Reconstruction

Out of bad comes good, rewiring, evaluating of self & wisdom

This week I watched the documentary on the Discovery channel about the rebuilding of Ground Zero in NY.

So emotional, so inspirational, so sad & happy at the same time. The building of the first new tower is emotional for me to watch. After all these years of so much pain and an empty hole, it is nice to see that there is finally restoration taking place. In a way, it’s like spending years not knowing what you are going to do with your life and then out of nowhere, things start taking shape. One brick at a time. We are always rebuilding. Whether its highways, buildings or our inner soul. I think of my voiceover career this way. Like I’m building a tall skyscraper, one floor at a time. Each floor has a goal. An objective.

Resilience- In the voiceover business, it’s easy to get down on yourself when you are having a bad day, week, month or even year! Focus on what has worked in the past but don’t be afraid to try new things. Success will come back to you like a boomerang. Some weeks are great, some weeks are tough. It’s a like musician who makes it to the top of the charts and then has to work twice has hard to back there again.

It seems every day there is this fine line between good & bad. There will always be people trying to take us down, intentionally or not. Spreading negativity, trying to break down what we are trying to build. It can be challenging because now we have social networking sites, where people can either choose to be supportive and positive or cynical and discouraging. The beauty is that we can decide who we are going to be connected with. This is the same in the real world.

So remember it is always your choice. Your choice who you are connected with, your choice to not be afraid, your choice to wake up every day & decide what brick you will add to your tower of life.

Build the life you dream of…..

*Special thanks to Tracy Blowers for contributing to this blog.

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Out of Focus- Spectacles For The Brain

Listening is such a key to success in the voice over business, whether following labeling instructions from an agent or direction from a client. My good friend and agent, Erik Sheppard will not even listen to an audition if the the talent hasn’t labeled the audition according to his instruction. When we don’t listen, we are creating more work for the other person. Not listening to a client or an agent can be toxic toward your career. People want to work with talent who can follow instructions.

This is also very important when training with a voice-over coach. The coach is there to take you to the next level. Really, this applies to any coaching, schooling, etc. If we don’t listen to their instruction, we are wasting our time and not getting the most of it.

In this crazy world of so many gadgets, multi-tasking, pushing to do more, it can be hard to focus and things we communicate look fuzzy. Especially, if one chooses to only communicate via e-mail. The tone can easily get lost in the message. If you are unsure of what to do, don’t assume what you DO know is good enough. Ask the questions. Pick up the phone and call your agent or client.

A small thing that can make a huge difference in the multi-tasking area is to stay off the Internet and email while on the phone. Many of us are guilty of this. Thinking that looking at that email will just take a second and we can do both. But we can’t. That is when we miss very important information.

So let’s try to bring things back into focus. Take time to listen and don’t be doing two things at once or thinking about the next thing you’re going to say. A clear view so we can communicate more effectively.

“I know that you believe you understand what you think I said, but I’m not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.” ~Robert McCloskey

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Gully jumping – get out of the ditch!

Life is full of highs and lows – we get sidetracked into the ditch and have to find our way back to the road we are meant to travel. We need to jump out of the gully.

This past week I ran into a roadblock. It made me realize a few things & make some changes.

I have a cornea condition called, “Cornea Dystrophy”, a disorder that clouds up your vision and creates a constant burning sensation. It’s a problem that heals and then comes back. During the times that it is acting up like this last week, it makes it difficult to focus on work through the pain and struggle of trying to read a script. I always fight through it & manage to get everything done but it seems to be twice as hard to accomplish. I always tell myself that I am lucky and that things could be much worse. What if I were a Pilot? My career would likely be put on hold or even over. First realization.

When facing a hurdle, it is natural to run for the ditch and give up. It’s too easy to just let the frustration overwhelm you causing you to just walk away from your project. Second realization. If you make sure to take a short break when you feel like that and then get back to your project – it will run much smoother and you will feel better. My days were difficult while dealing with my eye but when I would take just a few minutes to rest it, it made all the difference. When doing voice-overs, If you are dealing with pain or discomfort, don’t force it to happen when it’s not there. Your frustration can lead to a dissatisfied client because they will hear it in your recording.

