Speaker 1Shut up, and sit down. Welcome to Being On Stage, the only podcast that gives you motivation, inspiration, and confidence to be better on stage. No matter how you entertain, sing, dance, band, comedian, public speaking, MC, drag, burlesque, performance art, or street performer, this is the show for you. Hey, rock stars. It is Reggie Dawson, your host of the Being On Stage podcast. Welcome back. Last couple episodes were a little serious. Today we're going to get into something a little more fun. Well, I mean, I think it's more fun. I don't necessarily know what you're going to think. But you can let me know. You can go to iTunes and drop a review and a rating. Hit subscribe while you're there. Let me know what you think. If that doesn't work for you, if you prefer a more personal approach, you can hit me up on Instagram or by email, reggie at beingonstage.com. Don't hesitate to contact me. That's what we're talking about today is hesitation. I love going to watch other performers. I could never say this out loud while I'm there. I don't actually offer any critiques to people, but secretly in my head, I am watching for the little things. Those little tiny hesitations. And everybody has them. I have them. I'm sure you have them too. Everybody has those little tiny hesitations in their show. That little moment where you think, Oh, shoot. I don't know if I can do this. That little tiny split second. Is it visible to the audience? Yes. Most of the time it is, but only if they know what to look for. I watch for those little hesitations because I want to help people eliminate them. You should never hesitate with something that you want to do on stage. Like, okay, let me back up a little bit. First of all, performing one-on-one rehearsal is key. You have to rehearse what you're going to do on stage. That being said, if you're well rehearsed, don't hesitate. Don't stop. Stop yourself from doing something just because you get a little nervous. Push yourself through. Keep moving. Stop hesitating on those little things that you're not sure if people are going to like. Because here's the thing. Here's the secret. The audience is going to forgive you for being human. As a matter of fact, they love it. They love the human aspect of the performer. They love when you make a little mistake. I understand we may see all this pop star news and crap is what I call it. But, you know, where you may see, oh my God, she botched the National Anthem. Well, yeah, that's not a little mistake. That's pretty huge. Oh my God, she lip synced. That's, again, pretty huge. Oh my God, she fell off stage because she was so drunk and took a lot of drugs before the show. I'm talking about the little things. Hitting that higher note. Going for that extra run. You know, maybe if you're a dancer, you know, going for, you know, the triple instead of the double. Whatever it is, I'm not sure. Again, I'm not going to claim to be a choreographer. I'm not going to claim to be a singer. I'm not going to claim to be a dancer. I'm going to claim to be a performer because that's what I'm good at. And so when we talk about going big, I'm not talking about just going big. I'm talking about stop hesitating to do the things that you've already mastered. In a moment on stage, it may hit you that you're not sure if you can pull that off. My first thing I can think of is when I did a cartwheel on stage. Now, this may not seem like a huge deal. Some of you, but I've always been a fairly big dude. Like I'm talking pushing 300 big dude. Always have been. There was a time in my life when I did some like high intensity interval training thing. And I lost a crap ton of weight. Like I got down to 220 pretty solid muscle. I was going to attempt to do my first ever flip on stage. Nothing fancy, not a backflip. Not like a triple backflip where I touch my feet to my head while I'm spinning three times. Nothing fancy. Not like that. Like I just wanted to do a simple inversion. I did a cartwheel cartwheel, pretty simple. Your legs are, you're like a fricking star and you spin like your arms are out, your legs are out and you spin to cartwheel. I didn't do it very well, but I did it and the audience went nuts because they'd never seen me do one of these things. They'd never seen me do a flip, so they went nuts. They absolutely loved it. I was doing a bunch of little dances. I just watched this video is actually the anniversary of doing this. It is another anniversary. That's really weird. I just look at the calendar and today, by the way, happy Memorial Day, but today is also wow. Today's the one year anniversary of the last since the last time I performed, so it's been one year since performing, but sorry, I got way off track there for a minute. I don't even remember what exactly I was saying, but I knew it had something to do with not hesitating, which is what I just did. I just hesitated. I was talking about my cartwheel. That's right. I was done. I was done with my cartwheel, so when I was doing the cartwheel and everything, I practiced and practiced and practiced and practiced and practiced, and my legs weren't straight. I was kind of curved over. I looked kind of goofy, but to me, it was an accomplishment, and in that moment beforehand, I did have that moment of maybe I should go small, but I didn't. I went big. I went. I did the cartwheel. It wasn't perfect by any means. I look back at the video, and I even wince every time it happens because it really, for lack of a better. phrase, it looked like a fat guy doing a cartwheel. That's the best way I can describe it because that's what it was. It was a fat guy doing a cartwheel, but I didn't hesitate, and it paid off. Even though it wasn't perfect, even though it wasn't pristine, it paid off. It got the reaction that I intended to get because I didn't hesitate. So how many reactions are you giving up because you hesitate on stage? Maybe you're not hesitating to do a cartwheel. Maybe you're hesitating to kiss. That girl's hand in the front row. Maybe you're hesitating to do an extra spin. Maybe you are hesitating to do a flip again. I back up. If you've never done a flip ever in your life, don't attempt it on stage. Although there is something to be said about the adrenaline that you have on stage. There's things I can do on stage that I could not do off stage just because of the adrenaline. Bottom line is if it's there, go for it. Guarantee they go nuts. Guarantee you get remembered. Listen, don't hesitate. Don't hesitate to do the things that you feel while you're on stage. Part of when we're on stage, we're taking in the things around us. We're watching the audience watch us. We feel the energy. And if the energy is there to do that one thing that you've always wanted to do or to push yourself that little further, to slide on stage or to do that extra spin or to add a little more flair, whatever. Whatever it is that you have that feeling. That energy to do on stage, you need to do it. And I know it's so easy to sit here and listen to me say it's going to be so much harder when it comes time because you're going to have that moment of hesitation. You're going to have that momentary thought that says you cannot do this. But my friend, I tell you, you can. You've got to push through that hesitation and that negative thought that tells you you can't do it and get yourself through. Get yourself to the other side. Stop hesitating. Stop hesitating. It will pay off. The audience will notice that you have pushed yourself through a barrier. And that is a huge, huge win when you're performing. Pushing yourself through barriers and having the audience recognize that you have done an accomplishment in front of them, that gets you more fans than doing a ballad at a tribute show. Stop the hesitation. It will pay off in the end. And you can do it. You will grow as an entertainer because then you're going to realize that there's something else that you can do. Can. Positive. Can. You can do. Every moment that you're on stage is an opportunity to connect with your audience. Every moment that you spend with them is a moment that you will never get back. Don't hesitate with what you're putting out there because whatever you're feeling at the moment, you have to remember, you're an artist. As an artist, your job is to feel. And if you feel like you need to do something on stage, then what kind of artist are you if you hesitate in doing it? And I don't mean that in a negative way. And I mean this with the most encouragement as possible. You need to push through this hesitation. You need to keep going. You need to give them whatever you feel like you need to give them in the moment that you feel it. Don't hesitate. Don't put it off. Because if you put it off and if you hesitate, I promise you, we'll notice the difference when you leave that night. You'll notice the difference in how you feel when you hesitate. You have that little, little hint of disappointment when you've hesitated on stage. But if you push through and if you avoid the hesitation and you just go with it and just do it, you'll feel ten times more accomplished, ten times better, and the audience will love you for it. They love being shown your accomplishments. They love being a part of you. They love your accomplishments. And if you push through the hesitation and you break that barrier right in front of their eyes, it's over. You just got a room full of fans. Keep on shining.
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