Acting Business Boot Camp

Private Coaching Now I wouldn't say that I would sometimes call myself Peter Pamela Perfectionism Rose, but sometimes I've called myself Peter Pamela Perfectionism Rose. The biggest thing about perfectionism that I want to talk about today is that perfectionism leads to procrastination, leads to paralysis. The other thing that I think is so important about the lesson of perfectionism is to make your ears grow bigger, cunning, baffling, and powerful. I look at all the ways, in fact even this too, recording today's podcast, I was looking for the right time to do it. But do you know what the right time to do it was? Right now. Right now was the right time to do it. See, my wanting to, and this is just me but maybe you can relate, my waiting to just feel like it is perfectionism in a very cunning, baffling, and powerful way, trying to get me to not do what I most need to do to move my career forward, which is because for the past, I think over two years now, I have put out a podcast every week, even when my house flooded, even when my house flooded and that If you can start to override that perfectionism and let it go for just a moment so that you do that action now, bingo, we got some serious success about to happen. Now, I'm also going to lean into the fabulous Melody Beattie. The Language of Letting Go She talks about how perfectionism is an individual process that necessitates making mistakes. So recovering from perfectionism necessitates making mistakes, struggling through problems and facing tough issues. And it's especially when I have to do things I most don't want to do that my perfectionism kicks up. Again, waiting for the right time, waiting till I feel like it, waiting until somebody else tells me I should do it. Again, cunning, baffling, and powerful, how I get in there, how perfectionism gets in there or my perfectionism gets in there to prevent me from doing the things that I most need to do in order to achieve what I most want to do. “Expecting ourselves to be perfect slows down the process to our getting to the level of success that we want to get to in whatever area of our life. It puts us in a guilty or anxious state. Expecting others to be perfect is equally destructive. It makes others feel ashamed and may interfere with their growth. Keep the focus on yourself.” It was one of the craziest things I've learned in core work. Is that once I finally got the focus on me and off of everybody else, I was like, how the heck did I even have time to focus on other people and try and control them and try and manipulate them? How did I even have the time? I'm so damn busy with me. I'm a freaking full time job. That's when the good stuff begins, when you start to really focus on you, that's when the good stuff starts. “People are human and vulnerable. We can accept and cherish that idea. Expecting others to be perfect puts us in a codependent state of moral superiority.” And sometimes I find I do that with myself. I put myself in “Peter, you're just gonna have to do it better than everybody else.” What the fuck is that? Oh, that's so much arrogance. That's so much moral superiority that I think I know what perfect is. IIt's really all about process and life being a process. “Expecting ourselves to be perfect makes us feel rigid and inferior.” And also as an actor, I find it makes us rigid. We have to do the scene the way we planned it. No, you don't. In fact, mistakes are the best things that can happen. Mess ups are the best things that can happen. I was talking with my producing partner who told me about these mistakes that happened on the set and the actor was like no, I have to redo it. And the director, he was like, ah, no, you don't. Because that was comedic genius. Remember, there is that in imperfection, some of the greatest creativity can happen as an actor. “We do not need to go to the other extreme, tolerating anything that people throw our way. We can still expect appropriate,...

Today I'm going to be talking about something that I have been doing recently, which I've been really taking risks. It's been real. It's been an adventure. And I've said to myself, I remember earlier this year, I was in a foreign country. I was driving in a foreign country, on the opposite side of the road. And I went in my car. It was late at night and I'd been traveling for a while and I just said to myself, You are so brave. You are so brave. And I think one of the things that I've learned in taking risks is really to encourage, be your own cheerleader while you're doing it. Because taking risks is scary. It gets us out of our comfort zone, and of course there's that, saying life begins at the end of our comfort zone, but it really is true. And I don't think you are ever too old to take risks. I did a podcast, oh gosh, I guess it was over a year ago, with my mom where, she shared with you all that she finished writing her 10th cookbook on her 80th birthday. And it's funny because now she's 85 years old and she said, I have this great idea for a cookbook. I'm going to do this. And I'm just like, man, you go, mom, you just go. So today is where I'm going to be encouraging you to take risks, not only in your acting, but also in your life. And to encourage you and to help me along in the format of this podcast, I'm going to be reading from the fabulous Melody Beattie. The Language of Letting Go And the subject, like I said, for today is taking risks. “Take risks. Take a chance. We do not have to indulge in obviously foolhardy or self defeating risks, but we can allow ourselves to take positive risks in our life. We cannot afford to keep ourselves paralyzed.” I really started to Up my game in terms of taking risks. About three years ago was right after I turned 50 and I don't know what it is about turning 50, but it's when you really realize, wow, I have less of my life in front of me, potentially, than I do in back of me. And I decided I wanted to have the best freaking second half of my life that I possibly could. And I was no longer going to let fear or judgment or other people's opinions, no matter how close they are to me, stagnate my life. I want to live. And the thing is that if you want to live, you've got to take risks. Or else, you'll be paralyzed. “We do not have to keep ourselves stymied and trapped out of fear of making a mistake or falling.” And here's the thing. One of the things about asking. Somebody says it says I don't know. Do you think they'll do it? And I go let's just ask. Because no is survivable. Hearing no is survivable. “Naturally, we will make mistakes and fail from time to time.” Again, that is survivable. “That's part of being fully alive. There are no guarantees. If we are waiting for guaranteed courses of action, we may spend much of our life waiting.” I don't want to be at the effect of my life anymore. I don't want to wait for life to happen to me. I want to happen to life. I want to be at the cause of my life. “We do not have to shame ourselves or accept shame from anyone. Anyone else, even those who are close to us for making mistakes, the goal of life is not to live it perfectly. The goal of life is to live, learn our lessons, and make our own decisions. And make overall progress.” There's a wonderful phrase that I love called progress not perfection. Progress not perfection. Remaining teachable, which I think is also just a wonderful phrase like progress, not perfection. Take a risk. Do not always wait for a guarantee. There again one of the things I've been thinking about recently is leap and the net will appear. Leap and the net will appear. Dust yourself off after a mistake and then move on to the success. Dust yourself off and move on to the success. One of the things my mom used to always say to me when I was a little girl and I would be disappointed because, I don't know, I didn't get a role in the play or something would happen, she would say to me, you...

