Stage fright is one of the most common fears for performers. Learn some ways to help you get over it.
How to Overcome Stage Fright
What I know is important for you to do is for you to believe in yourself and believe in the end result that you want to achieve. You’ve got to believe in your goal. Believe in yourself. If you know that you are shaped with the talent to be an actor or singer and you know in your heart that that is what you’re meant to be then you have to visualize yourself actually doing it and then take the steps towards doing it and don’t let yourself be held back by your own fear or your own worry that it would not happen or you’ll fail at it or you would not succeed. Every single thing that you try to do in life, you’re going to fail some of the time. You’re going to succeed other times. Nothing is perfect. But you keep moving in that direction.
Believe In Yourself
When I was a young kid, I knew that I wanted to be a singer, I could see myself singing on television. I could hear myself singing on records. I could see the records. I knew I was going to have it. Back in my day, just a few short years ago, we used to have something called 45s. It’s a record. If you’re young and you’re reading this, you may never have even seen a record. I don’t even know. I mean right now you have DVDs or CDs. And you pop your CD into your CD player or maybe even an mp3 or your iPod and you don’t even have a physical thing.
But when I was a kid growing up, I had 45s, which were vinyl things that music was burned on to and you play it on a record player. And it would have the name of the record label, Chrysalis or EMI or Capital or Motown and it would have the name of the artist. And I always saw myself having records. I knew I was going to be on records. I knew it. And I had that belief so deep inside myself. It’s what made me take action all those years to do those workshops, to do those seminars, and push through my fear and make us sing a song and get it just to keep moving forward in my dreams.
And I remember the day that record label sent home my first 45. And I remember I was so excited and so happy because I had a 45 in my hand that I was singing on. I could put it on the record player, put the needle on the record and listen to myself sing. I knew it was going to happen. And I was committed to that happening because I visualized it. I knew it in my heart, in my soul, it was going to happen.
In fact, I’ve sung on 66 of them. I’ve sung on 66 CDs over the years. Because I believe in my heart and soul that I was going to be a singer and no matter how scared I was of standing up in front of people, I knew I was going to be a singer. And I was willing to take whatever action I had to do to become confident and capable of going in front of other people and singing, singing on stage, singing in public, singing in front of an audience, singing on a music video, singing in the studio. I knew I was a singer. I was born to sing and I was going to sing. Period. End of story.
Now, I don’t have to be Dolly Parton or Lionel Richie, Rihanna, or Whitney Houston. Do you know what my success is? This is my success. I’ve sung on over 66 CDs. I’ve made t hundreds and thousands of dollars. I’ve traveled the world. I’ve done what I came here to do which is to share my talent and I’m not even nearly done yet because now, I’m producing my new movie. I’m also producing the soundtrack of it, of which I sing on it.
Visualize Your Dream
My suggestion to you is that you train your mind. You have to train yourself to believe that you are capable of achieving the results you want to achieve. You have to know in no uncertain terms that you’re going to be the success that you see yourself being. I used to listen to tapes at night to talk about how to be successful. I used to listen to meditation tapes that were subliminal that had a subliminal message in it that would tell me I could be successful. Whatever you have to do to build yourself up to believe in yourself enough, to keep taking action and keep taking action and believing in your end result, that’s what you have to do.
One of my favorite mind trainers is Tony Robbins. I’ve listened to his tapes and CDs and his concept that you have to believe one hundred percent in what you see yourself doing and that belief has to be like no matter, without a shadow of a doubt, I am convinced that this can happen, that this is going to happen. Then you take massive action because you know that that’s going to happen. You take the action, you get the result, and then that result makes you believe even harder that that can happen, which makes you take even more massive action which gives you more massive results, which makes you believe that even more can happen. And that’s a self-fulfilling prophecy. The more you believe, the more action you take, the more results you attain, the more belief you have.
But that can work in the opposite also. As Tony Robbins would tell you if you don’t really believe it’s possible you’re going to be a famous singer or successful singer or an actor, so you just take a little bit of action and then you don’t get really great results and you go, “See? I told you.” Then you don’t really believe as much and then you take even less action and you don’t get very many results and then you start to doubt yourself. That’s a self-fulfilling prophecy too and that will spiral down until you become nothing.
Be In Charge Of Your Own Mind
You have to break free of what everyone else says you are capable of, what you can or cannot achieve. No one can tell you who you are going to be in this world. No one can tell you what you can or cannot achieve. Somebody who is envious of you is going to tell you, “You can’t do it.” Somebody who is afraid and would not take action will tell you, “You can’t achieve it even if you do take the action.” You know what? They don’t know what you’re capable of. You don’t even know what you’re capable of.
But within you is the power. You have full unlimited potential to be whatever you decide to be. You’ve been gifted with certain things that make you better at it naturally than others. Your job is to train it so that it’s so under your command that you can do it the best that you can do better than almost anybody else. And then believe that you are capable of achieving great things. See yourself. Visualize yourself walking on the set. Visualize yourself as a series regular on a TV show, walking in and saying hi to the cameraman and hi to the tech people. Everybody knows your name. And you go in your dressing room and your name is on the dressing room and you sit down and get your hair and makeup done. You have your cup of coffee and you’re reading your scripts because in a few minutes you know you’re going to go out there and you’re going to shoot your first scene for the day.
See yourself doing the work. See yourself in collaboration with the director and the producers and doing good work. See all those people you’re working with happy, with smiles on their faces, glad that you’re on the set that day. See yourself leaving good night and go on in your car driving your Porsche home and you’re living in your house in Malibu on the beach. And see yourself tucking yourself into bed overlooking the ocean and knowing that you’re doing what you are capable of doing. And then thank God for those opportunities and another day to do it. And see yourself getting up the next morning and going to do it.
You have to visualize it. See yourself writing a song and giving it to a record producer who says, “This is an amazing song.” See that record producer recording that song with you. See yourself singing that song with all your heart and soul. See that song being given to a record executive and they love the song so much they put it on a CD and set it out as a single and they put it on a soundtrack to a movie or as the theme of a television show. See that song be listened to by millions of people. See yourself driving in your car turning on the radio and hearing that song. See yourself performing that song live in front of millions of people. See it on television, you doing the video. See it all.
You are capable of all of that. You are capable of anything you put your mind to and you just got to believe it, you’ve got to see it, visualize it, and get out of your own way. Always take contrary action. If you don’t feel like doing it, do it anyway. If you’re scared, feel the fear and do it anyway.
Listen to subliminal tapes. Get around other people that are doing it. Listen to people who are powerful and who can teach you and train you and show you how to be successful. Become who you are meant and destined to be. You are capable of anything and everything you put your mind to. No one else is writing this path of your life except you and God. That’s the only people involved if God is a people. That’s the only people involved with your success in life, you and God.
If you believe it, you can make it happen. If you don’t believe it, you would not make it happen. So you’ve got to work really hard to believe in yourself, believe in your goal, believe in your abilities, and believe in the end result of amazing things happening for you because they can.
And that is my wish for you that you will have the strength and follow through on everything you dream of making happen. I wish you peace and love on your journey and know that I believe in you and I want you to be successful. I want you to manifest your full potential. So give it everything you’ve got and have a fabulous, beautiful life that you deserve.
