Pushing Yourself to Grow

Hello, rock stars. I am your host, Reggie Daughson, and this is the Being On Stage podcast. We are at episode number three, so again, I want to thank you for listening. I hope you find it helpful. If you do find it helpful, please shoot me an email, reggie at beingonstage.com. Today, I want to get into the topic of motivation and giving your all, or what I like to say, give 150%. One of the things, I want to just drop everything, and I'm going to put you right on the spot.

I'm going to ask a question, and I want you to really think about it. What motivates you to perform? Now, I'm not talking about what motivates you to sing, or what motivates you to dance, or what motivates you to tell jokes, or what motivates you to speak. I mean, what motivates you to get on stage and continually get on stage and perform? In front of people, what motivates you to keep pushing yourself to get better?

The reason I ask this is because, as entertainers, we sometimes struggle with continuing to push ourselves. Some of us are okay with living on a plateau and not continually getting better, but most of us want to continue to get better. Once you know what motivates you, you can really capitalize on that and work to get even better than you already are. One of the things. One of the things that I'll say for me, what motivates me to perform is the crowd, honestly.

The response of the audience and that energy that I share with them while I'm on stage, that just really, truly gets me going and pumps me up. I used to, when I first started entertaining and I was still battling a little bit with stage fright, one of the things that really pushed me to explode on stage and to really just give my all and to be 150% What really used to pump me up for my shows is a song, a particular song. I mean, I'll tell you, lyrics and music is powerful. If music motivates you and music is what pushes you to really grow as an artist, then use it.

Because I'll tell you, that's what really pushed me to grow as an artist. And the song that I listened to, it was all about getting over stage fright and really focusing in. On that one moment that could change your life. And it was Lose Yourself by Eminem. If you think about the lyrics to that song and what it means, I think anyone can relate to it. And I think that music that is relatable can be used as a form of motivation and empowerment to really help yourself grow as an entertainer.

One other thing that really pushes people to be better entertainers, and one of the things that really. One of the things that really pushes me and I hope it pushes you is the vision for the show or the performance that I'm going to do. Because when I get that vision in my head and I know exactly what I want it to look like and I see the pieces start coming together, it really amps me up and it really makes me want to be there and give everything in that show and just explode on stage. And I call it explode.

And one of the things you'll see on the website, one of the things as you get to know me, as we go a little further into this, my belief is that you should leave your legacy on that stage. And in order to do that, you've got to be ready to explode and just let everything go. And to do that, you have to push yourself. And that requires motivation. So that's why I want to talk about this today is what motivates us to continually get better and continue to get up on that stage time after time, night after night, and give everything to our audience.

And if that's not you, that's okay. But we. We need to get you there. That is how you are able to turn your audience into your fans. And that's truly what we want. We always want our audience to become our fans. And you have to give it all to them and not just all. You have to give more than all. And that requires pushing yourself. And if you're not ready to push yourself, you better get ready because we are going over the top.

We are going over that edge and we are going to explode and leave legacies on stages all across the world. That's what I'm here to do. That's what I'm trying to tell you. You have got to motivate yourself, pick yourself up, and push yourself. Everyone thinks I'm crazy. And I hear this a lot. Even when I was entertaining, everyone was like, how do you always keep yourself. How do you always give so much on the stage?

And I'll tell you, it's because you don't know what the results of this show could be. And maybe that's the. You're an optimist in me, and that's okay. I believe that all artists have to have some optimism. Otherwise, why would you be an artist? You've got to see the positives that can come out of sharing your art with the world. So for me, you never know. What if this was the show or this was the performance that made your career?

What if this was the show that that person in the audience that you've been dreaming about? And don't deny it. Everyone has that dream. Every artist, every performance artist, any entertainer has that dream of that person just coming out of the crowd and offering their dreams on a silver platter. I know I did. Everybody has that dream. But what if this is the show that it actually happens, and you go out there and give a, you know, half of what you're capable of?

What if you go out there and give a shabby effort? You know what I'm trying to say. I just can't say it because it involves a curse word. Half arsed. How about that? You go out there and do a half arsed job on a show. That person's never going to come out of that audience. You have always got to push yourself to give 150% because this could be the step that sets you up for the rest of your career.