PITCH PERFECT MASTERCLASS Today, I'm going to talk about something that I've been feeling recently—vulnerability. Yeah. Vulnerability. Just feeling a little tender. Now, the thing I always think about with vulnerability is vulnerability and emotional availability is two of the greatest assets that actors can have. All I have to say about that is that can also be like your cross to bear, as it were when dealing with the industry. Because as an actor, as an artist, we wear our hearts on our sleeves. But how I like to approach the business is the business. When I go in there, I do my work, my good work. What I want to do is focus on that and not focus on the business. So that's what Acting Business Boot Camp is all about. It's about getting you to focus on the right things at the right time. But today, we're going to talk a little bit more about vulnerability. I'm going to use my dear friend Melody Beattie. The Language of Letting Go She says, “I've learned that the more vulnerable I allow myself to be, the more in control of myself I really am.” Now, I don't really like to think about it as in control. In a lot of my work and in my more chiropractor for the mind work, and think about that, chiropractor for the mind, really adjusting yourself so that you understand how you tick. I talk about emotional self-sufficiency, and it's not that I want to control myself. It's that I want to know that I can manage and handle myself emotionally no matter what situation comes up, including losing my voice and feeling sick and feeling unwell. Tender. Melody goes on to say, “Many of us feel that we can only show our strong, confident side. We believe the face we have to show to the world should always be one of politeness, perfection, calm, strength, and control.” But let's take a moment and let's take a step back and think about how incredibly unrealistic that is. I received some disappointing news the other day. And I just said to myself, Okay, it's disappointing. It's all right for you to feel sad. It's all right for you not to feel a hundred percent on, especially when I am someone who is on so much. It's okay for me to show a little weakness. It's okay for me to be vulnerable. And it's okay, or I should say, it's more than okay, for me to take care of myself when I'm feeling that tenderness. One of my favorite phrases is go as slowly as you need to in order to take care of yourself. And when you're feeling vulnerable, or you're feeling tender. Go as slowly as you need to in order to take care of that vulnerability and that tenderness in that day. This too shall pass. You won't always feel so vulnerable. You won't always feel so tender. My voice will not always sound like this. In fact, in a few podcasts, I hope it'll sound better. She goes on to say, “While it is certainly good and often appropriate to be in calm controlling and strong moods, there is also another side of all of us, that part of us that feels needy, that becomes frightened, that has doubts and gets angry.” Because, hello, guess what? You're human. That part of us needs care. That part of us needs love. That part of us needs reassurance that things will be okay. And again reminding ourselves, go as slowly as you need to in order to take care of yourself. Expressing these needs makes us vulnerable, yes, and less than perfect, yes. But this side needs acceptance too. There's a wonderful phrase that says, don't go to the hardware store for lemons. When I am feeling vulnerable, needy, or frightened, there may be people who are more appropriate for me to go to than not. And the number one thing I want to do for self-care—make your ears grow bigger as I say this—is not to go to that person who is the hardware store for lemons. Because they are not going to be able to give me that comfort, that love, that reassurance that I crave right now. It may be better for me to leave it out. When in doubt with people like this, just leave it out. Get off...

NEW FREE MASTERCLASS I'm going to be talking about something that a listener sent me, and I thought it was a really interesting idea for a podcast, which is about nepotism. I do think it is yet another one of those areas of the industry where we can get our heads in the clouds and not on our bodies, and really allows us to make excuses for not showing up and taking responsibility. As a NEPO baby, I am not one. I do not come from anyone in the industry. You have an advantage in that you have those connections. However, you also have to have the talent, consistency, and persistence to back that up. The other thing is that, oh, you're so and so's daughter or you're so and so's child. Oh. Then you must be fantastic, and then you have to live up to that, or you can never be your own person. Now, I have a friend of mine who is the child of an incredibly famous actor, but that child chooses to use a different name because they don't want to be known as so and so's child. Now, that is very admirable. I may go about it differently. I would say use every advantage you have. But this is the thing, and this is the real key point because most of you listening to this podcast are not; do not have nepotism in your family. What do you do? And this is the best advice I can give you. You need to keep your focus. So often, I have actors who look at point A and point B, and instead of just drawing a line between point A to point B, they go up, they go down, they go around, they twirl around. They walk outside, they come back inside, and then maybe eventually get to point B. The question, the thing is that things like nepotism and a lot of things that I feel in the industry, try to get your focus from the three points where you need to be putting your focus, which is your acting training, your business skills and the core work, the work on you are the things that distract you from taking real responsibility for the job that you have been given to do on this Earth, because I believe the universe has given you given all of us a gift. The question is, are we going to nurture that gift and are we going to stay focused on pursuing that gift? Or are we going to allow our focus to go off into things that we cannot control again? My favorite prayer or affirmation is the serenity prayer that reminds us of this. Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change. I cannot change other people, places, times, things, or situations, and whether my competition has nepotism or not, courage to change the things I can. I can only change myself, my attitudes, my thoughts, and my actions, and keep the focus on myself, my strengths, my career, and wisdom… Wisdom, my favorite word in the American language, to know the difference, which is the difference between what I cannot control or change, which is other people, places, things, or situations, or change. Nepotism and other actors I may be competing against and what I can change, which is myself, my attitudes, my thoughts, and my actions. So, that's my response to the first part of that listener's question. I'm going to read the second part to you because I think this is very interesting. Getting past the “what chance do I have?” misconception, ever having the opportunity to compete with a nepotism child. Again, what I would say about that is your job when you go into an audition is to focus on the work. It is not to focus on who your competition is. I joke about how I used to go into an audition room, and I'd sit in the audition room and basically pick the actor who I thought was going to get the job. That is so working against ourselves instead of for ourselves. What I think is so crucial here is that when you go into audition, that your focus is again on that courage to change the things you can, which is really, truly freeing. Focusing in on your work as the actor and living the life of that character in that space and time, whether that be in a self tape or be in the room. The...

Work with me privately About Angela Mickey: Angela Mickey is the Managing Director of Casting at Liz Lewis Casting Partners, and has been working as a Casting Director for 24 years. Angela works across the board on commercial, voice-over, film, TV, and theater projects, with a concentration on comedy, real people, and theatrical casting. She enjoys working with both veteran and up-and-coming creatives, developing the best, unique plan for each project, and working as a partner to the producing process. Recent on-camera commercial projects: Spectrum, UberEats, DCU, Blue Cross, Blue Shield, Tillamook, Door Dash, Woodbridge, NJ Lottery, Marriott. Recent real people projects: New York Presbyterian, Aleve, NorthAmerican Bancard, Redemption Whiskey, Chevy, Wells Fargo, JC Penney, as well as a variety of editorial projects for Condé Nast. Recent animation/podcast vo projects: Dee and Friends in Oz (Netflix), SuperKitties (Disney Jr), Get Rolling with Otis (Apple TV +), The Snow Globe (in conjunction with Chik-Fil-A), This Job is History (Wondery), Killer Questions with Daryn Carp (ID). Recent film projects include "Martyr of Gowanus", Lifetime's "12 Days of Christmas Eve", "The Legend of Lake Ronkonkoma: The Lady of the Lake", Filipino movie musical "The Girl Who Left Home", and Hallmark's "Where Are You Christmas" and "Mystic Christmas." Angela's got a treasure trove of tips, secrets, and stories that are pure gold for anyone in the acting game, whether you're just starting out or you've been around the block a few times. Here's the lowdown on what we covered: What You Need to Know: Reading Instructions is Key: Angela talks about how something as simple as sending the wrong file type can throw a wrench in your audition. She's all about paying attention to the details. Make sure you know what they're asking for and nail it.Ace Your Online Auditions: With auditions going digital, Angela shares the scoop on making sure your setup is on point. Good internet, good lighting, and a space where you can do your thing without distractions are your best friends here.Bring Your Flavor to the Role: Angela's not looking for robots. She wants to see what you bring to the character. It's all about showing up with your take on the role and being ready to collaborate to make something awesome.Self-Care for the Win: One of the big themes Angela hits on is looking after yourself. Acting's a marathon, not a sprint, and giving yourself permission to take breaks and live life outside the acting bubble is crucial. Top Quotes from the episode: "Making me work harder to fix your audition tape? Yeah, that's gonna make me think twice about calling you back.""Don't just show up expecting to be directed. Bring your own magic to the role. That's what gets noticed.""Worried about your online audition setup? Just do your best to keep things simple and stress-free. It's about what you do, not where you do it.""The industry isn't going anywhere. Taking a break for a bit of self-care or to just breathe is totally fine. You do you."

