You’ve just rehearsed your big presentation in front of your boss.

Hours of prep went into it.

You were nervous but you did your best.

And you know what? You think you did pretty good.

(You even improvised a great little joke.)

Your boss pulls you aside…

…and proceeds to give you pages and pages of specific notes.

Improvements. Words to change. Things to make clearer. When to pause.

You know the notes are there to help you…

but you can’t help but feel a little overwhelmed.

I had this exact experience after a final rehearsal for a theatre show.

We did a full run.

Then our director sat us down.

And we all had detailed notes to take into opening night.

I’m a perfectionist.

I take pride in my work as an actor.

So I scribbled every note down.

Trying to capture each valuable takeaway.

But with each passing bullet point…

I felt less and less able to actually make any of these changes.

By the end, I was holding it together.

Telling myself I’d re-read everything later that night.

Then again in the morning.

All while fighting the panic of trying to integrate this into a performance…

in front of hundreds of people the next night.

Our director ended the session with a smile.

He knew it was a lot.

We all knew it was to make the show better.

Then he said something that completely removed the weight sitting on my chest:
“Look guys, I don’t expect you to get all these right tomorrow night — or ever.
And as you’re performing you’ll notice you’ve missed some bits and nailed others… that’s okay.
All these notes are in service of one thing: finding the life.
All we’re asking is… is it alive?”

Is it alive.

That was it.

The notes and adjustments were only ever there to find the life.

There are hundreds of details and hours of work that go into anything we do.

When I’m in the classroom, this is true.

When I’m acting on stage, this is true.

But it’s all in service of just one thing: life.

We’re just bringing the thing to life.

We want the people we’re working with to feel something.

To connect to it.

That’s it.

I love pouring energy and passion into the details.

But there comes a point where you have to let it go…

and come back to one question:

Is it alive?