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 Rockstars, Reggie Dawson, host of the show. Thanks for tuning in to the Being On Stage podcast. What is up? So last episode I talked all about how I'm changing things up a little bit. One thing I didn't mention, but maybe you noticed, maybe you didn't. I'm switching up my format of my podcast to completely unedited. If you never knew, that's fine if you didn't. But if you didn't know, previous to last episode, I would record for about, you know, 10, 15 minutes, and then I would go back and I would edit and I would take out some of the stuff that maybe didn't pertain to what I was saying. Like sometimes I get lost in my thought. I take out some of the ums and the ands and the uhs and the buts and the sos and I take out all the extra stuff that you're not really supposed to say when you're speaking. But one thing I realized is it was getting to be kind of a bear to go back and edit all the time. And it took more time away from what I was doing. It took more time away from what I really wanted to do and away from recording. And every time I sit down to record, it was like, oh, God, I'm going to record for 15 minutes and I got to edit for 30 minutes, 45 minutes, an hour. And one of the things I had talked a lot about last time was, you know, keeping things simple. So I decided to go completely unedited. So if you hear some ums and uhs a little bit more than used to, I'm fine. Everything's okay. I've just stopped editing myself. And in a way, I think that's a really good thing to go unedited. Because I can be a little more real, a little more authentic, as I am telling you guys to be. But I also feel like it's a performance. You know, this podcast is my performance. I'm speaking to you. Granted, I'm giving you information. I'm giving you tips. I'm giving you tools and resources to use to better your performance. Going unscripted and unedited is a way of me doing a performance live. Because when you're on stage, you know, there's no turning back. You can't undo. You can't undo or edit the show before your audience sees it. You know, when you're on stage, you're live. And I wanted this podcast to be representative of that same feeling of live. Granted, I'm not live. You know, this is prerecorded. And I will tell you, yes, I do edit out some of the long silences while I'm, you know, gathering my thoughts and putting it together. And that's just to keep you from getting bored. But my word to you is that's all that's being edited out now is long silences. So there you have it. And I'll tell you, it's a little rough because I do go back and I listen to pieces of every episode. I check the sound quality, make sure that it recorded right, especially now that I'm not editing. I went back and I listened to a little bit of it. And I got to tell you, it was probably a little rough, a little more rough than you may be used to. And it doesn't really sound like I'm a speaker or a trainer, but I am. But that's all part of it, you know. So, you know, it's a little rough. And it's taking that leap and doing that something for the first time. And that was my first time on, you know, no, I lie. There was one other episode that I did that I went completely unedited. And it was when I did a reactionary, a reaction episode. I did a, when Justin Timberlake did the Super Bowl halftime show, I did kind of like a reaction episode. Where if you push play on the video when I tell you to in the episode, we're kind of watching along. And we're like, I'm talking to you about the performance. But you're watching. And this is a really cool episode. It's over a year old. You could probably go back to last February 2018 and check it out if you want to. You don't have to. It's just, you know, I'm just letting you know where you can find it. So I don't really go unedited. So taking that step to do something for the first time can be freaking scary. And even after the fact, even after you've done it. Like, let's say you're getting on stage for the first time. Oh, my God. I remember my first time on stage when I was eight years old. It was a complete and total disaster. I froze with the microphone in hand. It was like a karaoke competition at the mall. Begged my mother to go up there. I've told this story before. I'm sorry if you've heard it already. She finally let me. Went up. Song starts. Words appear on the screen. I could read. I was eight. I knew what was going on. I knew the words and all that stuff. But I just froze. I mean, I completely shut down, mouth hanging open, staring at the crowd. And I remember I locked eyes with this gentleman. I still remember what he looked like. It was completely traumatic. I remember what this guy looked like. Not a bad guy. I don't even know who he is. Never seen him before in my life. Never seen him again. But I could tell you what he was wearing, what he did with his hands. I could tell you everything because that's where I froze at, staring at this random gentleman in the crowd. And recovering from that took years, years. And maybe you're a little older than eight years old and getting on stage for the first time. Because I tell you, I remember the next time was my first. First time on stage. Because, you know, every time you get on stage, sometimes it feels like the first time. So my next first time, my second first time on stage, if you will, I rehearsed, man. I really put a whole lot of effort into it. I made sure I knew everything that I was going to do, when I was going to do it. You know, the movements I was going to make, the steps I was going to take. The only thing that you can't really account for is the audience. And that's, I mean, that's something you can kind of do on the fly. But, man, I choreographed. I choreographed the crap out of that second time I was on stage. And it went over really well. You know, I found success. But if I never let myself do something for a second time, like if I got so stuck on the first time that I did something, I would never accomplish anything that I've accomplished in my career. Nobody would. Nobody would ever accomplish anything if they only went based on their first time on stage. And, you know, maybe it's not your first time on stage. Maybe, you know, it could be anything. You could be working on trying something new for the first time. You know, I know I know a guy. He he's a dancer. You know, he trained dance, classically trained dance. And, you know, he took it upon himself to learn hip hop. And then from there he learned, you know, acrobatics and aerial silks and hand balancing. And and now he's working on becoming a contortionist. And it's it's crazy the things that you can teach yourself, number one. But. Maybe you are. Working on putting something out there for the first time, because I'll tell you, when when he did his first time, when he had his first show coming out where he was doing something different than classical dance, I imagine it was completely nerve wracking. It's like it's like going through that first time all over again. Even if you've performed a thousand times, trying something new can feel like the first time all over again. The important piece is that no matter what happens, it doesn't become your only time. And that's why I'm doing this. I'm doing it. I had this conversation with my wife probably about