So, this week, I've received numerous emails from actors who have told me that they feel stuck. That's why I was like, if they're feeling it, maybe I should do a podcast about feeling stuck. So we're going to get to that. Private coaching Being stuck. I think being stuck has a lot to do, at least for me, about timing. Generally, it always comes down to timing—not my timing; it's the Universe's timing. And then that sometimes just doesn't work. If I'm not in the greatest place, that frustrates me even more because I'm like, “Why not now?” “Why not now? What the fuck is going on?” And then I think I'll go great guns and put a ton of stuff out there, and then it'll be like this. Yeah, you get it. It's silence, right? Or things just aren't moving as fast as I would like. And ultimately, being stuck has to do with timing. It's just where you are right now. And if you are in the entertainment industry—which, chances are, if you're listening to this podcast—you know that we are going through one heck of a correction right now. But this is the truth, and I don't think anyone is really talking about it. But the truth is, the Universal Truth is this, too, shall pass. This, too, shall pass. The trick, and I really believe the difference between working actors and non-working actors, is what you will do with this time when things may not be as fast as you would like. Things are happening, but they are not happening at the rate that we were expecting. The other thing that I will say is I really want to fully recognize and validate this feeling because I've certainly been having it. We had COVID. The world stopped. My career stopped. Then we got all very busy. And then we had the strikes. First, we had the writer's strike. Then we had the actor's strike. And that went on for months. And now, that's all over with. Again, my career stopped. Nothing happened. And then, we had what we're going through in 2024. These first three months, where we're what the hell is going on. This is just, again, not what we were expecting. And then we hear rumors of the IATSE strike, and that's the reason: yes, the industry is contracting, but also, there's this threat of the IATSE strike, and, oh, wait a minute, their contract isn't up until July 31st. It's this feeling of stuck, and I feel like we're all in a collective stuck, and I just want to say, ah, yes, I'm so freaking frustrated by the whole thing. And when I feel this way. It is because things are out of my control. It's other people, places, things, and situations. And when it's another person, place, thing, or situation, I can't do anything about it. What can I do about it? I can change my life, my attitudes, my thoughts, and my actions. That's where my power is. I can also consider what I can do to take care of myself spiritually, mentally, physically, and emotionally. During what has been a very tumultuous four years of the industry since, quite frankly, 2020. When I say tumultuous, I also mean good because a lot of good happened between 2021 and 2023. We had two busy years. But let's talk about timing, and let's talk about getting unstuck, and there's this wonderful reading. The Language of Letting Go by Melody Beattie. “There are times when we simply do not know what to do.” That's when you're stuck, right? “Or even where to go or what to do next. Sometimes these periods are brief, sometimes lingering.” And what I just have to say, what I feel as an industry, or certainly, yeah, as an industry, is it was like, nothing. Obviously, the world stopped with COVID-19, then it was feast. And now it's, I don't want to say it's famine, but it certainly isn't abundant right now. “We can get through these times. We can rely on our disciplines of taking care of ourselves.” We can cope by using our faith in the universe. Other people, good friends, and resources. And the resources are, for example, this book. And the resources are coaching. Just getting that extra...

Work privately with David About David Cady: DAVID CADY is currently a professor of commercial and musical theatre performance at AMDA, NYU, and Pace University. Prior, he was a casting director for Donna DeSeta Casting for close to 30 years. In addition to countless commercials, his casting credits include the original Dirty Dancing, Disney's Enchanted, Michael John LaChiusa's The Petrified Prince for the Public Theater, and the world premiere of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Jim Steinman's Whistle Down the Wind, directed by Harold Prince. He was an original cast member of Stephen Sondheim and George Furth's Merrily We Roll Along, and can be seen in Lonny Price's film about the experience, The Best Worst Thing That Ever Could Have Happened. In an enlightening discussion filled with actionable advice and heartfelt stories, David Cady, a veteran of musical theatre, shares his extensive knowledge and passion for the art. This episode is a treasure trove for aspiring and established performers alike, offering guidance on auditions, the importance of self-awareness, and the intrinsic value of kindness and professionalism in the theatre world. Key Takeaways: Mastering Auditions: David discusses the crucial approach to auditions, emphasizing the importance of viewing oneself as a collaborator rather than just a hopeful applicant. The mindset should be about showcasing how you are the answer to a casting call, equipped with meticulously selected material that plays to your current strengths. The Right Material: The selection of audition pieces is paramount. David advises against reaching for material that's beyond one's current range, instead advocating for focusing on pieces that showcase one's abilities best. This includes having self-taped auditions with tracks designed in your key and reflecting your unique voice. Technical Savvy: The conversation turns to the technical aspects of modern auditions, highlighting the need for performers to become adept at using software like GarageBand and iMovie for editing self-tapes. This technical skill set is becoming increasingly crucial in a digital-first auditioning world. Confidence and Growth: Drawing from his own experiences, David talks about the evolution of confidence through the repeated cycle of auditioning, failing, and learning. He stresses that a failure is not a setback but an opportunity for growth. Building and Maintaining Relationships: One of the episode's most poignant messages is the importance of kindness, professionalism, and building lasting relationships in the industry. David shares personal anecdotes to underscore how your behavior and interaction with everyone, from the casting director to the monitor, can significantly impact your career. A Career for Life: The discussion concludes on a reflective note, with David reminding listeners that a career in musical theatre is a lifelong journey. The importance of cherishing and working with your current capabilities, continually learning, and building a reputation of kindness and professionalism cannot be overstated. Special Moments: For More Information: This episode is a must-listen for anyone passionate about musical theatre, offering insights and advice that span the breadth of a performer's journey from auditions to professional growth and personal fulfillment.