Third realization. We are all dealing with struggles at different points in our lives. It is the way we look at those struggles, our attitude that makes or breaks us. When facing a challenge, find a way to jump out or around it. What can you do differently? How can you manage your time, so that these types of hurdles don’t get in the way of delivering excellence?

There is always a detour around every roadblock and you might even enjoy the scenery.

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Surround Yourself With The Extraordinary

When you surround yourself with inspiring and uplifting people, amazing things will happen. It makes such a difference to have people in your life who support & encourage you. It can make the difference of a successful, fulfilling life or having an average, uninspiring life. Life is so short…don’t we all want to feel inspired?!

When you are trying to accomplish your objectives and goals, stay away from cynical glass half empty folks that will only bring you down. Most times, when people discourage you, they are wrestling with demons on their own.

When I took the big step of starting my own voice-over business, I definitely had those people telling me it was too competitive and not to waste my time. While these people might have been trying to support me in their own way – it was very discouraging. I chose to focus on the people that would say to me “you are talented and you should go for it!” Every business is competitive and that should never stop you from following your dreams.

Even if you were to fail at least you tried – we learn the most from our failures. I think we always have to keep that in perspective. What is the worst thing that could happen if you did fail – then you move on to the next thing with more knowledge and confidence in knowing that you tried at something instead of always wishing you would. Edison had 10,000 prototypes of the light bulb. What an amazing example of perseverance and not listening to the naysayers.

So many people give up too easily due to FEAR. We all get stuck in the spin, forgetting to grab hold of what you want and letting others steer your life…the DAILY ROUTINE. Ugh. Sometimes, the only person that is in the way is yourself. Take a minute and just imagine what you could do if you did get out of your own way. If fear wasn’t stopping you. If you weren’t listening to that little voice in your head as a result of those few naysayers. Listen to your gut and GO FOR IT!

Find your EXTRAORDINARY. Surround yourself with those that support you, can give constructive criticism and help you to move FORWARD.

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An Epidemic: Mediocrity

How many times have we said the phrase “Ah, it’s good enough” when we knew darn well that is wasn’t? God knows, I have been guilty of that myself.  Mediocrity should be illegal in this country.  A crime punishable by a slap in the face and a kick in the ass!  Okay, I’m kidding.  Sort of.

When I first started out in voiceovers, I didn’t have the same principles that I do now.  I would record a script and send it off.  Always with the old “that should be good enough” phrase dancing in my brain and rushing to move on to the next project.  I realized how unsatisfied I felt working this way – I knew I needed to make a change.  Once I started giving every project my best and full attention, I felt fulfilled.  It actually ended up giving me more time in my day because I wasn’t going back and forth with clients to make changes and edits.

When we settle for mediocrity and don’t do our best – our integrity and creativity starts to get lost. We tend to spread ourselves too thin, so we don’t do anything well.  I can say from experience that this is not a good place to be – for ourselves, our clients or even society.  Whether I am producing a voiceover demo for a student or a commercial for a client, I always take the time to review it.  Listen!  Listen!  Listen!  You are always going to be able to do it better.  Don’t do something once, say that it’s great and pass it on.  Work at it like an artist works on a painting.

The creative industry is filled with talented people with short attention spans, I should know, I am one of them!  Clients used to tell me that I sounded like I was in a hurry or that I was rushing the copy.  Again, this goes back to the frame of mind I was in.  I was not in the mindset of a professional.  I would always try and get each project done as quickly as possible without even thinking about the client.  Shame on you, Terry!  I was settling for mediocrity.

The great Martin Luther King Jr said “Whatever your life’s work is, do it well.  A man should do his job so well that the living, the dead and the unborn could do it no better.”

Find your passion, don’t settle and you will be amazed at what you can do!

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