If you’re on stage as the opening band it’s not a great sign if the crowd starts chanting the headliners name.
You probably really wanted the gig. It was probably really hard to get the gig. It was probably a lot of work to get everyone on stage.
So two things…
- Hopefully you wanted the right gig.
- It’s so much work to get the gig that it’s easy to run out of energy to put together a show good enough to make the audience forget about the headliner.
As creatives we often have trouble here…
Lots of opinions…but not sure what we want.
We can’t help but speak up….laced with ambiguity.
We have lots of words…and we insulate them with many more.
We are allowed to try things. We are allowed to not know. We don’t have to be perfect.
But don’t hide behind the fear that goes with it. Own the ideas and decisions. Be clear about what you want,take responsibility if it doesn’t work, and keep going.
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There are performers who want and expect their energy to go from the stage all the way to the back of the room.
Then there are performers who think they want their energy to go to the back of the room but they hesitate.
And that slight hesitation is the chasm between the two types of performers.
When we think of our career choices as games it helps remind us of a few things…
-it’s easier to think of games as our own choices, not things that happen to us
-it’s just a game, it’s not personal (at least not as much as some of us wish it was)…games are an invitation to hold it lighter
-it’s clearer to see who is playing the same game and who isn’t
The games we choose to play are more important than we often realize, and less personal than they often feel.