- What's the ultimate fear?
Oftentimes people will say that
it's getting so nervous right before performance
that you can't remember any of your lines,
you can't remember any of the notes,
you can't imagine being successful.
And oftentimes we worry so much
about how we're going to be evaluated and a quote on quote
the perfection of our craft.
I mean, let's face it.
You spent hundreds of thousands of hours preparing
for this moment to be on stage to perform
and you wanna put all that good, hard work to use.
And usually that's what gets in the way,
we think in terms of, I need to do this perfectly.
And this perfectionist, that tendency really gets in the way
of great performances, because ultimately,
if you look at the Michael Jordan's of basketball
and you look at Bruce Hornsby of the piano world,
those folks, look at Louis Armstrong is a great example.
Those folks are brilliantly famous
and considered amazing artists.
Not because everything they do is technically correct
but because they produce art.
They move people with their emotions,
they move people with their actions
and they're very inspirational to watch.
They also have very creative moments
during their performances.
When something doesn't quite go as planned
and they use their instincts
and all those years of practice, they just rely on,
they let them happen and they come up
with a solution for whatever happens to be facing them.
And it's that solution and that creativity
which is a little unexpected.
And it's also very inspirational
that audiences absolutely love.
When we're really thinking about great art,
we're thinking about those inspirational moments.
We're thinking about that creativity.
We're not thinking about being technically correct.
Well, the trouble is we go through school.
If you're an athlete, you spend years and years of day
after day practice, sometimes you practice twice a day.
And if you're a musician, you think of the number
of years and the number of rehearsals you go through
and the faculty members that you were,
the teachers that you work with,
practicing all the technical components of your performance.
We spend so much time doing that, that it's bound
for us to think in terms of the technical aspects.
But right before what I tell performers is right
before you go on stage,
right before you take the field,
right before you go into that operating room
for a procedure, you need to think
that a great performance is not about the technical aspects,
it's about the artistic aspects.
And if you, for yourself, get a little selfish for a minute
and say, I'm gonna go in
and I'm gonna enjoy the artistic moments for me,
then you're much more apt to perform successfully
in the eyes of people viewing you.
Maybe not in the eyes of the critics
who are evaluating the technical aspects,
but if you wanna be great at your field
those critics come and go.
If that makes sense.