The Working Actor Road Map I don't know about you, 2024 is not exactly what I expected it would be in this industry. And, I'm after the strikes and, after everything we went through last year, seriously? This is it? Now, of course, there are reasons for this. There's the potential IATSE strike and the industry contraction. But the problem is that I don't know about you, but I'm left with feelings. And I thought that, since we just moved our clocks, I thought I would make this episode about spring and new beginnings. In fact, I had friends over for dinner the other night, and my dear friend brought me this beautiful plant. It had hyacinths and tulips. Of course, she knows I'm a Dutch girl. I love tulips. You can't go wrong with tulips and daffodils. And every time I look at it, it just makes me smile and it makes me feel good because spring is a time of renewal. So today I'm going to be talking about new beginnings and renewal. And one of those things that I need to renew is the way I look at things and resentments. Expectations are premeditated resentments. And I guess that's what I had about the industry. I thought we'd all be running back to it in January, and it seems to be, just a simmer, hopefully into a boil later this year. So here we go. The Language of Letting Go “Resentments are the blocks that hold us back from loving ourselves and others. Resentments do not punish the other person, they punish us. They become barriers to feeling good and enjoying life. They prevent us from being in harmony with the world. Resentments. are hardened chunks of anger. They loosen and dissolve with forgiveness and letting go.” So there's a lot to unpack there. But this is the thing. It's like when I have a resentment against something else or the business at large, people, places, things, situations. What happens for me is it's I'm taking poison and I'm expecting something else to be affected by that. I'm taking the poison and expecting someone else to die or to suffer. When ultimately with resentments, what's really happening is I am the person who's suffering. And a lot of the time, and this is something I was talking about with a client the other day, is that really, the person I'm resenting and angry at is me. And that's the whole thing. I love this thing of resentments are hardened chunks of anger. That's not helping me. And it certainly doesn't help me as an artist. As an artist, I want to be movable, malleable, changeable. And resentment stops that. She goes on to say, “letting go of resentments does not mean we allow the other person to do anything to us that he or she or they want. It means we accept what happened in the past and we set boundaries for the future. We can let go of resentments and still have boundaries.” Forgiving is not forgetting. It's letting go of the hurt because the only person that the hurt is hurting is me. And we can have boundaries and we can forgive. And a lot of times, like I said a little bit earlier is that the person I need to forgive most is me. For allowing myself to be treated like that, or for actions I may have done that may have not been in my own best interest. Because I find a lot of the times I get angry at myself, it's because I did not advocate for me. I abandoned myself. Sadly, in that moment, I wasn't emotionally intelligent enough to know how to take care of myself and to be emotionally self sufficient. “We try to see the good in the person or the good that ultimately evolved from whatever incident we feel resentful about. We try and see our part. Then we put the incident to rest.” So there's this fabulous phrase, trace it, face it, erase it. I need to trace it. Then I need to face it and then I can let it go. It's also awareness. I need to become aware of the situation, accept that the situation is going on, and then I can take action. It's another couple other really important, fabulous tools. Praying for those or sending someone good thoughts...

8 Tips to Not Get Ripped off as an Actor Masterclass So today, I'm going to be going back to the fabulous Melody Beattie in her wonderful book, The Language of Letting Go, and I'm going to be talking about setting your own course. And it seems like the world is so turbulent. I know it sounds like we're always saying that, but it does feel like the world is so turbulent. And I think when it is very important for us to keep the focus on ourselves and how we do that is by setting our own course. I'm going to read a little bit. “We are powerless over other people's expectations of us. We cannot control what others want, what they expect, or what they want us to do and be. We can control how we respond to other people's expectations.” Now, I did a podcast on when your buttons get pushed and if this is already starting to vibrate with you, resonate with you, I beg of you, listen to that podcast if you haven't already. So again, we are powerless over others, other people's expectations of us. We cannot control what others want, what they expect or what they want us to do and be. But we can control how we respond to other people's expectations. One thing for me to keep in mind about expectations is that expectations are premeditated resentments. But what happens when it's coming at you? One of my favorite tips and tools, I should say, about what other people think of me as none of my business is the following, which is the serenity prayer. “Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.” So let's just talk about that for one second. Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change. I cannot change other people, places, things, or situations. I can't, and when I say people, that includes their expectations. So grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change. I cannot change people, places, things, or situations. Courage to change the things I can. I can change myself, my attitudes, and my actions. And that can be my attitude to their expectation. And wisdom, my favorite word. Wisdom. Wisdom to know the difference. That crucial difference between what I cannot control, which is other people, places, things, situations, or people's expectations, and what I can control, which is myself, my attitudes, my actions, and including my attitudes towards other people's expectations of me. Melody Beattie goes on to say, “During the course of any day, people may make demands on our time, talents, energy, money, and emotions.” But here's the thing, we do not have to say yes to every request. As I always say, no is a complete sentence. And another thing about when no comes at me, no is survivable. We do not have to be feel guilty if we say no, and we do not have to allow the barrage of demands to control the course of our life, it's our life. And we have the right to live it the way we want to. We can set our own course. We do not have to spend our life reacting to others and the course they would prefer if we took in our life. Again, I beg of you, listen to When Your Buttons Get Pushed, that podcast episode. We can set boundaries. We can firm up limits on how far we shall go with others. We can, and this is so true, we can trust and listen to ourselves. It's so important because you learn how to be emotionally intelligent. And how do you do that by learning how to be emotionally self sufficient so that, when you make a decision, you're making the right decision for who for you, we can trust and listen to ourselves, we can set goals and direction for our life and we can place value on ourselves. If you want self-esteem, do self-esteemable acts. Buy some time. Think about what you want. Consider how responding to another's needs will affect the course of your life. “We live our own life by not letting other people, their expectations and their demands control the course of our life.” Remember, no is a complete...

