5 Ways to Craft Achievable New Year's Resolutions for Vocal Feminization
Wow, can you believe another year has passed?? 2024 is just around the corner, and of course, it’s the traditional time to set resolutions.
The beginning of the new year is not the only time you can resolve to make changes in your life. Any time is a good time! But I do like to take these months to reflect on the year, and think about whether there are changes I’d like to make in the next one.
Vocal feminization is a resolution that might be coming up for you. January is the month when everyone feels motivated at first. But when faced with the reality of keeping the momentum going day after day, it's easy to fall out of practice.
Some researchers say that just 9% of people working on resolutions will follow through with them. And I think a lot of that has to do with the way people set goals.
Voice training takes time, and it isn’t always a linear process. It’s easy to let yourself get discouraged. But with the right tools, mindset, and planning, you can successfully feminize your voice!
So, in the spirit of the new beginnings, I wanted to share some ways to help you get to your goals. Keep reading below for the 5 Best Ways to Craft Achievable New Year's Resolutions for Vocal Feminization
1. Set Achievable Goals
Setting clear and manageable goals makes resolutions much easier to keep.
Many of us make sweeping statements like, “I’m going to get healthy in the new year”. Sounds great, right? But if you haven’t defined exactly what “healthy” means, and you haven’t made a plan, you’ll never know when you get there.
Saying something like “I’m going to incorporate a veggie into every dinner this week”, might feel more manageable. You’re giving yourself a clear path to eat healthier.
So now, if you say to yourself, “I’m going to work on my voice this year”, that’s a broad goal. You can’t track your progress because you don’t have anything to track.
Instead, you might say, “I’m going to sign up for a lesson and do vocal warm ups this week”.
The best way to stick to your resolution is to set clear, achievable goals along the way accomplishish your overarching goal.
So instead of thinking, “I want my voice to be different”, you can think “I want my voice to be more feminine, and here’s how I’m going to get there”.
Clear voice goals might look something like:
Practice 3 times per week
Understand resonance this week
Use my new voice 3 times in public this week
2. Create Habits
Our lives are made up of habits. The good and the bad!
I brush my teeth every night not because I love doing it, but because it’s a habit. And I got into the habit because I know I want the result of having healthy teeth.
So, knowing that you want the result of a healthy, feminine perceived voice is your motivation. Now, you’ve got to create some habits!
To avoid overwhelm, it’s important to start small. You’re more likely to keep a habit up if you know it won’t take too much time.
I’ve written about it before, but I really like the “Two Minute Rule” that I read about in James Clear’s “Atomic Habits”.
The idea is that whatever habit you start, keep it to just 2 minutes. Which is perfect for voice practice. Try getting in the habit of warming up your voice with an SOVT exercise for just 2 minutes a day. Now voice work is on your mind every day and easily becomes a part of your normal routine!
At only 2 minute increments, you’re much less likely to skip a day because it’s over so quickly. If you decided to practice for an hour every day, that might feel more overwhelming. You’d be more likely to push it off for another day.
With this idea, you end up thinking more about the habit than the end result, which is really helpful. Focusing on the end result can keep you concentrated on the fact that you’re not there yet. That can keep you from getting in there and doing the work.
In the spirit of the Two-Minute Rule, I’m going to be doing a 31-Day New Year Vocal Feminization Practice Challenge this January, 2024! I'll be putting out a one minute video every day in the month of January. The videos will be published on both TikTok at YouTube, so you can follow along on whatever platform works for you.
Every day, you’ll spend one minute warming up, and one minute watching my video and learning something about vocal feminization. 2 minutes!
I’ve put together a New Year Vocal Feminization Challenge PDF that you can download here. You can track your progress and be a part of a community! Join in and put the two-minute rule to use!
3. Find community
Building a community of people who are going through vocal feminization is helpful for so many reasons.
First, this is an emotional process. Being able to lean on people who truly understand can make everything weigh less heavily.
You can celebrate successes with people who appreciate how much work went into what you’ve achieved. And you can talk with people who understand the frustrations when voice work isn’t going quite as you’d like it to.
In safe community spaces where others are working on vocal feminization, you are free to be yourself without fear of judgment. This allows you to have more fun with the process! Loosening up and taking yourself less seriously is a wonderful byproduct of community.
Having a community is also helpful in being able to share resources. There are great Reddit threads on the trans voice topic,. There are also many people sharing their experiences on different social platforms like TikTok and YouTube.
Encouragement from others keeps you motivated, continuously learning, emotionally supported, and can contribute to your overall well being throughout the process of vocal feminization.
Here are some ways to become a part of a community:
Come connect with like-minded people!
4. Be accountable
Staying accountable is not always easy when you’re going something alone.
Having an accountability buddy can be really helpful. You can make dates to practice together. Or text each other each time you practice or use your voice in public. Try one practice date per week.
Keeping a practice log or journal of your experience throughout the process can also help keep you accountable. It is satisfying to see all the days that you successfully practiced written down. Or to be able to look back and note how different you felt about your voice two months in the past. Try logging your practice 3 times per week to start.
Using an app to track your progress is a another great way to be accountable. You can use Voice Tools, a free app, that tracks your pitch and volume, and keep all the recordings. Try doing a recording every day to monitor your changes and progress.
Rewarding yourself is another great way to keep yourself on track. After a week of consistent practice, treat yourself by going to your favorite coffee shop or movie - whatever works for you!
5. Put yourself out of your comfort zone
The truth is that voice training is a vulnerable thing. The voice is an extension of who we are, and as you go through the process, it can be difficult to hear your voice in ways that don’t feel like you, yet.
The only way to get where you want to be with your voice is to make funny noises and explore your voice in ways that you haven’t before. And that might feel uncomfortable!
By putting yourself out of your comfort zone, you open yourself up to growth.
Joining group practice sessions or group classes might feel daunting. But it’s important to remember that everyone else in the class is probably feeling the same way.
You know what to expect if you never put yourself out of your comfort zone. Things stay the same, which is comfortable in its own way.
But if you take a leap and try something new, you never know what kind of positive changes could be around the corner!
Here are some ways to put yourself out of your comfort zone this year:
There’s no quick fix or magic exercise that can get you to your ideal voice. It takes time and patience. But with a little planning and an open mind, you can get there!