Great Expectations

Raising yours and theirs…

~~~

What do your listeners expect when they listen to you?

What do you expect of yourself?

How often do you leave the studio disappointed in yourself?

How often do your listeners leave you feeling you let them down today, that you weren’t quite yourself?

The point of what you do for a living is not to make it through 4 or 5 hours without making a “mistake.” And it’s not to make it out of the studio without seeing the Hot Line light up.

The point of your job is to make a difference in the lives of those who choose to lsiten to you.

Remember how you felt the very first time you were allowed to go on the air? What were you hoping then?

If you don’t expect more of yourself now than the very first time you did this, you’re not worthy of the stage you command.

And if your expectation is more about your glibness or lack of mistakes, you have set the bar way too low.

Your job is to make people notice you, to demand attention, not by being an ass, but by using words, and music, and sounds, and as my friend, Tom Pagnotti, pointed out last week, silence, to grab my heart.

Your job is to make me forget that I can’t pay my bills this month.

Your job is to find a way to make me smile when you point out the irony here and the absurdity there; to transport me to the past, before failed relationships, and illness, and loss; to shine a light on a brighter future by sharing hope and understanding that we will make it there, and be stronger for what we’ve survived. The past and the future are connected in our brains, you know.

Your job is to remind me of life’s blessings, and to challenge me to be better than I am without you.

Your job is to make me feel.

And if you can’t expect that of yourself, how can you expect anyone out there listening to care whether you’re on the air today?