There is a pattern I see happening frequently these days – people who start strong but somehow fall off track and don’t seem to know how to regain their momentum. Their failure stems from a misunderstanding regarding one of the hardest questions they neglect to ask while riding high in the spotlight and that is, What will you do next?
To answer the question, here is my advice: it’s simple yet one of the hardest things most will ever do. My suggestion is to learn to move. You truly need to move – emotionally, mentally, and physically.
Friend, you need to take action now… because if you remain inactive, you’ll atrophy.
I like the definitions for Move: To take action; proceed, to advance or progress, to be active in a particular sphere. to set or keep in motion, to change from one place or position to another, to prompt, actuate, or impel to some action
For many the concept of Move for your sanity, safety, and your future will transport you to the next logical question of, “Move Where” or “How.”
The simplest and the hardest is for you to Keep Working. The hardest thing you will do is to keep working on your dreams and goals. Granted it may be a smaller venue than you had hoped for, but I have seen and learned by being on the stage myself… sometimes a smaller more intimate setting will allow you to bond with your audience in a way that your old self and style would not allow and once they see you – just as you are, many times, they will become raving fanatical fans for life and raving fans tell others.
A while back I saw a TV interview with a moderately known country star, who had decided to step out from what she had known for years and forge a path into the unknown and test the territory with new friends, a new home, a new world, new life. As I watched her on the talk show circuit for a few days and followed her on X (for a day) it was obvious to me that the lights on her career were fading fast.
Unfortunately, her audience, who had once loved her, has been cut in half (imagine that… less than half the seats are now filled when she hits the stage).
And what was more amazing to me is that weeks after the interview there was only one small news story about her and her new life – talk about the lights fading to black. So now, after her big debut, she is left standing alone in the shadow of her once bright future. And from where I sit, it appears to me that no one cared enough to compel her to answer the question – What’s Next?
Because now the talk shows are over, the magazine’s covers are done, the book tour was launched and is now over, and she has faded to black.
Oddly it broke my heart that neither she nor her agent crafted a plan for her future. And because I see this cycle happen so often… I bet it won’t be long before she’ll soon stifle back tears on her next interview (if there is one) because without the white-hot spotlight, it’s cold and the loneliness will be more than she ever bargained for and harder than she ever imagined. And the most AMAZING part is this… it could have been avoided if she had a workable plan in place.
If asked, my advice to her would have been, have you thought about what’s next?
Once you wrap your head around the understanding that it will not be like it was and that’s okay as long as you’re making some movement in the right direction you will come to understand although different it is very much the same.
Don’t misunderstand me, it will take a while for the old audience, who really did love you, to find you, but they will and the new ones you find along the way will be your raving fans. And one thing I can tell you from experience is this – from the stage I routinely see a more loyal audience the second time around.
Have you thought about it? In this economy and in these times have you thought about, What Will You Do Next?
I doubt you have and that’s okay as long as you take a few minutes NOW to reflect on that phrase and answer it.
As a presentation coach, I prepare people for their big day, their big speech, and their big debut as they step into the light. But I would be remiss, as their friend, if I didn’t look out across the landscape of their life and yell into the vastness of what could be and ask the hardest question I know, which is… Friend, What Will You Do Next? When the lights have faded and your audience has moved to the next breakout session, or keynote, or workshop, or TEDx talk. You will be alone as you leave the venue, pack your suitcase, and head to the airport.
This question is constantly in my head because I see the broken, tearful, washed-up results all the time (and honestly as a coach it breaks my heart), with clients, in business, on stage, and on television.
Most people never think about Next because they are so busy in the Now. Just remember the cameras will leave and the magazines will move on to the next pretty face and the crowd who clamored for you once will shuffle away looking for the next big thing… I see it all the time.
Please don’t misunderstand me, I do not hope for failure in any way for those who find themselves on the outside looking in on what used to be their amazing life. My hope, for the moderately known country star and others, is that they find their footing to change the world as they see fit.
As your coach the survival tip is simple, just like the life raft that will carry you to safety when the ship sinks, you’ve just got to remember to pack it… and that takes advanced planning and the strength to move.
Like you, I appreciate the Now but to protect your future please tell me what’s your plan for Next.
