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[0:08] Patrick Oliver Jones: Hi there and welcome to another edition of Why I'll Never Make It Podcast.

[0:14] Patrick Oliver Jones: I'm your host, Patrick Oliver Jones, and Dewey is still out doing his show, so it's just gonna be you and me for yet another episode.

[0:22] Patrick Oliver Jones: And with this episode, as we started season two, I wanted to do a few different things, and one of those things was the spotlight series.

[0:31] Patrick Oliver Jones: And so I hope you've enjoyed getting to know the nonprofit organization Only Make Believe in the two episodes I've done of the Spotlight series so far.

[0:39] Patrick Oliver Jones: One of the things that I wanted to introduce is the mini episode or bite-size episode as I like to call it.

[0:45] Patrick Oliver Jones: And these are going to be short little episodes like this one. It's going to focus more on the two things that we love to talk about, which is why I'll never make it and why I'm still here.

[0:54] Patrick Oliver Jones: And it's a way to kind of dig more deeply into those two things that we like to talk about. And it also comes out of the knowledge that you and I don't have time to sit down for a 50 to 60 minute episode sometimes.

[1:07] Patrick Oliver Jones: So these little bite-sized nuggets are going to be a great way for me to impart some thoughts to you and get on with your day. Let's dig right in.

[1:17] Patrick Oliver Jones: Why I will never make it.

[1:25] Patrick Oliver Jones: So I don't know about you, but one of the biggest things that holds me back, one of the reasons why I'll never make it, is distractions.

[1:34] Patrick Oliver Jones: Distractions. Now they come in many different forms. Uh they can be just having a huge to-do list, and so you have a lot going on. You have to go here, then you have to go there, then you need to get this off your to-do list, then you need to go meet someone, and then someone else needs you to do this, and so there's a lot of distractions when it comes to just the busyness of life.

[1:54] Patrick Oliver Jones: But the distraction that I'm specifically talking about is a working distraction, or rather, the not working distraction. Things that get in the way of me doing what I need to do.

[2:09] Patrick Oliver Jones: And I don't know about you, but my biggest distraction is when it comes to my technology. Because I don't know about you, but I sit down to do one thing. Say I'm sitting at my laptop and I'm working on a task. I'm I'm for example, like I'm working on a post that I'm gonna put on on social media, and and that leads me to oh, right, I I need to add this picture so that I go looking for that picture, and that shows me something else.

[2:36] Patrick Oliver Jones: Like, oh right, I've been meaning to look up that show, and then I start looking up that show. Oh, yeah, who was in that show from a while back? Oh yeah, I should I should really look into the kind of music that they do. Oh, yeah, what if they and then 20 minutes later I'm checking email, and I was like, wasn't I just trying to look up content for a post? And so 20 minutes later, I finally come back to why I was originally doing it, and it's things like that that continually get in my way.

[3:07] Patrick Oliver Jones: Do this, Google distractions, and of course, it'll give you the definition of a distraction, but it also starts to go through some articles. There are a couple that stood out to me. One was from Harvard, and you know, if Harvard says to do something, then you know they probably know what they're talking about.

[3:23] Patrick Oliver Jones: But one of the biggest things that they talk about is minimizing distractions, and of course, what do they say? Get that phone and tablet away from you, put it in another room as you focus on the task at hand. And I think that that's one of the biggest things that I could do myself.

[3:40] Patrick Oliver Jones: Another article that I saw, it was actually it listed nine ever-present distractions that kind of keep us from doing what we're doing. And the first three I think particularly apply to us when it comes to performing and being in the arts.

[3:56] Patrick Oliver Jones: The first one was the promise of tomorrow, you know, looking forward to to what's there, looking forward to what's coming, and that distracts us from the present. And then the pursuit of perfection. Now, I will say that I'm not really, I like to call myself a lazy perfectionist because I want things done a certain way, but I sure as heck don't want to do it.

[4:19] Patrick Oliver Jones: I I want I want someone else to do it. Not that there is anyone else. I mean, hello, I'm standing here. So, you know, when it comes to tasks like this, it's pretty much me that needs to get stuff done. So I don't know who this phantom person is I want to delegate to, but uh I would love it if I could just pass some things on to other people.

