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, Rockstar. I'm Reggie Dawson, your host of the podcast. Welcome, and thanks for tuning in. So, maybe you're afraid of performing on stage in front of people. And you know what? First of all, I want to tell you, before I get into anything else, you are not alone. If you have any sort of nerves or fear or anything when it comes to being in front of people, performing in front of people, speaking in front of people, dancing, singing, you name it. You are not alone. As a matter of fact, according to, and let me cite my sources here, adaa.org, public speaking is one of the biggest fears in the world. Well, America, okay, in America. It topped flying, being homeless, and financial ruin, even topping death. People are more afraid of speaking in public or performing in front of people than dying. I used to hear it all the time. I don't know how you can perform in front of people. I feel like I look ridiculous. And truth be told, so do I. I 100% feel like I look ridiculous. I sound ridiculous. And, you know, sometimes the jokes don't go over. Sometimes the, you know, the concept is not understood in the way that you want it to be. Sometimes the performance is not, you know, that emotional connection just can't be made. And it's not. There's no reason to fear going on stage, but many people do. And those are just a few of the things that, that causes stage fright. Sometimes it is genuinely just, just not even knowing what to do, not even knowing what people are going to think. But I got to tell you, alongside telling you you're not alone, I am also going to tell you the God's honest truth. But before I do that, I just want to identify again. My name is Reggie Dawson. I'm a live performance coach. I help all types of performers with talent development, performance. Development and building that confidence and connection with the audience. I love everything about being on stage. And I know that you will too. Once you get past this fear, once you get past this, this mindset of it's not going to be okay or that you can't do this. And I promise you this. It is just the mindset. It is all in how you talk to yourself, how you visualize yourself and how you perceive yourself externally. That's really where this fear is based is, is it's all in your self perceptions that you built up in your head. And I'm not saying, listen, you're not crazy. You are absolutely 100% saying, I mean, I'm not a psychologist, so I can't say that you're not crazy. I'm just kidding. Listen, you're saying this is 100% normal. This is not like some, something that you need to go take pills for, or, you know, seek some holistic remedy for. I'm not knocking those of you that, that do take medication for this. I'm just saying there are other ways to manage it. 99% of the time. Let's go with that. 99% of the time. One thing I want to recognize every single person on the face of the planet has some sort of nervousness before they get out in front of people, especially if it's like your first time in front of this particular type of crowd, your first time in the city at this event, uh, in front of this many people, anytime there's a first, everyone's nervous. And even beyond the first, you know, I still get nervous every single time. I step on stage. So it happens to everybody. So you, you know, we're all in this together. We're all facing this together before I dive into anything else. Like I'm going to go through ways that you can get past stage fright. I'm going to tell you three or four methods that you can really just bulldoze through that stage fright and, you know, share your talent with the world. Before I get into that, none of these techniques are going to work unless you truly want to get past this. Unless you truly want to get past this. If you truly have that desire to get through this stage fright and willing to take the steps necessary, it's going to be painful in order to get through this. You really have to want this first and foremost to do any of the following steps that I'm going to go over with you. You really have to want to get past the stage fright. Some of the tips that I'm going to provide you, it takes changing your mindset and that takes willpower. So you have to have the willpower and the drive to want to get through this. So tip number one to get through stage fright. You have to stop with thoughts about what could go wrong. You have to stop those thoughts in their tracks when they are happening and shift your focus to positive images and positive thoughts and things that you want to see happen and visualize that success on stage. You have to stop with the negative self-talk and the negative imagery of this is going to go wrong. That's going to go wrong. People are going to think it's crap. People are going to, you know, talk about me on Instagram. People are going to boo. You know, I'm going to get pulled off stage early. They're not even going to like it. You got to stop all that negative self-talk and you have to replace it with I can do this. This is going to be an amazing feeling. I'm so excited to share this with people. You have to imagine that you are going to be amazing on stage. You have to have those positive thoughts that you're going to slam dunk it. You're going to knock the roof. Off that place. You are going to be your absolute best and that's going to build up that confidence and that confidence is what's going to get you through the first, you know, 30 seconds. So after the first 30 seconds, it's all, it's all great. Like it's going to turn to having fun. So tip number two, number two, you have to practice ways of calming your mind. Everyone has to have something that just helps a calm just wash over them. You know, there's, there's tons of things you can look up on YouTube. I'm not saying you need to meditate. Meditation is an option. I know some people do yoga. Some people practice breathing techniques. Uh, some people just have a relaxation technique of their own. For me, I listened to music and it kind of, it would call me and relax me. I was a pacer. I'll, I'm not going to lie. Like you may think of pacing as worsening the anxiety, but for me, pacing was actually a really good thing. It helped calm me. Just that movement of going back, that steady movement of going back and forth. It calmed me because it was in time. Anything timed like tapping or like a metronome going, that was calming to me. So that worked for me. That helped calm me down. It doesn't necessarily mean it's going to work for you, but Hey, it worked for me. So music and pacing, um, breathing techniques is a really good one. There's a lot of different breathing techniques and I'm not going to go over a lot. I'm not going to go over those right now, but there's a lot of different breathing techniques that you could try. I've done them. They work. Tip number three, and probably one of the most important, is you want to make connections with your audience. So a lot of times to get through stage fright or that nervousness of, you know, performing for the first time in front of a new crowd, I would go early and I would go around the crowd and I would, you know, talk to people and meet people. And, you know, that can be unnerving as well. That can cause some anxiety as well. But making those connections ahead of time and going to the bar and, I mean, I wouldn't necessarily have a drink, but make those connections with your audience, you know, talk to people, introduce yourself, let them know you're going to be performing. It gives you that confidence later that you've already made a connection with some of these people. So they're already into what you're going to do. Those connections really help. So your fourth and final tip kind of goes back to number one, but visualizing the success on stage is number one and number four. I can't say it enough. You have to focus on your strengths. You have to focus on the reason that you're there. You have to focus on the purpose of what you're doing. If you're, you know, singing, you're sharing your lyrics and your music with the world. If you're dancing, you're sharing that emotion of the story that you're telling. You're sharing that with the world. If you're any sort of acrobat or circus act, you're telling a story, you're sharing a talent, you know, and that performance is going to be successful as long as you believe it's going to be successful. And as long as you're visualizing success, you're going to be successful. And as long as you're visualizing success, you're going to be able to handle any challenge that comes your way, especially because you've made connections with your audience. You've talked to yourself very positively. You have a way to relax and calm your mind. So then visualizing your success is going to get you through the entire show and help you handle every situation that comes up. It is entirely up to you to get through stage fright. It is something that you have to want. It is something you're going to have to work for, and it's not going to happen overnight. But at the end of the day, what I'm imploring you to do and what I implore everybody to do is no matter what you fear, just get out there. Once you start, you will know. Just get out there. Even if you just introduce yourself and you have to leave. Even if you just say hello, just get out there. Take the first step. I believe in you. And I hope that you've heard that from multiple people, but if no one's ever told you that before, I believe in you. If you want more Being On Stage or if you want to connect with me, you can send me an email, reggie at beingonstage.com. also join the free Facebook group. It's called the Being On Stage group. You can search for it on Facebook, or you can just type in beingonstage.com slash group. Either way, you'll get to the same place. So thanks again for tuning in. My goal and purpose is to help you get through your fears, get that confidence, get on stage, engage your audience, and turn them into fans. Keep on growing, and as I always say, keep on shining.
PodcastTranscript AI