Nervousness and confidence and the power of being you

Business hacks are life hacks. Art imitates life. Art life is life life. I promise I’m going somewhere with this.

First, a quick housekeeping note: Most posts on Your Intermittent Lex are free. There are sometimes posts just for paying subscribers. Most paid posts don’t even email free subscribers, because I don’t want to clog up your inboxes with posts you can’t read all of.

Photo by Matthew Menendez on Unsplash

But business sense requires that sometimes free subscribers need to see premium posts, or they’ll never upgrade. A couple of you will be annoyed by posts like these and unsubscribe, and I’ll get an email notification that you’ve done so, and I’ll feel bad. Ideally, though, one of you will get motivated to upgrade, and I’ll feel like overall, the system works. You take the good, you take the bad.

Earlier this weekend, I auditioned for a musical. A nearby theater is putting on a production of Avenue Q, one of my absolute favorite musicals — it involves puppets and profanity! — and I’ve been planning my audition for months. A couple trusted friends I spoke to prior to the actual audition mentioned to me that they weren’t used to seeing me nervous. And indeed, I was nervous: I really want to get cast in specific roles in this show, I relish the idea of being on stage puppeteering with Muppet-inspired voices, and auditions are high-stakes, one-and-done deals.

Of course, I aimed to exude confidence when I walked into the audition itself. But I was thinking about my nervousness, and why I’m often less nervous in even a big business meeting, and I have a few thoughts to share. Let’s dive in.