Some one asked Al Jolson, a popular musical comedy star of the twenties, what he did to warm up a cold audience. Jolson answered, “Whenever I go up before an audience and don’t get the response I feel that I ought to get… I don’t go back behind the scenes and say to myself, ‘That audience is dead from the neck up – it’s a bunch of wooden nutmegs.’ No, instead I say to myself, ‘Look here, Al, what is wrong with you tonight? The audience is all right, but you’re all wrong, Al.'”
Many performer has blamed a poor showing on an audience. Al Jolson took a different approach. He tried to give the best performance of his career to his coldest, most unresponsive audiences. . . And the result was that before an evening was over, he had them applauding and begging for more.
We’ll always be able to find excuses for mediocrity. In fact, a person intent on justifying a bad performance usually has excuses lined up before the final curtain falls. Choose instead to put our full energy into our performance. Our extra effort will turn an average performance into something outstanding.
Ah!… the joys of a job well done… that is true satisfaction.
EVERY JOB IS A SELF-PORTRAIT OF THE PERSON WHO DOES IT.
AUTOGRAPH YOUR WORK WITH EXCELLENCE.
Credit: From the desk of Harry Sudarma.
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