When I began teaching, one of my colleagues impressed me with her hard work and satisfaction on a job well-done. Several times I witnessed my colleague flop into her chair, flail her arms, while deeply sighing and proclaim, “I did it again! I just gave the best performance!” Yup, she just finished a lesson on double-digit addition for her classroom of 27 second grade students. She nailed it! And it was truly, in her mind, an Oscar-winning performance.
Bruno Mars seems to have that same love of a job well-done. His Super Bowl performances and latest Grammytribute to Prince can be summed up to one word – brilliant! In his interview on 60 Minutes, he explains, “I just really care about what people see. I want them to know that I’m working hard for this. The artists that I look up to like, you know, Michael, Prince, James Brown. You watch them and you understand that they’re paying attention to the details of their art. And they care so much about what they’re wearing, about how they’re moving, about how they’re making the audience feel. They’re not phoning it in.”
So apparently, the question we need to always remember is this, are we giving brilliant performances or are we just phoning it in?
Personally, I fall into the trap of thinking great performances, and in turn, success, just falls from the sky to a lucky few. I often forget that for most of us, success doesn’t fall from the sky, it’s built from every little brilliant performance we give.
This past week Denzel Washington offered a reality check for those who still believe that success is being in the right place at the right time.
In his NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture acceptance speech, Denzel motivated all of us to keep getting up when we fall no matter how many times that happens. He then closed his speech with, “Ease is a greater threat to progress than hardship, so keep moving, keep growing, keep learning. See you at work.”
Want to be brilliant? You can be even if you are the only one privy to your performance. Pay attention to the details, look at mistakes as growth opportunities, and use your passion to give Oscar winning performances that brings out the brilliance of you.