8 Tips to Not Get Ripped Off as an Actor and the Three Pillars to a Successful Acting Career Let's start talking about those buttons being pushed, right? And I want to talk especially about how to help yourself. There's a little phrase that I love. It's one of my absolute favorites, which is “if you're hysterical, it's historical.” I find that when my buttons get pushed, if I'm upset about whatever it is for longer than five minutes, it's not about that thing. It's about something from my past. The other really helpful thing to note about buttons, because it's generally family members who push your buttons, is that your family knows how to push your buttons because, hello, they installed them. Your family knows how to push your buttons because they installed them. So I want To help you so that when you have that moment, when your buttons get pushed, you can start to practice this particular formula. Now I need to also say this, when my buttons get pushed, I find it's better that I go by this saying, which is “when in doubt, leave it out.” out. I also find it's best for me to remove myself from the situation so I can do that very valuable thing, which is stop and take a step back. But I want to describe the full process of what happens when our buttons get pushed. Something will be said to us and we will immediately react. Now this is important because remember our reactions are fine, but it's our second reaction that we really need to be paying attention to. There's this phrase, and I love this because I think this is so true, “we are not responsible for our first thought, but we are responsible for our second.” So again, if you can split your paper into two sides, make two columns. On the left column, I want you to write, Something happens. Then, right underneath that, I want you to write, React. And then, underneath that, a couple lines down, I want you to say to yourself, “I am not responsible for my first thought, but I am responsible for my second.” Therefore, we have the second column. That second column is that something happens. Now, that could be your mother saying to you, “Oh, you're going to wear that?” Or, “Oh, you're growing a mustache now.” It's that, okay? Could be your father, too, or your brother, or your sister, or a friend, or an acquaintance, or an agent, or a casting director. So again, on this second side of the piece of paper, the same thing, something happens. And guess what? You are going to react. Especially in the beginning. You may not be totally reprogrammed yet, but after that reaction happens, you want to tell yourself this, “stop.” And sometimes I literally say to myself, “stop it right now. Stop. Just for goodness sake, stop.” And then I literally say to myself, “take a step back,” and sometimes, while that person might be continuing to put their opinion of me on me, I literally will take a step back. Literally, a physical step back. And I always use this example, and if you've listened to this podcast a lot, you've heard me say this, is if you put your hand on your face, and you literally attach that hand onto your face, that's how it feels when somebody comes at you and they push that button right in your gut. It's like your hand is glued to your face. But this is the truth. No, it's not. And you can't remove their finger from your button. And that, again, requires you to take a step back. So if you keep your hand where it is, but you move your body back, that's what I'm talking about. Because now you can look at your hand. See, when it's right up against your face, while they have your finger in your button, as it were, you can't see anything. You just see potentially red, or hurt, or weeping. So it's important to get it out. If you are, God forbid, shot, what do they do first? They remove the bullet. That's what taking a step back means. You remove the bullet. And when you've removed the bullet, then you can observe. You have taken a step back. And...

Thursday, February 29th, Live NYC Seminar Planting seeds for success. I call this a Foundation skill, and this is a skill I believe that you can use not only for yourself but also for other friends who need support. Who needs to be planting some seeds for success for themselves as well the idea is when you “plant a seed,” you are setting out an expectation that you can do it or that your friend can do it. And more often than not, when you plant that seed of success, and you say, “Hey, you can do it. Hey, no, I can do this.” You actually do it. That's why it's so important and why this is such a brilliant and useful foundation skill. You can think of it as almost the germination of an affirmation. So in other words, you plant that seed starts to germinate, and as you feed it with positive affirmations, it begins to grow. Then, as you add those action steps that support those thoughts and, of course, that ultimate goal, that's when the success happens. When you plant a seed with yourself or with someone else, you are expressing your confidence in yourself or for that other person to come up with something. And that can be either a thought or an action that will then linger and percolate in their mind, in their consciousness. The idea of what if I could run that marathon? All of a sudden, your mind starts to percolate and build up thoughts that make you think, oh, wait a minute, maybe you could. And with that could become the possibility of you can. So could becomes can. Now, whether you or that other person are consciously thinking about it or not, a part of you, like I just said, will be working on a solution. That's why planting the seed, allowing it to germinate, and then again, letting it grow into an affirmation, which then hopefully will grow into actions, those two things will support that goal. Now, this foundation skill of planting a seed can be used in many situations. I'm going to give you an example. Remember, or someone asks you a question, and you say I don't know. I don't know. This is when you plant the seed of “what would it be like if you did know?” That already is planting a seed of maybe you do know. So you're saying you don't, but maybe you do. What would it be like if you did? It also is an incredible way of empowering yourself. It empowers yourself or your friend to come up with their solutions alone. In other words, by planting that seed, we are empowering ourselves and our friends to fix it for ourselves or themselves. Planting a seed can sound something like this. “I'm gonna ask you in a little while because I have complete faith that you'll come up with something.” Now, if you're saying this to yourself, you can write down those exact words. Say, you know what, I'm putting down my pen and my paper right now, and I'm gonna journal about it in 24 hours because I have faith that I will be able to come up with that solution. I will be able to come up with that. Another wonderful planting the seed question or empowering question is “when you figure that out, what would be different for you?” I love to ask my private clients this question. If you didn't have fear, what would your life be like? How would [00:07:00] you operate if you didn't have fear? And it's always so interesting to hear their answers. And if they say they don't know, I go, “okay I'll ask you in a few minutes because I know you're going to be able to come up with something.” See, that is how I, as a coach, plant in you, the client, the potential solution. Also, ask yourself this or your friend, “if I figured this out, what would be different for me?” Or “if you figured this out, what would be different for you?” And this is what is so incredible about this tool. It is really saying to ourselves we know what we want. We know what to do. We just need to ask ourselves the right questions. It is so incredibly empowering. It is self-empowering. It's like what I talk about in life coaching. I call myself a...

Private Coaching Today, I want to talk about self-love because it's Valentine's Day. And the thing about self-love that I have found in doing this work for almost 30 years is that self-love takes on a lot of different forms. Yes, it is ensuring that I bathe, brush my teeth, get adequate sleep, eat well, and exercise. But it's also about taking care of the things I think and the things I do. A big thing that has come up for me, mainly in the past couple of years, is that self-love is about working for myself instead of working against myself. And how often I would be like, “I love myself, and I approve of myself,” I would say that wonderful affirmation, but then when a sticky or uncomfortable situation would come up, I'd be so eager to just give my power away. Ah, giving your power away. Yeah, that is not self-love. And that is why the core work, which is that work on yourself, is so incredibly important. It's about learning that you are your own best advocate. That you are there for you, no matter the situation. That is true self-love. Another way I practice self-love is my relationship with the Universe, God, Yahweh, Bob, Joe, or whatever you want to call your higher power, or a lot of people like to call it your higher coach or your higher intelligence. I like to establish that I am a part of the universe, which is a part of me. And I also like to acknowledge that the universe is the pilot. And I am the co-pilot. There's that wonderful prayer, the serenity prayer. “Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change. Courage to change the things I can. And wisdom to know the difference.” And that's grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, which are other people, places, situations, and issues. I can't control it. That's the Universe's job. Courage to change the things I can. I can change my own thoughts, my own attitudes, and my own actions. And wisdom to know the difference. The difference between what I can do something about, Which is my thoughts, my attitudes, my actions, and what I can't do anything about, which is other people, places, things, and situations. That is also practicing self-love. When I am worried about things, when I am tied up in knots about a situation or somebody or what other people think of me, that isn't practicing self-love. And this Valentine's Day, I encourage you, and I encourage myself to love myself as much as I possibly can by doing those deep things, like taking actions that work for me and thoughts that work for me as well. I understand this is not an easy thing, but it is actually quite simple. And it also is the best way to live our lives. Because the fact of the matter is no matter where I go, I take myself with me. If I please myself, chances are other people will be more pleased. One of the things I was thinking about as an actor was if I'm worried about pleasing the director or the producer or the writer or anybody else, all of my attention is outward, but chances are, if I work on that performance, excuse me, being as good as I can possibly make it focus on the work, do it so I know I did my best. Guess what? I pleased the only person I have any control over or manageability over. Chances are, other people will be pleased as well. It's all about practicing self-love. It's all about caring for you. It's all about you making sure that you work for you and not against you. You've done it long enough; it's time to let go.

