I admit it. I’m a sucker for those YouTube clips from shows like America’s Got Talent, X-Factor, etc, where you see an awkward looking misfit who \u00a0works the fast-food window as their day job get up on stage and the judges all roll their eyes as if they just KNOW it’s going to suck – then the misfit belts out a tune that takes the entire room by surprise. I’m sure you’ve seen one at some point.<\/p>\n
Why are we so taken by those moments?<\/p>\n
It’s because deep down, we know that we ARE that person.<\/p>\n
No, we are not all capable of belting out a tune and making the room cheer, but I believe everybody – and I mean every single one of us – has something special to offer the world, if we would only be courageous enough to get up on that stage.<\/p>\n
I’ve always enjoyed working with talent. Through the years, I’ve discovered many good ones, and helped others that were already discovered get better. \u00a0And the secret is really simple – the talent usually knows the answer in their gut and for whatever reason (usually fear) they don’t listen to that internal voice. I simply teach them to listen to that voice and follow that instinct. One of my mentors, BJ Harris, who is a very successful morning host at KALC in Denver, used to say “follow your gut – it’s right 90% of the time, and those are pretty good odds.” And when I worked for him back in the day at WFLZ in Tampa, he actually let me do it. But what made him a great mentor wasn’t the fact that he let me follow my gut… but rather, the 10% of the time that my gut was wrong, he let me learn from it. It was okay to make a mistake and actually learn from it! And he didn’t crucify me for it. It was because of this environment that I took chances and knew that I could get up on that stage and go for it.<\/p>\n
You have something special to offer the world. I bet deep down you actually know what it is, but you ignore it or drown it in a sea of excuses. You are scared – worried what your friends might think, worried what your boss might think, or perhaps worried that you’ll fail. Don’t listen to “them”….\u00a0Get up on that stage and show the world what you are made of!<\/p>\n
Here’s the best part. Technology has given everybody a stage of their own. There are no gatekeepers anymore. You don’t need a transmitter… or a fancy camera… it has never been easier to show the world your gift.<\/p>\n
I’m convinced that a lot \u00a0of the unhappiness in this world is due to people knowing their true calling deep down, but doubting themselves and accepting “just getting by” as their reality. \u00a0Greatness is a decision.<\/p>\n
The clock is ticking…. get up on that stage!<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I admit it. I’m a sucker for those YouTube clips from shows like America’s Got Talent, X-Factor, etc, where you see an awkward looking misfit who \u00a0works the fast-food window as their day job get up on stage and the judges all roll their eyes as if they just KNOW it’s going to suck – […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5i4nE-x","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":46,"url":"https:\/\/www.domtheodore.com\/?p=46","url_meta":{"origin":33,"position":0},"title":"Motivation","author":"admin","date":"November 23, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"High achievers are motivated by more than just financial compensation. Sure, a good sized paycheck is a motivator, but there are many people in this industry that are well paid and still miserable. Author Daniel Pink wrote a great book on this very subject called \"Drive: The Surprising Truth About\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":123,"url":"https:\/\/www.domtheodore.com\/?p=123","url_meta":{"origin":33,"position":1},"title":"Real Solutions for Radio","author":"admin","date":"October 28, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"One of the most talked about sessions at this year's NAB Radio Show was a presentation on listener's reactions to long stopsets. The presentation included video of the listener's real time reactions to an 11-minute commercial break. Now, I'm sincerely not trying to be sarcastic... but is the state of\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 3 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 3 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.domtheodore.com\/?p=123#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":116,"url":"https:\/\/www.domtheodore.com\/?p=116","url_meta":{"origin":33,"position":2},"title":"The Day Innovation Stopped","author":"admin","date":"March 10, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Where were you the day that innovation stopped? As someone who has been programming radio stations for a long time, I've been blessed to work with some of the best talent in the industry. I've also witnessed some massive mistakes made by upper management that are the roots of many\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 4 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 4 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.domtheodore.com\/?p=116#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":97,"url":"https:\/\/www.domtheodore.com\/?p=97","url_meta":{"origin":33,"position":3},"title":"Radio’s Experimental Roots","author":"admin","date":"December 5, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Yes, it has been a while since I've written anything here. This was partially due to the fact that I feel like I'm preaching to the choir on this platform. Most of the readers here \"get it\" - but the people who need to hear this message the most -\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 1 comment","block_context":{"text":"With 1 comment","link":"https:\/\/www.domtheodore.com\/?p=97#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":64,"url":"https:\/\/www.domtheodore.com\/?p=64","url_meta":{"origin":33,"position":4},"title":"What makes you special?","author":"admin","date":"January 6, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"One of my favorite questions to ask a talent in an interview is \"what makes your show special?\" This is a basic question that shouldn't catch talent off-guard, but nine times out of ten, it does. Then I watch them reach for the \"stock\" answers - \"I work really hard\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":44,"url":"https:\/\/www.domtheodore.com\/?p=44","url_meta":{"origin":33,"position":5},"title":"Hot and Cold Radio Stations","author":"admin","date":"November 16, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"There's nothing worse than a \"cold\" radio station. You know the kind I'm talking about. Sure, the imaging is super-clean. The music may be good. The jocks are probably tight and do a great job promoting the upcoming contest. The promos are well produced and slick. But the station has\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"disrupt\"","block_context":{"text":"disrupt","link":"https:\/\/www.domtheodore.com\/?tag=disrupt"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.domtheodore.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.domtheodore.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.domtheodore.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.domtheodore.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.domtheodore.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=33"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.domtheodore.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34,"href":"https:\/\/www.domtheodore.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33\/revisions\/34"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.domtheodore.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=33"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.domtheodore.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=33"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.domtheodore.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=33"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}