It's Time to Change it Up

Shut 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 here, your host of the Being On Stage podcast. Welcome back. Thank you so much for tuning in. And to those of you tuning in on Facebook Live, we're doing the podcast live. I got this whole glitter beard thing I'm doing. So if you want to check out what it looks like when I do a podcast with a glitter beard, like shaking glitter all over the place, tune into Facebook. I've decided to do my podcast live. It gets out two pieces of content. You can see my facial expressions and my face. And I don't think I can take this beard off. I think I am stuck using a glitter beard for the whole length of this video. That was not planned well. Anyways, listen. Change is a big thing that I think we experience and everyone experiences it no matter what you're doing. But specifically for performers, change is. Change is something that you have to go through. Change is growth. Change is moving forward. Change is gaining momentum. Change is becoming the performer that you really and truly, truly want to be. And one of the things that I've talked to a few performers about, I've witnessed it from the outside looking in. I've experienced it myself being a performer. And one of the hardest things it is to change is. And things are about to get. I'm getting heavy here for a minute, guys. So brace yourself. But one of the hardest things there is to change is giving up the life that you're living for the life that you want to live. And I know this is getting deep, guys, for a podcast about performing on stage. But even as performers, this is a concept that we are going to have to continually embrace if we're going to have our vision come to life. If we're going to be that explosion. If we're going to be that explosion of a performer that you envision. And don't kid yourself. Don't kid me. You can't BS a BSer if you know what I'm saying. Everybody has that vision. You have a vision of a certain performance, of a certain attitude, of a certain way you're going to look or act or just be on stage. You have that in your head. And I don't care who you are. I don't care where you are in your career. There's a vision that you have that you're either not sure. You're nervous or scared. I guess nervous and scared could be the same thing. But you're either not sure if it's going to go over. You're too worried about what other people are going to think. You're nervous about making it happen. Or you're scared that it's not going to go well. And that's the reason you're not doing it. But that change that you want to make, that change that you have to make to have that vision come to life and to put that, what you see, out on stage. That's going to be one of the most painful things. Painful is relative. It's painful to the person you are now and to the life you're living now. But to the person you're going to be, it's going to be the greatest victory that you have ever accomplished. It's going to be the greatest thing that you've ever done is make that change for yourself and for the performer that you envision yourself as. There's going to be a lot of things. Oh my God, this glitter beard on Facebook is really getting to me. It's hard to take me seriously, I know. Anyways, it's hard to take myself seriously. When I see myself. I mean, I have a beard. I'm a very strong, passionate person about having a beard and my beard. But this glitter beard on Facebook is just, it's killing the mood, I feel. But, okay, back to the topic. This change that you have to go through, not only is it inevitable. Because you're going to go one of two changes. You're either going to make a change for the good and you're going to go forward. Or you're going to make a change for the worse and you're going to go backwards. Either way, you're going to make a change. One change is easier than the other. Of course, it's easier to go backwards. It's easier to go back to the person that you were before you started getting the little bits of momentum that you have. The person where you were before you allowed yourself to dream. You can go back to that person. Yeah, that's easy. Just stop dreaming and, you know, give up on everything. But, then there's the harder change. The change that is more worthwhile and will get you. Exactly what you envision in your head and make sure your dreams come true as they, like, flail glitter dust everywhere on Facebook live. You guys got to check this video out. Go to Being On Stage on Facebook and I think I'm going to do a mask every time I do a podcast, just to add a little something to the Facebook video. Anyways, this thing that you have inside you, it's absolutely 100% possible. That vision that you have. You have the passion and the talent that you want to pursue and get out. Oh, I can't. I can't do this. I keep trying to wipe it off my face. That passion that you want to pursue, that talent that's inside you that you just have to get out. That thing you want to do in the vision, it's 100% possible. Absolutely possible. I could tell you clear as day. Maybe that's probably not the best phrase to use in this instance, but I can tell you beyond the shadow of a doubt. That what you want out of yourself is possible, but you have to make the change to do it. And it can be scary, and it can be complicated, and it can even hurt sometimes to make these changes. But if you don't make these changes, you're sitting still, not just in life, but in your performing. You're not going anywhere. You're going to be doing the same things at the same places in front of the same people forever and ever and ever. And yes, that makes sense. At first, that's going to seem like what it is to have a fan base, but you're going to get burnt out. And more importantly, your audience is going to get burnt out because you're not progressing and moving forward. Make that change. That thing that you've been putting off doing, that thing that you've been nervous about or contemplating, do it. Just get out there and do it. And yes, it's, yeah, I know, I know, Reggie, it's a lot easier said than done. I get it. It is. It's much easier to say, do it, than for you to get out there and do it. But you know what? In a year, five years, ten years from now, you're going to look back and you're going to say, I should have done it. And in that moment, what are you going to think about the decision you're making today? That's all I have to say about that, really, is, yeah. It's going to be hard. It's going to be, it's going to take steps that are going to be painful. That's what change is. It's taking something that you do now and changing it to something else. It is hard. Not everybody can go through change easy. And they have this saying in the, I will call it the business world, sure, is embrace change. And the only thing constant is change. And that's absolutely true. The only thing constant is change. As it should be. And that should be the only constant in your career. You should not find yourself being a repetitive performer. I've seen those performers. I've been that performer that has gone out there and done the same moves and the same routine and the same songs and the same outfits every single time I'm on stage. I get bored with me. And when you get bored with you, yourself, as a performer. You know, the audience is bored when you get bored with yourself as a performer and you find yourself not putting the energy out there because I've done this a thousand times. It's a little bit of this, a little bit of that. And that's that's the show. Applause, please. And that's that's not how it should be. You should always feel excited to be out on stage. You should always be trying new things for your audience and putting yourself out there and new. Different and exciting ways and experience what it is to be growing as a performer and experience the growth of the creative growth of who you see yourself as and who you're going to be in that performer that you see when you look in the mirror and do it for the people that are going to see you perform in two weeks, five years, 10 years, 20 years. Do it for them. That experience that every time you go on stage, that experience happens once, one time, one time. And although you go out on stage over and over and over again and you may find yourself doing the same things over and over and over again, that experience for your audience is a one time deal. They don't get that back. That time they spent with you, they can't relive that. They can't. They may not necessarily come back and see it again. So while you're bored with yourself because you're doing the same things all the time. because you're not embracing that change and moving yourself forward and trying new things, when you get bored, your audience is going to get bored. And when the new people come out to see you or even the people that have been supportive since the beginning come out to see you, eh, it was all right. We might come back, maybe. Every experience is a one-time deal for them. If you knew that there were people in the audience that will never see you again, what impression would you want to leave them with? Because there are, every time. Every time you go on stage, there are people that are never going to see you perform again. And that impression you leave them with, that's it. That's all you get. So make the impression. Make the impression. Get out there, take leaps and bounds and jumps and explore new things and try new acts and just create, create, create. Be the creative that you are. Be the creative that you are destined to be. And just let yourself change. Embrace the change. If you, by any chance, you want a little bit of help, a little bit of guidance, a little bit of push motivation, I am accepting coaching clients. You can jump on my calendar for just a 30-minute session. We'll brainstorm. We'll start talking about things that you can do to start making the change happen and move yourself forward. You can go to beingonstage.com slash calendar. Hop on there. I'll be happy to give you a call at the date and time of your choosing. And we will move you forward and get you to that performer that you are destined to be. And as always, dear friends, keep on shining.