13112: Don’t Ignore Your Successes
Hey there, hero!
Although I’ve tried very hard to take away the fear of starting something new, I’ve paid little attention to celebrating when we actually accomplish whatever that thing is.
I want to change that in this episode, because if we’re going to have the gumption to attempt something, we definitely have to take a moment when we actually get that something done.
It certainly far more likely that we’ll try something, and run into challenges along the way.
But if we manage to do things in such a way that we actually get what we want…well, that’s worth a few fireworks and champagne.
And that’s why this episode is numbered “properly,” based on the total number of podcast episodes I’ve produced in the last 26 years, beginning with the first daily email-delivered Progressive Networks (RealAudio) email attachments back in 1996.
So…give me an example of something you’ve accomplished recently that you forgot to give yourself credit for in the comments below. And tell me how it feels to type it out and maybe say it out loud.
Raw transcript:
Raw transcript:
we’ve discovered lots of things in
exploring the concept of getting started
on something in these episodes over the
past year or two
and
it occurred to me that we’ve spent so
much time on that that we may have given
short shrift to the other end of the
process
the completion
and the celebration of that completion
and I’d like to do that in this episode
of the vo Heroes podcast
[Music]
any Journey we Embark upon has a
beginning a middle an end the middle May
last a whole lifetime it may be five
minutes anything in between
um but usually you can Define the
journeys that we take in life in our
personal Journeys our business Journeys
our career Journeys our emotional
Journeys our physical Journeys
uh in uh you know sort of a a story you
know the story of the the very
beginnings of things and the fears that
we have
at those Beginnings
um
the processes and the changes and the
the information that we get and that we
don’t get that either help us succeed or
give us challenges
and it’s always the end of the movie
that we sometimes uh
kind of dismiss or forget or
you know don’t give as much importance
to as we do and I feel like I’ve been
guilty of that in these episodes and so
I kind of want to correct that
um I just got finished going through a
process this year that uh at the end of
which was presented hey what do you
think about the completion of all this
and I told the person who was uh you
know sort of leading this whole effort
hey this is really uh inspired me to
share this with my clients and my
students
and I think we sometimes minimize just
how difficult
it is to complete something
we begin a million things
we complete hundreds of things
All Along The Path there are
opportunities for stopping the process
failing at the process changing the
process restarting the process
but when we get to the point where we’ve
decided we’re going to do something
we get the tools and the training we
need to get that done whatever that
thing is we explore the options and the
processes and
the uh the different paths we can take
and we end up with something that may or
may not look like what we thought it
would look like when we first started
that moment sometimes flies right by us
you know in our business of performance
who knows what that completion moment is
I mean often I say it’s never complete
but we do have completion moments we get
an audition
we successfully submit an audition we
get a call back oh that’s that’s an
interesting completion oh they they
actually liked what we did and wanted to
see more we booked something uh we book
something repetitively we become a a
series regular or the the go-to voice in
an audio for an audiobook uh rights
holder or we become the voice of a
product and I’ve seen this happen with
my students over and over and over again
and one of the things that I’ve also
seen happen is that they go okay great
and then they move right on to something
else without taking that moment
to realize just how much effort it takes
to get to the end to get to the
completion and then taking a moment
and celebrating that
you know one of the things that I’ve
done this past year is a lot more
celebrating
of the things that I’ve achieved the
things that I have uh completed
I mean that’s really the bottom line and
I want to share that with you as I’m
recording this and and sharing it with
people it’s the end of a year the
beginning of a new year
and there’s always that feeling that we
have of oh did I do everything that I
wanted to do this year no never right
uh did I ask enough of myself what am I
going to do differently in the New Year
how can I change things what are my
resolutions right we we talk about this
and we talk about it in a very meta way
you know we we recognize the end of the
year the beginning of a new year
