Lessons From Theater

Lesson 1: Leave your problems at the stage door

There are so many things that my education and experience in theater has taught me. One of the first lessons I learned was to leave my problems at the stage door.

I had a director who would make us pretend to take off a backpack full of problems and leave it on the ground when we entered the theater for rehearsals.

As a matter of habit, whenever I have personal problems bogging me down, I find a way to “leave them at the stage door” when I go to work. Being creative, listening, being open to others’ suggestions and being “on” don’t work well with a lot of personal baggage in the front of my mind.

So when I come into work every morning, I badge in through a security door. The physical act of badging in accompanied by a deep breath is my cue to leave any external problems at the door. It doesn’t mean they’re gone, and it doesn’t mean they aren’t somewhere in my mind. It just means that they are taking a backseat to the work I need to accomplish.