TPS #045: Your Mental Health Matters
Author: Andre Mullen - 2 min Read
Read Time: 2 minutes
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💡 Big Ideas:
1. The 3 steps to processing and protecting your mental health as an artist manager are assessment, allowance, and evaluation.
2. As an artist manager, clarity in your emotions and thoughts is important for your business performance.
3. Mental health is not taken seriously as it should in artist management.
4. Your mental health plays a role in your overall health and the sustainability of your client.
“Time for a time out.”
As I laid on the couch with the blinds and my eyes closed, all I heard was the sound of the wind outside.
My head was pounding with what felt like a hundred pounds of pressure from hundreds of thoughts.
I had dealt with several things happening and had to make several decisions at the same time before.
But this was different and I really felt like this was too much.
I needed a time out – a break – before I spiraled out of control.
“Your mental health matters.”
In today’s newsletter, I’m going to give you a framework for processing and protecting your mental health as an artist manager.
Being an artist manager is thrilling, rewarding, and filled with possibilities. However, it’s also very intense, challenging, and overflowing with potential pitfalls that can lead to burn out.
Digital distribution platform Record Union shared the results of a survey conducted with almost 1,500 musicians. The report found that more than 73% of independent music makers suffer from symptoms of mental illness, with anxiety and depression being the most commonly experienced negative emotions in relation to music creation.
Protecting your mental health is important for yourself as you continue to build your management, as well as your artist client’s, business. Having clarity in your emotions and thoughts is important for your business performance.
“Hustle and grind” culture is overrated and is only going to lead you to burn out.
Your mental health matters.
Time to change the narrative.
"Your mental health plays a role in your overall health and the sustainability of your client.”
Mental health is not taken seriously as it should in artist management.
According to the Record Union report, more than three out of five (63%) surveyed said they would like to prioritize their mental health and well being more.
As an artist manager, you have unique stressors. These stressors range from creative to finance. As I have mentioned in previous writings, you’re part CEO, part COO, part analyst, and part therapist. While your role may be extensive, you shouldn’t neglect your own personal well-being for anyone – especially for your client.
Running a business is not an easy thing. Running someone else’s business can be tougher. Making sure you’re performing at your best becomes both a priority and necessity.
Here are 3 steps to protecting your mental health as an artist manager:
1. Assessment
2. Allowance
3. Evaluate
These 3 steps will give you the ability to determine the state of your mental health as an artist manager. Additionally, it will empower you on what your next steps should be – whether it is taking a break or seeking professional help.
Let’s look at each step in detail.
Step #1: Assessment
Assessing – or, checking in – on your own mental health is not as difficult as it sounds.
Checking in on your own mental health starts with assessing how you’re feeling. Do you notice feeling stress, anxiety, worry, sadness, or other challenging emotions?
This comes in the form of asking yourself 5 key questions:
1. “How am I feeling today?”
2. “What’s been worrying me lately?”
3. “Am I taking care of my body?”
4. “What am I doing to bring myself joy?”
5. “Who do I have in my corner?”
Also, assess how you’re feeling physically. Some ways mental health concerns show up physically include stress (e.g. headaches, body pains), anxiety (e.g. muscle tension), and depression (e.g. appetite changes, loss of energy).
Step #2: Allowance
When it comes to our mental health, we oftentimes brush aside real feelings to focus on “getting the work done” – especially in the music industry and in a crucial role such as artist manager.
This is dangerous for so many reasons. Moving feelings aside doesn’t allow for you to properly gauge them accordingly.
While similar in some regards to Step #1 – Assessment, “Allowance” is important because after your assessment, you allow yourself to explore the feeling(s). This gives you the opportunity to go into the root reason(s) why you feel the way you do.
Feeling is a part of your human experience and feelings are welcome to come and go. Validate your emotions by sitting with them, without judging them.
Your work as a manager can amplify these feelings and emotions, so it is very important for you to catalog them. Use a scale of 1 to 10 and take note of how you feel at the same time each day. If your number goes down, it’s a sure sign that you need to pay attention to your mental health.
Step #3: Evaluate
The evaluation step is very important in protecting your mental health.
At this step, you already have data (”Assessment”) and have taken inventory of your feelings (”Allowance”). Armed with this information, you can determine your state. This will help you understand what is the most effective way to address what you may be dealing with.
In most cases, simple, yet intentional, changes in your lifestyle can positively affect your mental health. You just may need to take a break.
Find someone – whether it is a peer, mentor, or therapist – with whom you can safely and openly share. This can provide much needed support to navigate the feelings you may have discovered in assessing your mental health.
Evaluating your mental health will help you determine if you need help from a mental health professional, i.e. therapist.
While seeking out a therapist has traditionally been taboo – especially in the music industry – the most important thing to remember is the protection of your well-being. You cannot work with and serve your artist client if, again, you’re not at your best.
As an artist manager, your mental health matters.
Your client’s success depends on it.
Hope this helps.
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3. Here on my website, I have resources that can help. Check out The Playbook for more information.