[4:39] Patrick Oliver Jones: Um I will say that I get down into the detail minutiae, like the example I was giving before of working on, say, a post for social media. I'll get into like the specific font and where it goes in the post and putting it here and arranging the picture. Oh, let's change the picture, let's do it. And 30 minutes later, I've created a post that is just gonna go on Instagram.

[5:01] Patrick Oliver Jones: So it's not like it's not like my headshot that's gonna go out to casting directors or this or that. It's something that in my spare time I'm doing for fun, for enjoyment, and I am taking way too much detail, way too much time in creating it. So I don't know if that's a problem for you, but I certainly run into that in my own life.

[5:20] Patrick Oliver Jones: And the third one that this article mentions is really a big one for me. The regret of yesterday. That is that is definitely a distraction from the present, in that, for example, the audition that I had yesterday. You know, oh, I could have sung that note differently, or you know, wow, why why didn't I choose that different character choice? The doubt, the self-doubt that goes into decisions that I've made in the past and kind of reliving it.

[5:47] Patrick Oliver Jones: How would I do it better? And some of some of that is good. There's definitely a point to be had in figuring out how we can do things better, but there comes a point at which we need to let the past go and work on the present and make that as best as it can be.

[6:05] Patrick Oliver Jones: But getting back to that number one thing of technology, learning how to focus my energies onto a single task and not get distracted by email or oh, oh look, there's a notification on my phone, or whatever it is that constantly takes me away from what I'm doing.

[6:23] Patrick Oliver Jones: I'm sure many of you do some kind of work from home, whether it's you know, working on auditions or whether you're able to work away from the office and you're able to do it remotely at home. Working from home is tough for me. Is it tough for you? Because there's a multitude of distractions, whether it's oh, I'm hungry, so then I just go get something to eat, or you know, I notice something's out of place, I need to put that back, and then I'm doing laundry, and then I'm doing clothes, and then I'm putting this, and then you know, again, 20, 30 minutes go by, right?

[6:54] Patrick Oliver Jones: I was actually doing something. That is one of the biggest reasons why I will never make it because I can't seem to focus on the making it.

[7:11] Patrick Oliver Jones: So, one of the biggest reasons why I'm still here is a sense of community, a sense of belonging to something. The theater is one of those career fields, it's full of people that are all going for very individualistic, in some ways selfish goals, but not in a negative way, but just a very personal goal to them.

[7:32] Patrick Oliver Jones: Yet, even with all these individuals, we all have to bring our individual separate talents together to form a show or to make a film or to write a song. Whatever it is that we're working on really requires a team.

[7:48] Patrick Oliver Jones: And so, as much as we have our individual goals and passions, we have to come together and meld them somehow into a cohesive unit. And so a sense of community is so vitally important.

[8:03] Patrick Oliver Jones: It's not just in the people that I know, it's not just the people that are around me that I know. Because I I'm sure, much like you, yes, you have those people that you work with, but then there's also the people that you look up to, whether it's people you've seen in shows or on the screen, people that you highly respect for the work that they've done.

[8:22] Patrick Oliver Jones: And for me, one of those people is Marin Mazzie. I've really been thinking a lot about her because last month she lost her three-year battle with ovarian cancer. As much as I respected her and followed her and loved her work, over the last month, it's really kind of been more in the front and center of my brain and what I've been thinking about. I did get a chance to see her in Next to Normal. That was the first time I saw her on stage, and she happened to be working with her husband, Jason Danieley, as the show was finishing its Broadway run. And she also originated a role in Bullets Over Broadway, which I also got to see. In addition to Passion and Ragtime, she has had a storied career over the last 20, 25 years.

And it's really amazing the work that she's done. But even more than that, and that's something wonderful. I mean, she's been nominated for so many awards, Tony Awards, Drama Desk Awards, Outer Critic Circle Awards. And so that's something to look up to. But I think one of the biggest things to look up to is her spirit, her positive spirit that she brought to everything that she did. Now I never knew her; I only saw her in interviews and on stage. I did get to meet her once, which was quite thrilling. This was years ago for an opening night of a show I was in, and she and her husband Jason happened to be there. I met both of them, had a short conversation with them, but just a lovely couple, such a positive experience in those few minutes that I had with them.

