What Musician John Butler Taught Me About Handling Stage Fright
It's not everyday you get to meet one of your favourite musicians, so when that opportunity arises I recommend doing the following:
A) Get the photo
B) Ask the question you will regret not asking when the chance has passed
Which is exactly what I did. For a few years I was on the production team for TEDxSydney here in Australia, and for our first year in the Sydney Opera House we had John Butler as our closing musician. This meant that I got to weasel my way backstage to do points A, and B as listed above.
Point A (yours truly in the middle, John on the right and musician Jeff Lang on the left):
Point B:
As I was starting my career in public speaking, I asked John how he handles his on-stage nerves given he plays for sold out arenas and festivals all over the world. His response was priceless. John said "man I've got some great tips that will help you out... but the problem is, because I am about to go on stage, I am so nervous that I have forgotten them all".
... brilliant.
After we laughed (my laughter had a hint of confusion) he went on to explain that every single time he goes out on stage he is incredibly nervous, because he CARES about what hes about to perform. He said he doesn't believe that anyone truly passionate about what they do will just go out there and effortlessly perform or present and slide back off stage like nothing happened. He said, quite frankly that if he "doesn't crap his pants, he's either not doing the right thing, or not doing the right thing with enough passion".
Theres a moral for you!
Heres John Butler, crapping his proverbial pants shortly after our conversation:
Thanks for following!
Josh :)
Insta @joshuastinton
So no tips then? Just crap yourself. ^_^
Haha @cryptobiker well that in itself was his tip to me (hence my confused laughing in the post) - he taught me to find comfort in the discomfort because if I am nervous I will know I am doing the right thing :)
So that, and the photo was all I got! Haha
Wise words right there! :) It's easy to not be nervous when you're not passionate. I get nervous over the smallest things sometimes just because I'm a perfectionist and pour myself into every project, large or small. But when everything turns out amazingly, I know it was worth the nerves! Just be happy with the final product knowing that you put everything you could into it.
Couldn't agree more @supergoodliving - even if you trip over your words / or detail of a project / etc - just knowing you genuinely care about what you're doing and giving 100% makes it a success from the beginning. :)