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, emcee, drag, burlesque, performance art, or street performer, this is the show for you. Hey, rock stars. Reggie Dawson here, your host of the Being On Stage podcast. Can I open up with a favor? Please. Can I please ask you for a favor? Right off the bat, I know, already asking for favors. Can you go into iTunes and rate and comment on this podcast? I'd really appreciate it. You can get there going to beingonstage.com slash iTunes. Rate it, leave a comment, and if you hit subscribe while you're there, you'll also get the latest episodes, which brings me into my next episode. My next topic, episode 50, is approaching very quickly. It's going to be by the end of July. I'll have episode 50 out. And in celebration of our 50th episode, I am releasing a big secret. The secret of performing. The real, like, under everything that I talk about, and everything that, you know, any blog you read, any class that you take, any book that you check out, there comes down to one thing that is the secret to success for every performer. And I'm going to share with you what that is in episode 50, so you will want to be subscribed. Speaking of subscribing, you can also get more tips and tools by subscribing to the Rockstar Lounge by going to beingonstage.com. Once you're subscribed, you will get a free copy of my book, Confidence on Stage, and you'll also be subscribed to the Rockstar Lounge, getting all the tips and tricks and tools to help you perform a little bit better on stage. Speaking of confidence on stage and performing better on stage, how nervous do you get before a show? I know for me, I get the knots in the stomach, I feel like my blood's pumping, like, I have to move, I have to, I'm constantly pacing. I used to be a smoker, so I used to, like, chain smoke cigarettes right before I went on stage. I know that sounds so terrible to say now, but I did. I used to chain smoke before my performances, and I'm sure some of you do. I'm sure some of you used the good old liquid courage to get out there on stage. And you know what? Everyone's got their own method, and there's not really a fix. Like, I have the book, Confidence on Stage, and you know, I have an episode, I think episode two, was called Getting Over Stage Fright. And this isn't really about stage fright. This is just about those nerves that you get prior to going on stage. I mean, some people have performed for years, and they still gotta throw up before they go out on stage. Do this. Go on Google and just type in stage fright celebrity quotes, and you'll have a list of quotes. Like, celebrities have talked about their nervousness and the nerves that you get before you go on stage, and even while you're on stage. And it comes from a couple of different things. One, you have certain expectations of yourself on stage, which I think is a mistake. You can't hold yourself to these high expectations. You can hope for a good show. You can rehearse for a good show. You can plan for a good show. But don't go out there expecting to blow the roof off the joint. You know, go out there. Go out there with the hope that the audience is going to enjoy themselves, but don't hold yourself to expectations. So one, is you have high expectations, or unrealistic expectations, or you're afraid you're not going to fulfill the audience expectations. Which their expectation, by the way, is just for you to succeed and connect with them. It all comes down to the audience and how they're going to perceive you, or how you're going to perceive yourself. But, did you ever stop to think that those nerves are a good thing? I know it's crazy. Like, the feeling that you get, the knots in the stomach. The fluttering in the chest, and the tensing of the muscles, and the heavy breathing, and the sweating, and then all of a sudden you've got to pee. It happens every time. Every single time I'm going to go on stage, I have to pee. Without fear. Like, I know I'm getting kind of like, personal, and maybe a little gross, or whatever, but it's true. And it's, there's some science behind it, you can look it up. I'm not going to bore you with the facts, I'm reading books on it and everything like that to, you know, to give you guys most up-to-date, critical information about performing. But, there's some science behind it. There's some science behind why your bladder and your digestive system kicks in. But, just all the reactions that we have to the nerves, have we ever stopped to think, this is a good thing, to feel this way. I know I didn't, for a long time. I couldn't kick the feeling that literally felt like I had marbles rolling around in my stomach. It's not a pleasant feeling, to have the, we call them butterflies, it's not always a pleasant feeling, especially if it leads to nausea and throwing up. People even faint, you're parched all of a sudden. All these factors is the same factors that you face when you're about to like, fight a grizzly bear off for your life, by the way. So, we're treating the stage like an angry grizzly bear coming to kill us. But it's a good thing. 