By Mike Johnson
I never performed on Broadway.
But I notched 2,500 performances on Roadway.
I wrote and performed a two-person show starring my wife and I.
Our stage was a moving trolley.
Despite being an introvert, I became a successful actor.
Our show was part tour, part history, part entertainment, part demonstration, part comedy.
The show sold-out 90% of the time, filling 38 seats, three to five times per day, June through September.
It was like a Vegas residency on wheels.
We ran the show for nine years then sold the business.
This past summer, it completed its 23rd year.
I never thought of myself as an actor.
I identified as an entrepreneur.
Starting the trolley tour business forced me to become an actor.
It also forced me to be a writer, researcher, producer, publisher, marketer, salesman, visionary, founder, accountant, manager, personnel director, ad agency, spokesman and driver.
After a lifetime of adventures, it’s easy to forget large swaths of activity and talent.
This past weekend, I was admiring a friend's website that showcases her speaking and singing performances. Good for her!
Then I suddenly remembered I'd been a performer too.
My "acting gig" was only possible after an accumulation of other experience. One thing leads to another.
And if it doesn’t, the confidence gained from past experience provides the courage to make the leap to something totally new.
None of our experience is ever wasted, even things that went haywire.
In fact, “haywire” provides the best learning of all.
Life is a glorious mess. It's a hodgepodge of experience in a whirlpool of bedlam.
Connect your dots of experience, and blessing of blessings, you find order in the chaos.
Deep inside, we're all actors.
Go forth and create your own best performance.
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More:
Under the Direction of Ron Howard
How We Turned a Broken Coffee Machine Into Millions
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