The Voiceover Actor Road Map About Emma: Emma O'Neill is a multi-award-winning voice actor specializing in radio and TV commercials, TV narration, TV promo, and corporate training videos. Outside the booth, she's a fitness and wellness enthusiast, and has been a certified yoga instructor for more than 25 years. About Mike: Mike Tobin is an accomplished, Montreal-born, award-nominated voice actor, MC, and event announcer who has made his ultra-fluent bilingualism the cornerstone of his brand for more than 20 years. He also loves technology and is an avid Mac enthusiast. What it's like to be a voiceover actor in Canada. And it can be very isolating and very lonely. So when you have people that understand the business, they understand the hustle. They understand the self-doubt that can come with things during slow times, or, you know, I was talking to somebody yesterday, and it was, you know, why them and not me that you can get into these spins in your head. And when you have someone who understands all of the levels of that, it's just; it makes you feel less crazy, it makes you feel less alone, it makes you feel like, you know what, I can reach out to Mike today, I have a little bit, and with Mike and I, it's great because we work so closely together, we've kind of gotten to this place where if I'm losing my mind, he's calm, and if he's losing his mind, I'm calm, so it's like, oh, this works, this is great, thank you. The universe's wind blows at different times. Part of this comes from our leaning on using accountability groups, which is a big part of our experience. So we do have our accountability groups that we lean on, but sometimes you just need one person. Weekly accountability group: At the beginning of every session, I say, okay, what did you do from this last week to this week? And in the end, what are you going to do? And we get into that and how important that is. So, I love that you guys are talking about weekly accountability. There are the things that are there regularly. There are, of course, auditions. Audition has to play a big part in every voice actor's life. There's only a few things you're going to get. Unless you're getting direct clients, which is another part of it, which is marketing and following up and keeping on top of all the business aspects of it, it's so huge. Many people who are creative, artistic, and talented get into this industry and this business—all the things that put a voice to a microphone, but then everything else. It can be very scary and intimidating for them because, after all, it's the voiceover business. You can have clients around the world. It doesn't matter, especially now with the connectivity that we have with Source Connect and other technologies. So it comes from all over the place. I love that you said that voiceover is a global industry. I love that. It's just because there's so much possibility. What do you think is the most important thing starting in Voiceover? Coaching. I always say coaching is the most important thing. There's voiceover, and there's voice acting. And there are people who don't do commercials. They don't do video games. They don't do audiobooks. They don't do character-based work. They do e-learning and corporate and stuff like that, which is still character-based, but it's much more accessible to the average person. You're not necessarily fully fleshing out a character. There's a commercial promo TV narration, things like that; you are fully fleshing out a character, but you still need to understand the nuance. Acting is acting. Period. End of sentence. It's got nothing to do with the sound of your voice but everything to do with the connection to the story. So, you need to understand the story you are telling. Once you understand the story you're telling and who you are in that story, whether you're just the storyteller or actually participating in the story, you can do whatever aspect of voice. So I think that with...

Private Coaching Changing your career direction by asking Empowering Questions. I'm going to start with a quote from Anthony Robbins, “quality questions create a quality life.” Successful people ask better questions. And as a result, they get better answers. And this is how I work as a coach. I ask you quality questions so that you can create a quality career. Because I do believe that successful actors are asking better questions of themselves. And, as a result, are getting better roles. So, let's unpack this a bit. What are Empowering Questions? They are questions. We all know what a question is, but these are a little bit different. These are powerful. These are open-ended. Now, what that means is it's not a yes or a no. How do you feel about going to the store? Why do you want to go to the store? Those would be open ended questions. Also, Empowering Questions are clarity seeking. They are clarity seeking, so they're looking for clarity. The other thing is that they are probing. They are probing questions. In other words, they're really trying to get in there. And this is a lot of the core work I do because this is the thing, I want to know what your motives are. And if you have some sort of a thing that you constantly do, put yourself down or something like that or have anxiety. My question is what is the payoff? So, see, if I ask you what is the payoff for your anxiety, or what is your motive for becoming a successful actor, those are very much Empowering Questions that are seeking clarity. They also are, I think you'll find, challenging. They're challenging. They're not easy questions necessarily. But that's what we unpack. That's what we figure out. And think of it when, you know that phrase, you've heard it so many times, you've heard me say it a lot of times, unpack. I want you to think of a duffel bag. Okay, think of a duffel bag with a bunch of stuff in it, but you don't necessarily remember or you don't necessarily know what's in that duffel bag. So, what we need to do is let's take out every item in that duffel bag and look at it, examine it and ask it Empowering Questions. The other thing is, and this is what I think to be one of the most valuable parts of Empowering Questions, is that it's thought provoking. In other words, it makes you think. Because one of the things that I have found around actors who are stuck, or just, quite frankly, people who are stuck, is they're stuck in that same cycle of thinking, and they're not getting out, and the problem is it's almost impossible for them to get out of it because they're stuck in their own head because they're not letting anybody in to say, “Hey, what if you thought of it this way?” The other thing is that they are future directed. In other words, we're always looking to improve upon where we are at now, looking at where we are at now, but more so where we are going. And I love this about Empowering Questions. They are solution oriented. Why am I not getting auditions? Why am I not booking? In other words, they're looking for the answers to those questions so that we can get some real movement going here. They cause you to search for answers. Because this is the thing, if you keep doing the same thing and expecting a different result, that's the definition of insanity. So, what we do with Empowering Questions is that we help you to search for new possibilities so we can get new answers and new results. And this, I love this, and as an actor, we all would love this, is that they spark your imagination. Now, this is a really neat little thing about Empowering Questions. Once you start to learn how to ask yourself Empowering Questions as a human, you can start to ask them of your characters, which will spark your imagination. To open up a whole new world to your character. How exciting is that? How exciting is it that you can use the things that make your life better? Make your characters better, your acting better, your skill set...

