The Morning Upgrade Podcast Featuring Nicolette Cote

Thanks for joining me for episode #10 of The Morning Upgrade Podcast. This week I have the privilege of having my 10-year-old daughter, Nicolette, on the show. She shares about her passion for competitive dancing and how she stays focused to succeed. Also, she talks about her morning routine and how it helps her be productive each day.

Top Points In This Episode

1. Practice the skills you want to develop and they will eventually become automatic responses. 
2. When you make a mistake, keep pushing forward and don’t let it stop you. 
3. Close your eyes and visualize yourself doing a task so you become more confident in that task. 

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Transcription

Announcer:

Welcome to the morning upgrade podcast with Ryan Cote. Where we feature casual conversations with entrepreneurs about personal development and growth.

Ryan Cote:

Hey everyone. This is Ryan Cote from the morning upgrade podcast. Today I have a super, super special guest with us. Her name is Nicolette and she is my 10-year-old daughter. Welcome, Nicolette.

Nicolette Cote:

Hi Daddy.

Ryan Cote:

So very excited to talk to you. So The Morning Upgrade is a personal development podcast as you know, you see me doing my morning routine every morning and I do this podcast and the blog, and I’m having you on because you dance competitively and you have since you were I think two or three. And so you compete, you dance, sometimes these tournaments or competitions, you’re in 10 to 15 dances. You’re dancing in front of hundreds of people. You have to remember a lot. You practice a lot every week, crazy amounts of hours. And so I think it ties in nicely to the theme of this podcast. So why don’t you start off by telling everyone where you dance and what you love about dancing?

Nicolette Cote:

I dance at COL Waldwick and what I love about dancing is I love at the beginning of the year when we start learning Albany dances and I find out I’m in like a small group or a big dance with my friends. And just to be excited to see the new songs we’re doing and the new choreography.

Ryan Cote:

Is it hard to remember all the dances? Sometimes you’re in 10 to 15 numbers. How do you remember all the moves?

Nicolette Cote:

Well, you need to practice, practice a lot to get it into your brain. And then once you have it, you sort of do it automatically.

Ryan Cote:

Okay. So you’re saying practice makes perfect?

Nicolette Cote:

Yes.

Ryan Cote:

And then it becomes automatic once you do it enough, that’s like habits basically, you know, habits good or bad, they become automatic. I hear your sisters jumping around downstairs so hopefully, they don’t bust into this interview. So what’s it like to dance in front of hundreds of people?

Nicolette Cote:

Well, it can be a lot of pressure and whenever I go on stage, I just really need to go to the bathroom. But once I get on the stage, I’m okay.

Ryan Cote:

Do you get nervous before you go on stage?

Nicolette Cote:

Well, my friends, we cheer each other on, all my friends are backstage and that really helps.

Ryan Cote:

Okay. You’ve made a lot of really good friends through dance, relationships are really important.

Nicolette Cote:

All my friends are mostly from dance

Ryan Cote:

Yeah. Right now. And those friendships will continue to deepen. So that’s really cool. So what would you say to someone that wants to become a dancer? What should they be thinking about? What should they do?

Nicolette Cote:

I would just say, even if you make a mistake on something, just keep going. And do it if you love it.

Ryan Cote:

So mistakes are okay?

Nicolette Cote:

Mistakes are totally fine.

Ryan Cote:

Help you learn. Excellent. What do you do when you’re on stage and you make a mistake?

Nicolette Cote:

I patch it up and do like a move to make it look like I didn’t mess up.

Ryan Cote:

So you pushed through the mistake.

Nicolette Cote:

Yep. Keep on going.

Ryan Cote:

Okay, good. So let’s talk about, I know you like to read and write. You’ve been reading and writing at such a young age. What do you like about reading and writing?

Nicolette Cote:

I like the suspense in books. When something big is about to happen I just want to keep on reading and reading to see what’s going to happen because it’s just so exciting.

Ryan Cote:

What do you learn from reading and writing? Like what have you learned through the process of writing stories and reading a lot of books?

Nicolette Cote:

Well, first you can’t just have like the sentence “I have a dog”. You have to describe it and make the sentence better. And I just have a lot more vocabulary. The more I read, the more I learn.

Ryan Cote:

Okay. Yep. Reading does make you a better writer, that’s for sure. They go very hand in hand. So morning routines, you see me doing mine every morning. What do you think about morning routines?

Nicolette Cote:

I have a few things to just get me ready for the day. Even if we’re not doing anything, I have to get changed. Otherwise, just in my PJ’s, it makes me feel lazy and just not wanting to do anything. Once I change into some clothes, it helps me get ready and just not lazy.

Ryan Cote:

So it’s almost like a mindset thing. You’d have to make yourself feel like you’re being productive, where you’re dressed or ready, ready to go. I want to mention one more thing, going back to dance, you had said that sometimes you get nervous that you’re going… before we start recording, you told me that before you go to bed at night, especially when you’re nervous, maybe you have a competition coming up and you know you’re going to be in a bunch of different dances, a lot of pressure and sometimes you’re afraid you’re going to forget the moves. You were telling me, you do something at night before you go to bed as you’re falling asleep, what was that?

Nicolette Cote:

So if I’m scared, I’m going to forget, like I just learned a new dance. I run through the dance in my head before I go to sleep, I just close my eyes and imagined myself doing it. And it helps me like, remember the dance.

Ryan Cote:

So it’s like this visualization, you visualize yourself doing the dance.

Nicolette Cote:

Yes.

Ryan Cote:

That’s pretty cool. That’s what a lot of major athletes do, like Olympic athletes and really all athletes. It’s very common to visualize yourself doing the sport. It’s a very key part of practicing.

Nicolette Cote:

It helps a lot. It just makes me feel more confident in myself.

Ryan Cote:

Yeah, absolutely. So I got one more, one more question for you then we’ll wrap up. So what do you want to be when you grow up?

Nicolette Cote:

I haven’t decided that yet.

Ryan Cote:

Okay, well, you got plenty of time and this is not just me as your father speaking. I would say this to any person, but you really can do anything that you want, anything you put your mind to, as long as you’re willing to work hard to get it. So you’ve got time, but just remember that you really can be anything you want to be as long as you’re passionate about it and you’re willing to put in a lot of hard work.

Nicolette Cote:

Thanks, daddy.

Ryan Cote:

You’re welcome. I’m trying to give you good advice here. So that’s it. Any final words?

Nicolette Cote:

Nope

Ryan Cote:

I’m glad we did this episode and I hope everyone got a lot out of it and thanks for coming on and I love you.

Nicolette Cote:

I love you too daddy. Bye

Ryan Cote:

Bye.

Announcer:

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