Don’t Hit the Snooze Button on Your Performance Career

Well, it looks like I’m way overdue on quoting a line from the great 2005 movie “The Wedding Crashers.”  (I cited the film previously in an October 2014 and a January 2015 blog.)  It’s one that’s so popular that they’ve printed it on t-shirts.  Vince Vaughn’s character says, “Rule number 76:  No excuses.  Play like a champion!”

This line came to mind after a conversation I had last week with a podcaster who currently doesn’t have a show “on the air.”  He had launched his first episode in March 2015 and 19 months later only had released 20 episodes of what, no, was not a monthly podcast.

As our conversation unfolded about how that happens to someone, he – I'm paraphrasing – said that with regards to the challenge of sticking to a regular publishing schedule, once you miss one, it becomes easier to miss another.  Of course, as someone who has delivered a new episode on-time, every week for over four years now, I say, no, “Rule number 76: No excuses.  Play like a champion!”

It makes me think of performers, of course, and how this extends to that group.

Let’s say you have a co-write scheduled.  Or maybe you’re booked for a block of time at the recording studio.  Gosh, dare I say, there might even be a gig that you’re booked for that for whatever reason you just really are not looking forward to playing – at all.  Do NOT cancel any of these.  Take it from the aforementioned podcaster – once you miss one, it, unfortunately, will become easier to miss another.

Let’s play out the recording studio example.  You decide you just don’t want to go.  Maybe it’s a rainy day or a Monday (or both) and you feel you’d rather stay in bed instead of go out and record.  Surely your fans, followers, family, and friends know that you are working on a new EP or full-length album.  Presumably you are even posting on social media from the studio and/or saying when your next session is.  It’s logical to also talk publicly about when you’re targeting the release of this new project.

Fast forward a month or three and now folks start to ask you how the new release is coming along.  Soon they’ll start saying, “So, (release date you’ve mentioned), huh?”  And then because you chose to crawl back under the covers once or twice or three times, you have to come up with a reason to tell them, “Umm, well, no, uh, actually, it’s looking more like (adjusted date) now.”

All the while, not only are you upsetting whoever you’re working with at the studio (developing a reputation of being unreliable), but, equally important is that other recording artists out there are forging ahead with their projects.  They’re staying on schedule.  And, they’re posting excited updates on social media that make you sink even deeper into disappointment.

So, the next time you feel like coming up with a reason to not do something, pull on your “Rule number 76: No excuses.  Play like a champion” t-shirt and get out there and deliver the music that you were so proud of when you first created it.  The feelings it will create within your listeners will be much more impactful than two extra hours of sleep.

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