: Here, you can break down those 4 goals that you penned on page one. By breaking down these long-term goals into smaller, short-term goals, you are basically creating a manageable recipe that you will follow with consistent practice and effort.
Page Three: Every week, you will focus on one short-term goal. This is going to be broken down even further. By planning your resources, exercises and inspiration, you are more likely to commit and logically work towards your long-term goal. These worksheets are so flexible and usable that you can focus on one short-term goal for multiple weeks.
Page Four: This page is solely for accountability. To ensure that you are staying on track, you can commit to daily practice by logging what you did and the results (how it affected your voice). This page is also a useful resource to have if you are working on these goals with a mentor.
I hope the downloadable and the tips helped you determine your vocal journey and provided some inspiration. There will be plenty more tips, resources and downloadables becoming available every week, so make sure to keep up to date with our platform. These resources will definitely be of use throughout your long-term goal development. Have a Resonant day!
