Give Your Best Performance Even When Nobody’s Watching

There’s a local coffee shop that I’ve fallen in love with during my short time of living in North Richland Hills. I’m so sick of Starbucks and I’m always looking for alternatives wherever I go. However, like it or not, Starbucks is good at what it does. Unfortunately, that means that they make it incredibly difficult for the local coffee shops to survive. But there’s one that I try to visit whenever I can — Roots Coffeehouse on Highway 26.

One reason I love Roots is their live music. Every Friday and Saturday night, artists get to stand on their small stage located at the front of the shop and play a few tunes. It’s free for the customers and it’s a pleasant way to spend a weekend night. I love music but can’t afford to go to concerts as often as I’d like, so the price is perfect for me! And it’s only a few miles from my place, it beats driving all the way to Dallas.

Recently I went on a Saturday night. Minus the baristas, there were only three people present. One was yours truly and one was a guy waiting to play his acoustic set. I have no idea who in the hell the other guy was. In my short time of going to Roots, I’d never seen it so empty. As the 8 o’clock showtime approached, I wondered if the artist would play his set. And when 8 o’clock rolled around, he did.

I’m sure he wasn’t particularly excited about the lack of crowd, but he proceeded to do his thing. And he didn’t halfass it. He played with enthusiasm and dedication, nothing sloppy. The artist talked to “the crowd” and thanked us for coming out. And, by the way, his voice was pretty good, even if he was fighting off some allergies.

How many people might not have performed under such circumstances? How many people would have let the awkwardness of the situation discourage them? How many times have you slacked off when no one was watching? How many times have I done the same? How many times have we passed on this moment to shine — those rare opportunities that we have to make a name for ourselves?

Everybody knows who Michael Jordan is. He’s often heralded as the greatest basketball player that the world has ever seen. His resume is very impressive: 6-time NBA champion, 5 league MVP awards, 14 NBA All Star game appearances, 10 scoring titles, three steals titles, and 1988 NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award, to name a few (thank you,Wikipedia). All of that is impressive. But another thing Jordan is often given credit for is playing his heart out in practice. Legend has it that he was just as competitive when the primetime lights were off, when the rest of the country wasn’t watching. How many players truly do that? Allen Iverson never did.

Are you thinking about starting your own venture in the future? Or are you in the beginning phases right now? Guess what, nobody’s watching. But if you keep performing and catch the right person’s eye, maybe the word will spread and more people than you could possibly imagine will be watching someday. If you expect people to care, you’ve got to give them something to care about. And nobody cares about that guy who halfasses it. You’ve got to perform hard. Always.

Oh and if you’re wondering who I was talking about who kicked ass at Roots on that Saturday night, his name is Israel Gonzales. Give him a shot, you might like what you hear.

Tagged as: perform, performance