The thing you put out there. It’s not going to be all of who you are. Know that going in. It’s simply one slice of a much bigger pie.
So two things that might seem to conflict but they go together…
It’s tempting to reveal more more more because there is so much more.
It’s tempting to believe that the image you put out there is all of who you are.
If you get offered the gig but you know you’re not the right fit…do you still take the gig?
Maybe you got it because you’re pals with the band leader, or because you’ve got great technical chops, or because you’re not risky, or because you have solid values, or no values, or because you were available, or because you look cool, or because you’re related to someone cool, or because you’ll put up with a lot of shenanigans.
But if you still know deep down you’re not the right fit, at what point do you pass on the offer?
You get to choose. (You survived before this gig, and you’ll survive if you turn it down.)
The answers are different for everyone…but you don’t need answers for everyone.
If you haven’t played…the celebrity game is where everyone on the team writes the name of a celebrity on a little piece of paper, all the names go in a hat, one person goes to the front and draws a name and has to get the team to guess the name. It’s basically celebrity charades.
The game got popular with my friends when I was in high school…and the people who were the best at the game weren’t professional actors. They weren’t actors, or impressionists, or Hollywood correspondents. They simply knew how to get their team on the same wavelength.
An encore isn’t going to happen if most of the band has already taken their in-ears out.
It’s almost impossible to get someone to play one more game after they’ve taken their shoes off.
The cook in your kitchen isn’t going to make you an omelette after the dishes are done.
It’s not hard to put ears back in, shoes back on, or heat up a skillet.
But there’s a mental off switch that goes along with each of these. That’s what’s hard to flip back the other way.