a week ago now. She she does graphic design and getting into social media marketing. She hates social media, but because of the nature of her work and being a graphic artist and everything like that, it fits with, you know, her degree and what she's supposed to do, quote unquote. I'm using air quotes here like you can see me. Ha. So anyway, she does graphic design and part of her degree and everything was, you know, she had to do sculpture. And do some 3D work and actually art and drawing and things like that. And and it got her trying some things for the first time in the art, in the area of art, like physical art. And she gets so frustrated with herself and she'd kill me if she knew I was talking about this on the pod. Well, I told her I was talking about it, so she might still kill me. I don't know. But she gets so frustrated with herself. And I think we all do when it's like we're trying something new and it's just not coming along the way that we pictured or the way that we expected. And I don't have to tell you. I don't have to tell you. Expectations are the death of everything that you want. Like expectations, just by having an expectation of something, you've already destroyed it. 100%. Get rid of the expectation. You can you can hope you can wish you can pray. But the minute you expect something to be perfect or expect something to be a certain way, you've already you've already missed out. You've already destroyed that that possibility just by having the expectation you will not meet it, period. So. You know, trying something new for the first time and having that expectation for it to go perfectly or or anything like that is is going to ruin it. Number one. And number two, you have to let yourself make the mistakes almost. And I want to say let yourself fail. But, you know, let yourself fail. If if you're going to fall on stage, fall on stage with style and make it look grand and awesome. You know, if if what you're doing doesn't work out, so what? Do it again and again and again and again. The only way that you're going to progress. The only way that it is going to work and that you are going to bring your vision to life is repetition and consistency. And it's not what anybody wants to hear. Nobody wants to hear that you're going to have to keep working hard if you're going to make it work. Nobody wants to hear that. There's two reasons no one wants to hear it. Number one, you already know it and you're already working your butt off. Or number two, you already know it and you don't care and you're not working your butt off. That's the only two reasons that you don't want to hear it. But it's true. 100% factual. You are going to have to keep watching. working at it in order to make it happen. So what if you fail for the first time? So what if you fall flat on your face? Hopefully not literally, but even if it is literally, so what? Are you literally, are you seriously not going, ah, that's the problem with going unedited. Are you really not going to let yourself get back on stage? Are you really going to let that hold you back from your dream because the first time you tried something, it didn't work? Really? Could you imagine if people and inventors and businessmen throughout history tried something for the first time and it didn't work? If they just gave up, think about, okay, let's, let's go down the list. Steve Jobs. Imagine if, if he gave up after something didn't work. Bill Gates, Thomas Edison, you know, inventor of the light bulb, thousand different times. If he tried one time to invent the light bulb and gave up, and I know, I know, I know Tesla invented the light, not the car company, the guy, he invented the light bulb. Edison still, I get that. I know the conspiracy theory guys. I'm just going based on history. Just go with me for the fact, go with me for the point I'm trying to make, not for historical facts. Okay. Thomas Edison tried a thousand different times to make the light bulb before he was successful. Thousand different times before he was successful. If he gave up after the first time, we may not have had electricity for decades before someone else decided to give it a shot. Benjamin Franklin too. He made a whole lot of stuff, a lot of his stuff, complete and total failures. And I'm not going to talk about a whole history lesson here. You can look that up. You're human beings. You have Google, but he failed a lot. A lot of his inventions are complete crackpots. And even today, scientists will tell you that would never work, but he still kept going and going and going and going. And look at all the things that he's accomplished. Let's switch it up to performing and artists, you know, look at, look at artists like Michael Jackson. Granted, he was wildly successful as a child, but what if he just gave up when something didn't work? Because he rehearsed like a madman. What if the first time he tried the moonwalk and it didn't happen the way he envisioned it? What if he just gave up? We didn't never, could you imagine the world without the moonwalk? I mean, really? Gosh, the moral of the story here and the point I'm trying to make with, with the history lesson and the Michael Jackson lesson, and I don't care what you say about any of these people. The point I'm trying to make is you can't give up after trying to make it once. You have to keep trying it. So what if the audience doesn't get it? So what if you fall flat? Hmm. It doesn't matter. You still have to pick yourself up and do it again. There's a great song that actually comes to mind right now. As I'm, as I'm saying this, it's called stand by the rascal flats. If you've never heard it, highly encourage you go to YouTube and listen to it because the line of it basically is, is like, you get mad, you get over it and then you move on. That's not the exact words. I'm going to let you go look up the lyrics to the exact words, but that's basically what it says. Get over it, move on and do it again. Keep pushing yourself forward. You have to keep trying things in order for them to work. Period. The end. So listen, um, head over onto my website. I have this great new giveaway. I guess we can call it this thing I'm giving away. I got to think of a better name for it than a thing or a giveaway, but it's a, it's a program. If you will, it's 10 ways to get paid for performing. If you type in your name and email, I'll shoot that over to you. And let me tell you, you can get right to work on these and probably start seeing some sort of return within a month or two easily. So head over there, grab that. And if you want to chat more, you can book me on my calendar at beingonstage.com slash calendar, 100% free. We'll just get on the phone chat for 30 minutes about whatever it is you're trying to make work. And we'll, we'll, we'll like a plan together so you can make it work and move forward with your career. Thanks again so much for tuning in. I can't tell you how much I appreciate you putting up with the unedited version of the being on stage podcast. It feels really real. It feels really good. And I got to tell you the fact that I'm going to press stop right now and immediately upload for you. It's so much more stress-free than editing everything. So I'm going to go live all the time, but you know, pre-recorded. So keep on shining everybody.
PodcastTranscript AI