but I just want to leave you with this
and that is take a moment and do an
inventory
of the things that you started you
overcame the fear of starting something
the fear of failing at it you went
through the Journey you found the tools
you changed the tools you found the
instruction you up the instruction or
you change the instruction uh whatever
it was that you needed to complete that
journey and find a resolution whether
that resolution was yeah you know that’s
not for me or wow that was great or
anything in between
and then using the results of that
Journey
going on in your life
um
to take a moment
and celebrate that it’s not an easy
thing to do and you deserve a great deal
of credit a great deal of joy
and a great deal of uh loving
celebration about that you know
especially in our business
our business is so weird and so
capricious and so Random and so
unpredictable
to complete anything often feels like a
lifelong Mastery of something that you
can’t even hold in your hand right so
I’m wondering if you would take a moment
in the uh in the comments below and I’m
talking on
veoheros.com if you’re watching this on
uh YouTube or you’re listening to it on
a podcast platform go to viewheroes.com
find this episode
and let me know in the comments below
what you want to celebrate what things
you’ve completed that you didn’t even
remember you completed but you did and
here’s a way that you’ve celebrated or
just State what you completed and
declare that you’ve succeeded declare
the victory right I’d love to see like a
huge long list of people just making
sure they remember that they achieved
success
I just I love seeing that I just love
seeing that and we’ve we’ve certainly
celebrated many of my clients successes
this past year uh my clients challenges
and how they’ve overcome them mine Etc
so I just wanted to give you the
opportunity because it feels great it
really feels great I don’t want you to
waste that right
and while you’re there if you want to
hit the like button or if you want to
you know subscribe to the channel so you
know when these episodes are coming if
you want to be notified of new episodes
you’ve got a bell you can click on uh go
ahead and do that I’d love to as we move
into the new year
um help you do even more of this I’m
David H Lawrence the 17th I thank you so
much for watching and for listening and
I will see you in the next episode of
the vo Heroes podcast
[Music]
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I have gone from just “thinking” about starting my VO journey to getting repeat clients without auditioning. I am now being requested. My gigs are getting bigger. This is a very exciting moment. And I am so guilty of motoring on without stopping long enough to appreciate what I have accomplished. It’s truly incredible how far I’ve come over the last few years.
Good for you Kelly! Keep up the good work 🙂
I’ve celebrated the completion of the VO Heroes curriculum in the last year, and celebrate being part of this community. Thanks for reminding us to stop and recognize our accomplishments, David.
In addition to my own milestones–like recently sending out the 100th edition of Stuart’s Audacity Tips–my recent celebrations have included the “meta” joys of hearing about successes from VO Heroes I’ve coached, and watching them shed their insecurities and fly. Every time I hear about a booking, or see an audiobook release, I get to have a little happy dance on your behalf. I love this tribe!
Thank you, Stuart, for all you do!
Thank you Stuart. I have learned so much from you!
Good for you Stuart. I appreciate all the great coaching.
I can’t believe that I actually completed an audiobook and created a companion PDF to go along with it. I could not have done these things without the training and encouragement from David, Max and Victoria, the coaches and the entire VOHeroes pro community.
That’s great, Mary–especially when you consider that the vast majority of audiobook narrators don’t have the first clue how to handle that specialized companion work. You rock!
Stuart, I have gained so much confidence that I never had before. I didn’t know what a companion PDF even was until VOHeroes. But the information in the book was necessary for people to see. I went over the classes and figured it out. The author was very happy. So was I!
Way to go, Mary!
Laura, Thank you so much. So nice to hear that from you. I so enjoy hearing all that you are doing and your successes.
On my actual play Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) podcast, I completed a campaign (a complete story) that ran for 2 years and 8 months worth of episodes. I’ve heard (and experienced) most D&D campaigns don’t even come to a conclusion and just sort of fizzle out. I’m very happy with my accomplishment.
That’s a lot of content, Chris! Congrats on your perseverance; I know how hard you’ve worked on that project.
Thanks Stuart.
