It's Showtime!

One of the most common questions that I get concerning myself is where do you get so much energy? “You travel all around the world. You have 11 million frequent-flyer miles.” And people won't say this, "And you're old — where do you get so much energy? How do you do this?" Well, I do a little chant before I go to work, a little chant that always helps me get energy. And I'm going to teach this little chant right now. It goes like this: "There's no business like show business, like no business I know!"

Every day before I go to work, I do one thing — I tell myself it’s showtime.

It's showtime!

And I use this example with my CEO clients. You might ask, ‘What does that mean?’ Well, I ask him a question, "Have you ever been to a Broadway play before?" Have you ever been to a Broadway play, and did you ever hear that actor say, 'my foot hurts'? 'My aunt died last week'? 'I have a headache'? Nope. Why not? It's showtime! They go out there night after night after night after night after night and bust their butts. Why? “It's showtime!”

Well, Mr. or Ms. CEO, you're getting paid much more than they are. So guess what? If this kid can get out there night after night after night after night, so can you. The greatest leaders I've ever met in my life — Alan Malally, Francis Hesselbein and Peter Drucker — I've known these people for 30, 40 years each. How many times have I ever seen them act whiny, pathetic, down, “Poor me?” Answer: zero. Why? Every day, they go to work, they say: “It's showtime.”

Now, a very important point. That's not being a phony. That's being a professional.

One of the people in my 100 Coaches group, Telly Leung, played the role of Aladdin on Broadway literally 1,000 times. He was Aladdin for 1,000 nights. Years, he played this role. One day, we're in a group with my Life Plan Review group, and one of the people there was the CEO of a big company. And she said, "Oh, I had to make this presentation on raising money 16 times." I said, "Wah, wah, wah; 16 times you had to do the same thing.” I asked Telly, "Tell me, how many nights did you play Aladdin?" And he said, "About 1,000." I said to the CEO, "Quick complaining. 16's not so bad. He did 1,000.”

So I asked Telly another question. "Telly, how do you motivate yourself every night?" And he told a very moving story. He said he was a little, frail guy and maybe didn't have the easiest childhood in the world. And he said he was an 8-year old boy and went to a play on Broadway, and it was so touching and truly a magical experience for him. “And I loved it so much,” he said.” And it was really so moving for me and wonderful. So every night I go out there on stage, I think of that little kid. Every night, I say, ‘This show is for you!’ And it might be the 1000th time I've done this show. But it's the first time this kid has heard the show.”

That's a very great way to look at life.