On-Camera Class Costar Class I'm going to talk about illusion and illusion in your acting career in two different ways. The first way is I'm going to talk about how we have the idea that an acting career will go one way, but actually, that's just an illusion, and that's just me trying to control the outcome. So when I'm doing that, it is an illusion. And I remember this actually in terms of money. I always thought if I made X amount of money a year, I would be free. Oh, I'm going to be so happy. Oh, my life will be cupcakes and bubblegum. I will have no worries. Only to find out when I made that amount of money and much more. You don't get cupcakes and bubblegum. You get more decisions, and it becomes even more stressful. And really, the only thing money buys is convenience. And if you're not making much money right now, that might be difficult to hear. But money does not buy happiness. That was an illusion that I had. Another thing that I find as a coach in the industry, and to be quite frank, even more so as a casting director, is this illusion idea that actors have about what it takes to be an actor and what it takes to be a working actor. And it's difficult to explain, but I want you to think of something you have done in your life that was difficult. Okay, you're going to do this with me right now. Think of something in your life that you did that was difficult. And then I want you to imagine someone who has never done that before coming up to you and either telling you how that experience would be for them or how they would go about doing it. And you, having known how difficult that was and how that actually gets done, is listening, quite frankly, to this bunch of bullshit. And that's sometimes what makes it difficult to be a coach, a casting director, and meeting new actors, and having to break it to them and explain it's not that way. What is incredibly joyful for me, though, is the actor who goes, “Tell me more.” “Tell me more because I want to make that illusion a reality. I want to make that illusion a reality more than anything else in the world. Say jump, and I'll ask you how high.” That's exciting. That lights me up. So that is the first way I'm talking to you about illusion. “We do not see the world as it is. We see it as we are.” This goes into that example I just gave you previously about the actor and the coach or the casting director. I want to remind you of the definition of consciousness. Now, the definition of consciousness is your awareness of who you are, as opposed to the you that you believe you are or are taught that you are. So, I think of it as my consciousness is how the Universe sees me. Because the Universe sees me as it sees itself, which is Infinite. I, on my own, in my ego world, is finite. So I can choose to believe the me that I believe I am or was taught that I am, or I can believe the consciousness and have an awareness of who I truly am so that I see the world more clearly with more reality. Now let's also talk about, because I think this has really come up for me a lot in the past couple of weeks, how this core work helps you to be a better actor. If I can see things and understand things more truthfully, with more reality, oh boy, that will help me when I start working on character. Because I'm tapping into Infinite Truth, Infinite reality, as opposed to my own finite truth, my own finite reality. Because when you're Infinite, people are attracted to that. Quantum physics proves that the world is a creation of our perceptions. So I want my perception to be as much in line with the awareness of who I truly am, as opposed to the awareness of who I think I am or how I was taught that I was. I want to see the world Infinitely. And I want my perception to be Infinite. We simply attract and then see what it is we expect to see and can actually create what we expect to happen. So that can work for us, or that can work against us. So, I want you to take a...

New Voiceover Masterclass! About Spencer: Spencer Robinson is a literary and talent manager at Art/Work Entertainment who's been in the industry for over 20 years. He represents writers, actors, producers, and also a full book publishing company. Spencer’s writer clients have been on the writing staff of shows for Netflix, Amazon, Max, HBO, Comedy Central, and many more. He’s also sold clients’ features to studios as well as brought in financing for independent projects. Spencer’s actor clients have been in films with directors Quentin Tarantino, Steven Soderbergh, Clint Eastwood, Gore Verbinski, Jeff Nichols, and more. In the TV world, his clients have been regular cast members on shows for Netflix, HBO MAX, Amazon, Disney+, HULU, The CW, NBC, FX, Starz, Nickelodeon, EPIX, and more. Spencer’s clients have also recurred on series for Peacock, Netflix, Freeform, TNT, AMC, Showtime and many more. I'm a manager. I'm a talent and lit manager. So I manage actors, writers, producers, and I actually also represent a fully functioning publishing company for all of their IP. How the heck did you get there? It was almost by accident actually, kind of accident when I was growing up I was a musician and I'm still a musician, but I played music And I love movies and television and I knew I wanted to do one of those two things. So I went to film school for exactly one year. I grew up in Los Angeles and I went to San Francisco, stayed for one year. And I was sitting in a class where they were teaching us how a camera works. And I was like, I don't care about this at all. Don't care. I was really bored. And I realized I don't want to actually shoot things myself. I don't want to, be the person that does that. And I don't really need to know how a camera works. So I actually ended up dropping out of school. And came back to LA and I'd realized at that point too, that I left Los Angeles to work in the film industry, which was probably pretty dumb. So I came back and I had no actual real connections to the film industry, even though I grew up here. My mom's an elementary school teacher. So I asked her, I said any of the parents at the school you work at, do they do any television or film? And she goes, one of them does commercials. I said, great. Can I have her phone number? It was okay. I called and I introduced myself and I said, please, will you give me a chance as a PA? Can you give me one day? And she said, okay. And it was a 23 and a half hour day on a car commercial. And it was very long. But it was cool. It was like, I'd actually never been on a set before. So for me, it was really cool to see, crane shots and very serious people doing very serious things and craft service and all that kind of fun stuff. And I liked it. And then for the next year and a half to two years, she hired me and everything she did. So I got, a lot of commercial work, a lot of independent film work. And I did anything that I could to pay the bills at that point. I think I worked in a costuming house for a couple of weeks. I just, whatever I could possibly do. And I realized after about two years that I did not want to be on set for the rest of my life. I actually wanted to learn how Television and movies were put together. So I wanted to get into an office. And I knew that like you could be an office PA or a mailroom person. I knew that was a thing that existed. So I entered an ad in the reporter, the Hollywood Reporter back when it was still a magazine, and it was a million years ago. And it was an ad in the back that said, looking for a mailroom employee at a management company. And I was like, I don't know what that is, but I'm going to go try. And because I've been a PA for a couple of years at that point, I've been delivering packages and then on set, I was actually qualified to sort mail and deliver packages. So I got a job at a management company called MBST, which is not around anymore. But at the time, they were a cool place to work....

What's Standing in the Way of Your Voiceover Career? Masterclass About Mandy Fisher: Mandy Fisher is a NYC-based full-time voiceover actor with over 15 years of experience in the industry. She has worked with brands like Crayola, Disney, Peloton, Coke, Walmart, and Kohls to name a few. Her passion for voiceover and genuine love of helping people inspire her to work with actors of all stages of their career. With a theater background, she brings her training to guide copy analysis and character creation. As an industry vet of 15 years, she has witnessed the changes and understands the ebbs and flows of the business. Mandy created her own voiceover business from the ground up and has a successful and replicable model to help actors build their own successful businesses. All of this adds up to a coach who can provide audition and career advice while helping actors become the best they can be! I am a professional voiceover actor, and I've been in the industry for a little over 15 years doing lots of different things across the industry. And I wanted to share with you some things that have happened to me in my voiceover career that maybe you can learn from so that you don't make the same mistakes that I did. The number one thing I think that I wish if I could go back tomorrow, right, if, if I could start my career all over again, the number one thing I would tell myself is to not rush the learning phase. You only have one opportunity in your career to be a beginner, to be a newbie, to be fresh into the industry. You have this one golden sweet spot of time where you don't know the answers. You don't have the training. You don't have the experience. You are a fresh baby bird, and it is a little intimidating sometimes to not know, to not understand, to not have the answers and to not know how to move forward. But that sweet spot of being able to learn and grow and ask questions and figure it out is so important. And I rushed that. I was always rushing from one thing to the next. I graduated high school early, I graduated college early. I was always just trying to move on to the next thing, and I wish I would've taken more time to just breathe in these moments of learning, breathe in these moments of not knowing and, and getting the opportunity to have different perspectives. Because also when I was first starting in voiceover, there was nothing, there was literally no resource, no people teaching voiceover, definitely no people on the internet teaching, no forums, no nothing. And nothing for anybody, but especially nothing for a child. So we were scraping, trying to figure out how to make this a business. And it was very, very difficult. And now you are exposed to more information than ever. There is so much information out there, a lot of free information out there, right? I always point people to www.Iwanttobeavoiceactor.com by D Bradley Baker. It is a fabulous resource. There's so much information there, but it can also be very overwhelming because there's so much information there. And while you can definitely read it over and over and immerse yourself in from the starting from zero point to checking out all of the myths, tips, and tricks and ways that you're going to be able to set up your business, it's not comprehensive enough because it's just from one person, you need to expose yourself to multiple people, to people who say things that maybe you don't agree with, to people who have only been in the business for X amount of time, for people who have been in the business for 10 times that amount of time, the new people, the older people, the vets, the people who are just breaking in. There's so many perspectives. There's so many people writing blogs, showing off TikTOK, showing their experiences in different ways because technology has evolved and the landscape of the industry has evolved. And it is so important for you to take this time to absorb all of that information. I've been doing voiceover for...