But in reading about her, reading what other people say about her, I really got a sense that who she was in those few minutes that I spoke with her is really who she was in her life—this energetic person who was passionate about what she did but also brought with it such positive energy. And it really is amazing when you can meet people like that. I personally have great friends of mine who are in my life that have that kind of positive energy, and it's such a blessing to know people like that. And I'm sure that you have them too. I'm sure you can think right now of someone who always has that glass half-full attitude, someone who always has a positive thing to say, even when things may not seem or look so positive.

And so having a community, especially in this field, because as we all know, it is a tough industry to make it. I mean, that's the whole point. That's the whole reason for the name of this podcast, Why I'll Never Make It, because there are arguably more reasons to fail at this than there are to succeed. The odds are stacked against us. Only a select few, a fraction of a percent, really become stars. Then there's this larger group of people that kind of just make it, that just kind of keep going, that just, you know, we make a living. And then there's a larger group that kind of come and go, don't really make a living of it, have to do other things, or want to do other things. And so this is just a tough field to pursue.

It's a tough field to actually succeed in, and it's a tough field to stick with it for the long haul. And I hope that this podcast in some way kind of is a part of your community, is a part of a way for you to feel motivated and not feel so alone and feel a sense of belonging to something and to a greater community outside of just the world that you know. And so it's interesting that the passing of Marin Mazzie got me thinking about all of this and really seeing the people that I had around me, being more grateful for them, being more aware of those that are in my life that make me smile and that give me a sense of not only belonging but a sense of knowing that other people are struggling with this or have a challenge with that and yet overcome it and yet keep going.

And I think that's so important for all of us to recognize that. So I just wanted to take a moment out to not only talk about the community as a whole but also specifically with someone as wonderful and as gifted and talented as Marin Mazzie. Last year she was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame, so that certainly is yet another testament as to how much of an impact she had in theater. And to have that kind of respect and that type of admiration within the community is a true testament to not only the performer that she was but also the person.

[13:30] Patrick Oliver Jones: So before I sign off for this bite-size episode, I wanted to share with you a couple of the things that are also going on behind the scenes with the Why I'll Never Make It podcast. Certainly, this season two has been underway for a little over a month now, and it's been so wonderful to be back. And thank you all so much for listening, for following us on social media. And we are on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, so please find us on there. The interesting thing is that on Twitter, our name is WILL Never Make. Yes, there's no "it" at the end of it. So how ironic that that's our name on Twitter, while never make. No "it." So please, if you haven't already, please follow us on there. But another way that you can connect with us, and something that I've been working on specifically gearing up for season two, is our website.

Now we've had the website for several months, but I've done a lot of changes in order to put some show notes on there, to put some links on there for each and every episode so that you can connect better with the people that we talk with on the podcast. So please go to whyillnevermakeit.com and look at the different episodes. You can check out the different series, spotlight series, and the Tony Awards from last season, which we will do again when the time comes. And going forward, that's going to be a great way for us to stay connected with you, but also it's a way for you to share this podcast with others. And that really is one of the biggest things that I'm so grateful for—those of you who talk about this podcast and share it with those who you think would benefit from it.

I think I can speak for Dewey and myself that both of us have certainly gotten a lot out of doing this podcast, and it's meant a lot to us to contribute to the discussion, to the conversation that goes on within our entertainment industry. And we certainly are grateful for those of you who are joining us for this ride and joining us along for the journey as we go.

[15:39] Patrick Oliver Jones: So before I sign off, I want to let you know about a few things that are coming up. John McGuinty, Mike Wartella, and I'm also going to be doing a spotlight series on the New York Youth Symphony. And as their name describes, they are a collection of kids who are writing music, who are performing music from orchestra to jazz to musical theater, and I'm going to be talking with some of the people that run the program as well as giving you a behind-the-scenes look at the Youth Symphony itself. So I can't wait to share that with you over the next few weeks. Until then, keep making it, and I'll talk to you next time.