Good for you, Christopher! I also play D&D and I DM a lot so I know exactly what you’re talking about. Congratulations on completing the campaign and also podcasting it! That’s something I’ve been thinking of doing too. What’s the link to your podcast?
That’s great to hear Laura! My wife and I love meeting fellow D&D players through our work and other hobbies. My podcast website it https://knightsofroleplay.com/, the podcast site is https://knightsofroleplay.podbean.com/.
That is awesome Chris! I am so happy for you! Talk about making your dream come true. Well done!
Thanks Mary 🙂
That is quite an accomplishment! Congratulations!
Thanks Julie 🙂
Thank you for this, David. I invested in and recorded commercial & animation voiceover demos. I was getting called in from my bridge or “scratch” demos, so taking my game to the next tier, working with you and Trevor on the pro demos, feels very exciting! I also love how they sound! In 2022 I also invested in working with a new acting coach and I love how much stronger I feel in my craft! I had 5 check avails and 1 straight to producers audition from the 29 selftapes I did last year. And I love celebrating that progress! Yes!
Laura, How amazing! I loved hearing about you making your demos especially the animation demo. Celebrate your successes!
Thank you, Mary!
Congrats Laura! I want both those demos as well. Someday 🙂
I assisted eight non-fiction authors to get their books ready for publication. I am a content editor and ghostwriter. Until today I had never stopped to think about really celebrating my contribution.
The latest one to get to print was a Dummies book for Wiley. Here is a picture of me celebrating having the actual book in my hands. https://photos.app.goo.gl/uutiaBQoqURisew17
David, please celebrate that you are a tremendous catalyst for good.
That is so cool, Jane! You look so happy!!! And what a great franchise to be a part of!
Congrats Jane! 🙂
I’m always searching in life to create win-win situations. It’s part of my nature to believe thinking with EVERYONE’S best intentions in mind, is the kindest, most ethical way to lead one’s life. Plus I cannot help thinking outside the box, because inside the box is a space I just never found.
I made a decision to turn bookings that are normally 1099 earnings into W-2-based earnings, to create financial buoyancy during dry spells and plum plump up social security contributions. One hand modeling job was almost lost over what could have been a very easy conversion, but I searched further after that job. When one client wanted me to do another audiobook, which is the only genre of work SAG-AFTRA pays 1099, I wracked my brain for a solution.
Bingo! I convinced the client, I’d write and record a top and tail, with the 1-2 hr. audiobook sandwiched in the middle and post it as a podcast. A SAG-AFTRA podcast does earn W-2 wages. So the project will be both a podcast and an audiobook. The client gets a 2 for 1 deal, while launching into the podcast space that neither of us initially anticipated. I get the EDD and SS contributions I want. We both get audiobook royalties on the audiobook, while building a podcast audience, too
It was a mighty steep learning curve to produce my first episode of the podcast, because there are so many companies wanting to side track podcasters, by selling them their services. Eventually, I established all the podcast outlets’ accounts myself, to keep the client’s costs down.
Next week, I start episode 2!
Great stuff Marlon! I also have a podcast so good luck with yours. It’s fun!
Oh my gosh! This really hit home with me as I re-entered the acting field in 2019 after a 23 year “hiatus” raising my family. I had to start over from scratch and instead of celebrating all of the skills, bookings, completion of classes, etc., I would just check the box and move onto the next thing that needed my attention. Kind of like being a mom and raising kids – just git ‘er done. Then I stumbled onto this course of study and I am so thankful! I am learning so much in this course – not just voiceover – but rediscovering who I am and who I aspire to be. I want to celebrate that, first and foremost. I have my first voiceover job airing on Epix Entertainment on January 15 for 4 episodes (Murf the Surf). I was so surprised I got the job and struggled greatly to get it done because I hadn’t found this course at that time. Now I feel like when I get my next job, I will feel confident to git ‘er done with professionalism and skill. Thank you David for all you do for us – Bless ya!
Great job Julie! Welcome back to acting! 🙂
Hi Chris! Thank you! It’s great to be back!