Managing Anxiety for the New Year. Sometimes when I have something really large looming in front of me, like an entire year, I get anxious. I think, “How am I going to do this? How am I going to handle this? This seems like too big of a thing to tackle.” And there's that wonderful phrase that says, “Anyone can eat an elephant one bite at a time.” And that's what I like to help actors with, not only helping you in the business, in the basics, because I have this theory that really the business is something that can be learned. The problem is it's taught so poorly in so many places, and I have a tried true system that really works. And once you get on that system, it just chugs along in the background. It's like it works and it chugs along so that you can focus on the two other things that I think are the most important things, which is the ability to do your job, which is acting. So to become a better actor. Possibly, more importantly, what we're talking a bit about today, which is core work, which is the work on yourself. Because the more you know how you tick, the more you'll be able to apply that to a character. So the more you become emotionally mature and the more emotional intelligence that you have, the better you'll be able to translate that into a character. For today, talking about managing New Year's anxiety, or managing anxiety with an entire year in front of you. You will never be given more than you can handle, but you will be given more than you can control. And why is that? Because control is not your business. Handling is. That's also where that phrase, “Take the action, let go of the result,” comes in. It's my job to show up and do the absolute very best I can. My job is to suit up and to show up and to be the very best I can be in every single moment. “I can handle this.” It's something I say to myself quite often, especially when faced with such a big thing in front of me. Also, asking myself the question, “when the anxiety comes up, what do I think I can't handle?” The other thing that I find, and this is just magical, is once I take responsibility for doing something in the area that I have that anxiety in, the anxiety does start to dissipate. It starts to disappear. Why? Because I've taken responsibility. There's something else about fear and anxiety that I want to point out,fear is your anecdote to success. Let me say that again. Fear is your anecdote to success. It is a bridge. If you can, slowly, methodically, quietly, stealth fully, do those things that you are frightened of, you'll start to build real confidence, a real understanding of you. And that confidence that will carry you to the success that you want in your life. It becomes the road more traveled. That when that thing that comes up that you're frightened of, you do that. It’s very important to stop, take that step back, and observe. And at the beginning of this year, I so recommend you taking that moment, sitting down and doing a lot more planning and organizing. And then, of course, doing that very difficult thing of following through. I want to be responding as much as I can to 2024 and not reacting. When I react, I go by my first thought, and my first thought generally is not healthy for me. But my second thought is, because my second thought is more of a response. And a response is a reaction with a pause and a thought behind it.

So today, we are going to talk about goals for the first quarter of 2024. January through March 31st is the first quarter of the year. We are setting 3 to 5 goals for the first quarter of 2024. Now, the other thing is that if you do the full yearly goals, you could break that down a little bit, baby-stepping into that first quarter. But what I want you to be thinking of is the first of the year through March 31st. That's where I want your focus to be because it's a much more bite-sized piece to apply your goals to and your positive thoughts and actions towards. I want to give you some questions to think about: The first question is, with these goals that you have, where do you feel you are at in achieving them? Talk about what you've done in the past and where that has brought you. And then the next thing I want you to ask yourself is, looking at where you are at in achieving them and what you've done in the past, how has that made you feel? What are your emotions around it? If you're sick and tired of being sick and tired, you will change. Now, the reason why I asked you where are you at in achieving them and how does that make you feel because if you did write something down, "I feel like I've let myself down, I feel like I just keep procrastinating, I feel like I'm such a loser…" I want you right now to feel that pain. I want you to feel it. I want you to get uncomfortable. I want you to recognize all of those things that you just said. Why? Not because I'm some masochist. No, but because I want to get you to change. If you're sick and tired of being sick and tired, you'll change. And then I was hoping you could write this: Today is the first day of the rest of my life. There's that wonderful phrase "Do something today that yourself in year from now will thank you for." Use your mind to govern your brain. Perfectionism leads to procrastination leads to paralysis. Now, I have one more journal question for you: How do you feel when you do not do what you said you were going to do? When you have a thought, that thought leads to an emotion and then to an action. Which then goes back to reiterating that initial thought. I want you now to make three columns. I want you to put one of your goals in the first column. So you're going to put down one of your goals. And then, in the second column, I want you to write down some thoughts that support that goal. So, if my goal is to be a working actor, the thought or thoughts that you would want to write in that second column are I am a successful working actor. I go from success to success in my acting career. I love myself, and I approve of myself. So some good positive affirmations around that goal. Because your thoughts need to back up that goal. What else needs to back up that goal? Your actions. So, I want you to take a look at whatever that goal is, and I want you to think of one to three small actions that you can take towards that goal. What's your goal? What are the thoughts that support the goal? What are the baby actions that you can take towards supporting that goal? And that is the secret to success. It's your thoughts, and your actions must back up what you want. I want you to go back now and look at your goals, and I want you to put next to them, whether they are a habit goal or an achievement goal. So let's say I want to take a vacation in 2024, a two-week vacation in 2024. You need to save up for that. That's an achievement goal. But let's say you want to practice your voice five times a week for half an hour each one of those times. That is a habit goal. So take a moment and review all the goals you have written down and write down if they are habits or achievement. I want you to look at each one of your goals, and I want you to ask yourself, is it a goal that is actually achievable or attainable by the end of the quarter? Or is it a quarter/year project? It should make you just a little uncomfortable. If you babystep your...

Special Rate Life Coaching This is one of my favorite episodes of the year. Why? Because I recap the entire year, and it's like a play-by-play of all the podcast episodes. So, over 52 episodes, you can get a quick little like burst of what it's about and write it down and say, "Oh, I wanna listen to episode 210." What's so incredible is that we have over 160 episodes for you to listen to all free content. And it's a great little way to celebrate the holidays by just marking down which ones you want to listen to while you do that dreaded holiday travel. Money Mastery for Actors It's important to encourage yourself.