Canaan Smith has performed in front of crowds most business leaders will never experience.
He’s had a No. 1 country hit with “Love You Like That,” toured the country, written songs recorded by some of Nashville’s biggest names and spent years walking onto stages where thousands of people are waiting for him to deliver.
And he still gets nervous.
That might be one of the most useful business lessons from our conversation with Smith on Fervent Four.
Because whether you’re walking onto a stage, into an investor pitch or into the biggest meeting of your career, the goal may not be to eliminate the butterflies.
It’s learning what to do with them.
Repetition Builds Confidence
Smith has performed enough times that much of it has become second nature. But repetition hasn’t completely eliminated the nerves.
Instead, the feeling has changed.
It’s less “I hope I don’t screw this up” and more recognition that this is the moment.
There’s an obvious business parallel.
You can prepare for a pitch by tweaking the deck for three weeks. Eventually, though, you have to get in front of people and pitch. Then do it again. And again.
Confidence isn’t necessarily something you find before doing the uncomfortable thing. Often, it’s the result of doing it enough times.
Perfect Isn’t the Goal
Smith also talked about becoming more comfortable with imperfections.
A show isn’t going to go exactly according to plan. Something will sound wrong. Someone will miss something. There will be distractions.
Trying to manufacture perfection can actually get in the way of the performance.
“The best show is just simply you being authentic, appreciating the moment and leaving it all out there,” Smith said.
That’s useful advice well beyond music.
People rarely remember whether every slide in a presentation transitioned perfectly. They remember whether they believed you.
Think About What They Leave With
Before Smith and his band perform, they circle up and pray.
They express gratitude for the opportunity, but there’s another part of that ritual that stands out: they pray that the people watching leave with hope.
That’s an interesting way to think about any audience.
We spend enormous amounts of time thinking about what we’re going to tell people.
What if we spent more time thinking about what we want them to leave with?
A potential customer might need confidence. An employee might need clarity. An investor might need conviction. An audience might need hope.
The objective changes when you start with the person on the other side.
Eventually, the Scoreboard Changes
Perhaps the biggest shift for Smith has been how he thinks about success itself.
After years of making music professionally, his perspective isn’t solely about getting to the top anymore.
“It’s a gift to get to play music and say that this is my career,” he said.
That doesn’t mean ambition disappears.
It means occasionally recognizing that the thing you’re relentlessly trying to build might already be happening around you.
For entrepreneurs, executives, artists or anyone chasing the next milestone, that may be the hardest lesson of all.
Keep pushing.
Just don’t become so obsessed with what’s next that you miss what you’ve already built.
Catch the full episode with Canaan Smith