This could be the ticket to your dreams. And if you had that moment to get that ticket to your dreams and to really make it happen for yourself, why would you let. a little bit of procrastination, or why would you let a little bit of worry or concern or just truthfully laziness get in the way of you and everything that you have ever wanted? Never, ever, ever plan on being subpar at one of your gigs. You know what that is?

That is called lazy, and that is not what rock stars do. You always have to plan and rehearse to give yourself a chance. Give your best. I know everyone has heard this. I've heard it from ever since I did band in middle school and high school. And I was on a puppet team in church. And of all the things that I've did, the one thing that all my leaders and all my coaches would repeatedly tell me, even in sports, you perform the way you practice or you practice the way you're going to perform.

Which means if you're going to perform laid back, relaxed, not really given a hoot, and just kind of out there to be out there and collect your paycheck and go home, if that's how you want to perform, then cut your practice short. Don't go ahead and practice that extra court. Don't you push yourself because you might get better. But if you want to go out there and you want to give your best, then you've got to rehearse to give your best.

You've got to plan to give your best. There is a solid difference between having an off night and planning to have an off night. So I don't want you to think I'm saying that you can never have an off night because that's not it. You know what? Those happen. Every single entertainer has had an off night. Every single entertainer has had one of those shows where they wish that they could just erase.

I've had it. I had an incident. I did a performance for Halloween in West Palm. And it was a club that I had performed at before. And the first time it went really well. And they had me back for the second time and it was Halloween. And I'll tell you, I probably should have investigated the crowd a little bit more. Because the music that I had selected did not match the music stylings of the people that were there that night.

And it just was not accepted. It was an off night. It was terrible. But I finished the show. I pushed myself all the way to the end. And that's, you know, you've got to give that solid effort. You've got to give 150% all the way to the end no matter what happens that night. But you never plan on these things happening. If you say, Oh, well, you know what? It's just one gig. And there's only going to be like 30 people there.

No big deal. I'll just, you know, I'll cut a little short. I'll do the stuff that I already know. You know, I'll reuse a couple of my old jokes. I don't need to rehearse that song. I do it at every gig. They don't really need to say anything special. Like, you can't make these excuses to yourself or for yourself. Because that is not what a growing entertainer does. That is not what a, a superstar does.

That is not what someone who is living the dream and, and, and, pushing themselves towards their passion and everything they've ever wanted. That is not the thinking of a person that does that. Because I'll tell you, when you get out on stage and you have one of those nights where you've just planned to be okay, just okay, not great, not even trying to be great, just planning to be okay, when you have one of those nights, your audience can tell. Your audience can tell.

You're not going to gain any fans from that night. Those people may not even come see you again. You may get repeats of people that have been to your shows in the past. They may come back and give you another chance because they know you're better than that. But you're not going to get any new fans if you plan on a night like that. You have got to plan to be fantastic every single time because that is what a good entertainer does.

That is what a growing entertainer does, and that is what you, Rockstar, that is what you do. Because you are that entertainer, and you are going to leave your legacy. You are going to leave your legacy on stage. So I'm going to leave you with this. I have one more question for you. And I know I'm hitting you with a lot of questions and I'm dropping some heavy stuff, but I really want you to continue to push yourself to be the entertainer that I know you are capable of being.

You've got to let go of your inhibitions. You've got to really explode and leave that legacy on stage because they want more. And when I say they, I mean your audience because your audience can easily become a fan with just a little bit of motivation, inspiration. And I'll tell you more about that in the next couple of episodes. But right now, my question for you is, what can you do today to be better for your next show, to make yourself better for your next show?

What can you do today? One step, just one single step that you can take today, not tomorrow, not this week, not this month. Today, one step you can take today to make yourself a better entertainer and be better at your next gig. Whether it's, you know, maybe you need to rehearse an extra song. Even if it's an extra, even if you need to do extra scales on your instrument or with your voice.

You know, maybe you need to do facial expressions in the mirror. Practice your facial expressions. Perform your stuff in the car. You know, rehearse an extra five minutes. Research some stuff. Start planning your visuals of your show. Do something. What step can you take today to make yourself a better entertainer tomorrow? I want to hear from you. I want to know what's going on. I want to know what that is.

Tell me what the step is. Tell me what you did. I want to hear about it. You can email me at reggie, R-E-G-G-I-E, at beingonstage.com. I look forward to hearing from you. And as always, rock stars, please remember, always keep on shining.