If you’re going to focus on one part of your show, make an unforgettable ending.
If you’re going to focus on two parts, beginning and ending.
Three parts…beginning, ending, and the build up to the ending. The turn into the home stretch. The part where the audience knows here we go. Foot on the gas.
If you build out these three parts of your show and can get them slammin, you’ve got more currency in your pocket than most of the artists you listen to.
You put in the hours to get really good but it doesn’t feel like you thought it would.
Just because it doesn’t feel like a superpower doesn’t mean it isn’t.
We are quick to discount what we’re best at.
Part of the magic is fooling the audience into thinking it’s easy…but sometimes we end up fooling ourselves, equating the look of ease with cheap.
You’re a new act selling out the local club.
So they give you a shot at the theater…can you handle that?
The spotlight gets turned up brighter, do you have the guts?
Then an amphitheater, then a tv spot, then an a-list collaboration, then a sold out European tour.
The business is designed to see what you’ve got, how much stress can this thing take, how much self control do you have over your thing…to see what the breaking point is.
You can be great on while sitting on the edge of your bed…but what kind of foundation do you have to build so that you can keep on being magical as you take the ride?
How many streams
How many likes
How many followers
How many viewers
How many dm’s
How many listeners
How many verified listeners
How many emails
How many click throughs
You might not be trying to win the game…very few claim to be trying to win it. You might not even admit you’re playing the game at all. But you sure don’t want to lose the game. But it feels like the only game in town and you certainly don’t want to feel left out of it.
What would it look like to play a different game all together? Maybe a game that didn’t have minute by minute ups and downs. Maybe a game that wasn’t so easily confused with your identity. Maybe a game where, if you win, everyone wins.
»» It's entirely possible to be paying some attention to these metrics but playing a completely different game.
You might be at the point where you don’t need to get any better. You’re above the threshold.
So while you don’t have to get any better, you do have to keep being that good.
And the best way to do that is to keep getting better.
»» And if you’re above the threshold and still not getting the desired results, focus on connection, taking responsibility, and coming through for people.
to just stand there.
I’ve seen it done. And I’ve seen it tried to be done.
The latter is painful, annoying and forgettable. While the former is mesmerizing.
Presence is powerful. And not everyone can have the same kind just by wanting it.
»» Presence, in part, comes from the way you connect to others and the way they feel connected to you.
»» Shout out to my guy Julio for our text exchange on this.