'Cause, think about it this way. If you weren't nervous, if you didn't have those nerves, and you didn't have that feeling in your stomach, and in your chest, and in your mouth, and in your bladder, what would you feel? If you didn't have all that going on, if you didn't have the nerves, what would you feel? Excitement, maybe. But your excitement's gonna lead to nerves, because then those expectations, and that audience, and all that's gonna come back. But what would you feel? Maybe you're feeling exactly what you're supposed to be feeling. If you weren't nervous, if you didn't feel nervous, if you didn't feel the butterflies, if you didn't fear that the audience wasn't gonna accept you, that kinda means that you don't care. Someone a long time ago once told me, 'cause I've fought with stage fright a lot in my life. I told you guys this story when I was a kid, like, I froze completely in front of 150 people. It was humiliating. It was demoralizing. It got me to the point where going through school, I wouldn't even dance at school dances because I felt like I would completely embarrass myself. And it all, like, it took me years to realize it all goes back to that day in the mall. I've fought with it my whole life. I've performed behind the stage as a puppeteer. And then, you know, getting out from behind the stage and getting on stage and doing my own thing and the nightclubs and everything and, you know, creating my performance art, I always got nervous. And I tried the liquid courage, you know, but you can't have a whole lot of liquid courage when you're 18, 19, and 20. I would chain smoke cigarettes and pace and eventually I'd get on stage and stare blankly into the spotlight for, like, the first 30 seconds. And that's always great because then you go blind. And then you're, like, blinking and twitching. And then you're, like, twitching the rest of your show because you can't get rid of the freaking spots in your eyes. And that goes on for the rest of the night, really, depending on how bright the spotlight is. But the nervous that we face, like, it's a sign that we care and that we have passion and that we have a dream. Those nerves is actually, it is excitement. It's excitement to get out there. It's excitement to share yourself. And if it wasn't there, you wouldn't have anything. So I was saying a long time ago, someone told me something a long time. Because I used to get nervous a lot. And I still do. She said, the day you stop getting nervous is the day you should stop performing because it means you no longer care. This anxiousness, this nervousness is not a bad thing. It feels weird. It feels bad. It takes years to get used to. I'm still not used to the feeling right before I get on stage. But it's not a bad thing. Every performer feels some level of nervousness before a performance. Every performer feels some level of anxiety. The difference between those people that get out there and, like, slam dunk in the first five minutes of their show, the difference is how you channel it. Are you going to channel it into excitement and into energy? Or are you going to channel it into vomiting and fainting and not going on stage? I've seen it happen. I've seen people so much fear. And it's people that I've helped. Like, I've helped them. They've rehearsed amazingly. I know they could do it. But when it came down to it right before they got on stage, they crumbled. Because they couldn't channel that nervousness into energy and into excitement. And you have to be able to do that. Truthfully, if you can get on stage and make it through, like, the first 30 seconds and just go out there and just fake that confidence and just go out there and just energy for 30 seconds flat, you'll be fine. You'll make it through the rest of your show. No matter how long it is. You make it through the first 30 seconds in front of an audience, you'll make it through the rest of your show. Have fun with it. Your performance anxiety. And your nerves. It has nothing to do with your talent. It has nothing to do with how good you perform on stage. It has nothing to do with anything. All it means is that you care about the art that you're putting out there. All it means is that you care about what people are seeing. About that piece of you that you're sharing. Use it as your motivation. Use it as your drive to get through that first 30 seconds. And then just have fun the rest of the time. You can get out there. Don't be afraid of the nervousness, too. I've seen it with so many performers. They get there. They get that little bit of nervousness like a couple of days. And then they dread it getting worse. And, of course, because you're fearing it getting worse, it gets worse. Let it happen. It's part of the ride. Every performance that you go out and do is like going on a brand new ride at a theme park that no one's ever been on before. That you've never been on. That feeling, that rush that you feel when you go on the roller coasters at the theme park. Or, you know, the new ride that spins you and flips you and throws you 60 feet into the air. Going on those new rides. That rush you feel. And I know I'm probably giving some people, like, anxiety because they fear roller coasters. But the rush that you feel when you're doing something that you deem exciting, it's the same feeling before you get on stage. It's just how you channel it and how you internalize it. Use your nerves and turn it into energy. Instead of sitting there and rocking back and forth, holding your stomach or puking or like chugging water. Instead of doing all that, pace back and forth. Push on a wall, you know, like release some tension in your muscles. Do some push-ups. Do some sit-ups. Run around the building. Do something to release just a little bit of energy. And then just start jumping and keep your energy up. That nervousness and that first bit of fear and anxiety that you get before going on stage. It's kind of like your body telling you to get ready for something. But if you let it turn into fear, you're not going to succeed. If you let it turn into energy, you will succeed on stage. Every time, without fail. Okay. I will see you guys on Facebook in our Being On Stage group, www.beingonstage.com slash group. We're going to talk more about these nerves and how they get to you and how you can turn it into energy over the next couple of weeks. So you'll definitely want to be in our Facebook group. We want to encourage you. We want to support you. And we want to see what you do on stage. Share with us. Come network in our community. We'd love to see you in there. Keep on shining, rock stars.
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