May 2007 Archives

I was talking with a friend today. This friend Don has advanced degrees in multiple disciplines, yet he continues to attend grad school to earn more degrees. Barbara Sher, author of the life-changing book I Could Do Anything If I Only Knew What It Was, would say my friend is a scanner because he has varied interests and doesn't settle on one thing for too long. I also would say that Don doesn't want to commit to one thing. I'm convinced that he attends grad school so that he can postpone the inevitable time when he must finally make a choice of how he wants his life to proceed.

Today's conversation got around to my voice-over business. As I talked about recent successes and my plans for the future, Don said, as he has said more than once over the years, "maybe I should look into doing voice-overs." I tell anyone who asks me that they should explore any serious interest in voice-over work, sheep herding, Italian cooking or whatever. You don't want to get to the end of your life and wonder "how would my life have been if I had done that?".

As I have done in previous conversations, I recommended that Don start by reading books on my recommended list of voice-over books and taking some classes.

He asked how I would feel if he took a voice-over class and hit it big. Don is not someone in the incredible ** 81% ** of the Gen Y crowd (18-25 year-olds) who seems to expect fame and wealth as their birthright. Quite simply, Don is yet another person who thinks that making money in voice-over is an easy thing that can be done by anyone. Since he had a few spare hours in his schedule, Don was ready to sign up for the fortune and glory awaiting him as a voice-over actor.

I don't think he will actually follow through with any action. After all, he is the same person who could never be bothered to even listen to my demos.

Our discussion today reminded me how Don acted when I created my first demo. When you decide to go after your goals, your friends and family will change their attitudes about you. In many cases, that change won't be a positive one.

I've been working and traveling so much lately that I have neglected to update my blog. Happy anniversary to me! I've been writing blog entries for a year and hope that you have found some useful tidbits in them to help you live the life of your dreams, especially your dreams of a thriving voice-over career.

I recently bought the DVD and book of the best-selling work The Secret. I do believe in the Law of Attraction and attempt to live my life according to its principles. I have read many books on the topic and find something meaningful in each one. Since some of my writing on this blog relates to ideas and processes described in The Secret, I decided to add a category for The Secret to make those types of posts more readily identifiable.

My knowledge and application of the Law of Attraction are sort of like learning to use your microphone and editing program. At first, you don't know how to do it. Once you get comfortable with the principles, you practice and continue to learn. Even when you're competent or even at authority level, you still want to learn and apply more so that you will always improve.

I was on a cruise recently and had an epiphany. Drew and I were seated around some loud, obnoxious people. We looked at each other and said, as we have said in many similar past circumstances, "We must be magnets for this type of behavior." I realized at that moment that we were indeed MAGNETS! By constantly saying and reinforcing the idea that we would be seated next to rude, noisy people, it's like raising our hands to the Universe and saying "bring 'em on!" I now say that I am a magnet for peace and quiet, with respectful people around me. :)

Hurricane-ravaged Grenada was one of the islands we visited. While the country has rebuilt much destroyed in hurricanes of recent years, nature's damage was still very evident. Roofs were missing from the 3 churches that we saw. Some building still looked ramshackle and uninhabitable. Looking around and seeing the people scrambling for every dollar made me once again feel extreme gratitude for the bountiful blessings in my life.

However, my spriritual side was not the only part of me that had a boost in knowledge during the trip. I also noticed something that could apply to my voice-over career. Drew and I were about to cross a street in a narrow intersection at the top of the steep hill near the old fort. He started to walk, but I stopped him. A car was zooming up the hill, and the driver wasn't going to stop.