A Great Definition of a Good Performance

“A good performance is not manufactured behavior. It is genuine behavior in a manufactured setting.”

—Michael Port from Episode 203 of the Smart Passive Income Podcast

I listened to this episode of Pat Flynn’s wonderful podcast quite a while ago but this quote stuck with me. Michael Port is the author of a great book called Book Yourself Solid that taught me an awful lot about booking myself as a freelancer.

Being genuine is a hard thing to define but reminds me of a famous quote by former Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart. In a 1964 case he avoided trying to define “hard-core” pornography but famously said “but I know it when I see it.”

Being genuine is the same way. It’s a hard thing to define but I sure can spot it from the next room when someone is not being genuine.

During my time in Boston Brass, all five members of the group got on the microphone at least once during every concert. The only time any of us ever struggled on the mic was when we were trying to be something that we’re not. When I would try to be as funny as my colleague Lance LaDuke, which I’m not. When I would try to be as direct with the audience as my colleague JD Shaw, which I can’t pull off. Not that it was cringe-worthy or anything, it just wasn’t me.

This brings me back to Michael Port’s definition of a good performance. It is not manufacturing behavior for the sake of that performance. It is being yourself within the manufactured setting that define the performance. And that comes from practice and reps and more practice.

Miles Davis once famously said “Man, sometimes it takes you a long time to sound like yourself.” That is true as a musician and that is also true of all other kinds of performers. As a speaker, a lecturer, a teacher, a coach, a consultant.

The freeing thing is that all we have to do is get good at acting like ourselves in a weird, restricted and manufactured environment. It would be a lot harder if we had to learn how to be someone else on top of that.