From Self-Sabotage to Confidence – The Mental Side of Singing
I sat down with Coach Juliana for a conversation that every singer needs to hear—especially if you’ve ever felt like something is holding you back from using your full voice.
We weren’t talking about vocal folds, breath support, or even performance technique.
This time… we went inward.
Your Mind Impacts 100% of How You Sound
🎙 Juliana: Singing is 90% mental. It’s crazy how much our relationship to our internal voice affects our external voice.
So many singers think their problem is technical—when really, it’s mental. It’s fear. It’s overthinking. It’s shrinking yourself in the moment because deep down, you don’t believe you’re “enough.”
Confidence Changes More Than Your Voice
🎙 Lara: I had a student say, ‘I’ve become so much more confident in my day-to-day life because of my singing lessons - I’m even making more sales at my job now which has increased my commissions!
Singing doesn’t just change how you sound—it changes how you see yourself, how confidently you walk through life.
Juliana shared a check-in from a student who went from hiding in the corner to confidently walking into rooms and taking up space—and that transformation had nothing to do with scales or warmups.
Better Voice ≠ More Confidence
🎙 Lara: Many singers say that they just need to get better at singing and then they’ll feel more confident. But that’s really not how that works…
You’ve probably met a singer who sounded awesome, you went to give them a compliment and they respond with something like “oh no, I sounded terrible”, even though they did an amazing job. That right here is proof that just because you’re a skilled singer doesn’t mean that you’re automatically more confident.
Yes, working on your vocal skills will help, but there are always things we find “wrong” or not good enough about our voice. We need to do the internal work as well (for example focusing on the things you do like about your voice) to really feel confident and comfortable sharing our voice.
When You’re Your Own Worst Enemy
🎙 Juliana: Self-sabotage is real. It shows up in little ways: second-guessing yourself, doubting your progress, comparing your voice to everyone else.
Sound familiar? One thing we see a lot in lessons is students always interrupting themselves when they sing - basically commenting on their singing as they are singing. Constant comments like “that was flat” or “that sounded terrible” will make you get stuck in negativity and keep you from actually seeing the results you want to see.
Mental tension often shows up before vocal tension—even if you don’t notice it. And if your inner critic is running the show, it doesn’t matter how strong your technique is… your voice will never feel free. So instead of listening to yourself with your judgmental brain, try listening with the analytical side of your brain. Did you do the thing you wanted to focus on (ex. vibrato)? Yes? Awesome! Moving on to the next thing! No? Alright, no problem, try again! Focusing on just one thing at a time will help you get out of judgment and therefore you’ll see a lot more progress more quickly because your own brain won’t be sabotaging you anymore.
Generational Trauma
🎙 Juliana: Especially female singers struggle with confidence and they keep talking down on themselves.
Your voice is how you express yourself, how you communicate with everyone. For generations women didn’t have a say… Now, our opinions start to matter and for the first time in history can we express ourselves and be taken seriously. But it is incredibly hard to break through the generational trauma of always staying quiet and finally let your voice come out and be heard.
Singing is a huge part of this as this is an amplified version of communication - even louder than just speaking, which makes it even more scary. But if we can break this cycle of always staying quiet we can do the work for the next generations of women to come.
How to Start Rewiring Your Inner Voice
🎙 Juliana: You have to feel safe in your body before your voice can come out the way you want it to.
We walked through simple, practical steps to start shifting your mindset as a singer:
Notice when you’re spiraling (and name it)
Practice saying what is working in your voice first before focusing on all the things you don’t like
Create safety nets before performances to help you feel more at ease
Remind yourself that the audience is here to support you
You’re Not Broken—You’re Just Battling Your Own Voice
If your voice feels stuck, shaky, or disconnected… it’s not just about warmups.
It might be time to listen to the story you’re telling yourself about your voice—and rewrite it.
🎧 Tune in to this powerful mindset episode of From Singer to Artist with Coach Juliana.
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