- What is the checklist?
The do's and don'ts.
Psychologically, before you go on stage
when you're getting ready for a performance,
in all areas, whether it's music or medicine or business,
we talk about having a pre-performance routine.
And by routines, people are often misguided
into thinking it's a physical routine.
You see athletes right before they get in the batter's box,
adjust one batter's glove, another batter's glove,
adjust their cap, pull on their ear, move their shoulder.
And they do the exact same thing before they get in the box
every single time.
You see a golfer take three practice swings.
And oftentimes, well there, you think
that's the performance routine.
They've done this this and this
and performers will take notes.
Okay, tug your ear, then you fix your belt.
And a great pre-performance routine is not about physically
what you do.
It's about mentally where you get to.
So a great performer will know this is a checklist
of mentally how I need to be thinking
and emotionally, spiritually, how I need to be feeling.
And then what I need to do is go through some routines
and have some physical preparations that get me
to feeling those.
But they know what the outcome
of the routine is supposed to be.
Therefore, if they execute their routine
and it doesn't generate that psychological mindset
they'll either do their routine again
or they'll do a modification of the routine,
an example is old superstitions.
You refuse to go on stage unless
you have your lucky socks on.
And then that one day comes where you've lost the socks
in the wash and you're a psychological mess
because I can't perform without my lucky socks.
Well, the performer knows that the routine
of putting on those socks to prepare
for a performance when you're getting dressed
in the rehearsal room, it's not about the socks,
it's about the fact that the socks get them thinking
in terms of I'm comfortable, I feel good,
I'm dressed and ready.
And then they notice shift that.
Okay, well, I don't have those socks.
Well, I'll fit the same thoughts with a new pair of socks.
And so routines are really about where they get you.
So you might have a short routine one day
and along version of it the next,
as long as you're assessing where the outcome essentially.
So those outcomes, that checklist, what are they?
The first is to be cognizant of
what we call the control factor.
It's also called the locus of control.
In other words, what elements
of your performance are controllable
within yourself and what elements are not controllable?
The controllable items,
interestingly enough is a much longer list
when you write it down the first time
then what it'll end up being when you really assess,
what does actually belong in the uncontrollable list?
For example, having the audience rave about
your performance, at first we can think about
that being controllable so if I play really well
and I perform at the level I'm capable of performing
then that's the response to the audience will have
therefore it's up to me.
Well, it's not really, you might happen to have an audience
that's not interested in your particular style.
You might have an audience that's coming
from another event and they're really tired.
We really don't know.
Same thing in the sport, for example,
you can't control the weather, and the referees
and your opponents.
Oftentimes you can't control coaches and teachers.
So a lot of the elements
that we think are controllable, really aren't.
And so one of the strategies
that have performers execute is right before performance,
list all the things about your performance
that are controllable and are not controllable,
and then reread that list
to make sure you're really being honest.
And you'll find the controllable list usually is very small
but once you've got it written
and once you've assessed what those elements are
then the next step, the next checklist
is okay, have I made the commitment to evaluate myself based
on what's controllable versus what's uncontrollable?
And then, you know, going into performance
that I'm not gonna evaluate myself during performance
I'm gonna make this commitment,
from the start-up performance end of the performance,
I'm gonna be free of evaluation.
Then when the performance is over at a set time
that I've determined when I'm going to evaluate,
then I'm going to go back
and just assess those controllable parts,
the uncontrollable parts I'm gonna let go
because if they're truly uncontrollable
you can't do anything about them.
And that's it.
And when I work with performers,
one of the things that I find is
when they really let themselves only evaluate
the controllable factors, the thing they say to me is,
"Gosh, I feel so much more freedom when I'm performing."
Because you've lifted this weight of all the things
you really can't do anything about
but you've been struggling to trying
and keep the reins on essentially.
And once you get rid of that
then you can just perform for the sake of performing.
And that sense of freedom makes you feel better.
You feel more relaxed,
and of course you're gonna enjoy your performance more.
So I'd say the first element on the checklist
is what's controllable versus what's uncontrollable.
The second element is how you're gonna evaluate yourself.
Just based on the controllable factors
and then using qualitative measures
not quantitative measures.
As a human society and through our educational system,
we've been trained to use statistical measures
to record human performance.
And oftentimes those statistical measures have a lot
of degree of error in them and are based on outcomes.
They're based on the results.
Whereas qualitative measures of performance are based
on the process.
Based on things like how you feel,
whether or not you're allowing yourself to be artistic,
based on where you put your eyes.
If those qualitative measures are your basis of evaluation
then you're gonna have a more accurate evaluation,
and it's gonna help maintain the first element
on the checklist, that control issue.
It's also going to allow you to really have a strong handle
on what you can do to improve.
If we measure statistics of a baseball hitter, for example,
and the common statistics is batting average.
Well, batting average is up to all kinds
of variables that the hitter can't do anything about.
And we say, if we eliminate batting average
as a source of evaluation, and we just evaluate
where were your eyes right before the pitch?
Were they on the release point?
if they weren't,
then that explains why you didn't get a good look
at the pitch.
And then we can train our eyes to move there.
We've got a very strong and very a one-to-one relationship
between the qualitative factors of performance
and the results of the performance.
And so if you make the commitment right before you go
on stage to evaluate yourself qualitatively
and to hold that evaluation to the end,
not only are you gonna be freer to perform
but you're gonna have a more accurate measure
of what you can work on in between that performance
and the following performance.
And that's it.
The last checklist is we just mentioned,
think about what where you put your eyes.
It sounds sorta silly.
Where to put my eyes?
Well, obviously I'm gonna be reading my sheet
of music, right?
Well, interestingly enough, we oftentimes as performers
we don't give weight to something as simple
as where we put our eyes or in athletics,
where are you gonna put your feet?
I'm telling athletes over and over, just move your feet.
When you get on the court,
if you feel like you freeze up
and oh my gosh they're 20,000 fans and a million people
on TV watching this performance
because your mind is going that direction.
If you watch their eyes,
their eyes shift upper left or upper right,
which are are indications that we're using our mind.
And we're using our memory a lot.
Well, during a great performance
we don't wanna be using our mind and memory.
We wanna be using our skills instinctively.
And so our eyes should be straight ahead.
Our eyes should be picking up one particular cue
that helps us move from thinking analytically
to thinking instinctively
and whether it's your positioning or whether it's your eyes,
something simple that you have control over,
you know you can do right before the performance starts
will help put you at ease as well.
And I got one more thing to let checklist mentally
of what you should do before performances.
I would say, make a distinction in your mind
between what we call the training mindset
and the trusting mindset.
The training mindset is the analytical mindset
we use in practice.
And when we were very judgmental of ourselves
when our mind is very, very active,
evaluating and thinking about all the technical aspects
of our performance,
it's what we tend to refer to as left brain thinking.
And in cognitive neurosciences
we know that the left hemisphere
and the right hemisphere can both do the jobs
of either side of the brain.
So really it is just a metaphor
but everyone seems to instinctively know
that left brain thinking,
Oh that's the scientific, analytical,
critical part of the mind.
Whereas the right brain thinking is creative,
artistic, relaxed, very patient, very quiet mind.
And so right before you go on stage,
right before a performance or an audition,
even I'd say,
in rehearsal you need to spend some time thinking about
I need to be in the trusting mindset here.
I need to be instinctive
and reactive and not consciously controlling,
if that makes sense.