0004: Are You Comfortable With A Dial…Or A Switch?
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Show notes
Hey there, hero!
A friend of mine just illustrated how he looks at improving your lot over time.
And it made me think of how we often assume that a switch to something new is the answer.
It may be.
But more likely, it’s not a switch, but rather a gradual dialing in to a better approach.
Here’s what I mean by that.
Raw captioning:
well hey there hero it’s David H
Lawrence the 17th just got off the phone
with a friend of mine I asked a simple
question how things been with you what
happened for you big-time in the last
year and he gave me an answer that I
thought was really interesting he said
he did something different in the past
year than he’s done in prior years and I
think it might be useful for you and me
too so we’ll talk about that coming up
next
in this episode of the vo Heroes podcast
[Music]
I love talking with old friends catching
up with them after a long period of time
because there’s all these surprises
sometimes the surprises can be a little
bit devastating but often the surprises
are terrific they’re like wow that
really happened for you that’s fantastic
and that happened with my friend Steve I
was talking with him about what he had
done since moving from a small town in
the south to a big metropolitan area in
the north building his business being
more available to his clients upgrading
his his processes and procedures and he
said to me something that was really
interesting and it made sense to me
because it’s something that I practice
most of the time when we look at how to
make changes in our lives when we look
at those things that really upgrade us
from okay to great or from great to
world class or from not so good to
passable whatever it is we often think
okay if I just switch something if I
just get a different microphone or if I
use a new piece of software or if I get
a brand new camera or who knows what it
is but it seems like it’s a shift or
switch that is binary I’m doing this and
now I’m gonna stop doing that entirely
and I’m gonna do this whole different
thing that to me is looking at life as
though you can control it by using
switches right on-off high-low that kind
of stuff what he said to me was I just
looked at all the different things that
I was doing and I tried to get a little
bit better each and every day and so it
was more like instead of flipping a
switch
he was gradually dialing into something
better so making slight little
adjustments and noting whether or not it
made a difference maybe going back if it
didn’t that kind of idea of using a dial
rather than a switch can really be
powerful for you when you’re looking at
your performing career when you’re
looking at voiceover
or you’re looking at on camera work
because we think oh if I just get a
brand new agent or if I you know get new
headshots or if I change my equipment
you know we get these big shifts seismic
shifts in our mind that that’s going to
make all the difference and to be fair
sometimes that will make a difference
especially if you’re using substandard
or have substandard items in place or
processes in place they’re a complete
wholesale change may make a difference
but if you’ve been watching these videos
or listening to this podcast over time
you know that I have changed slowly but
surely the things that I’ve been doing
and just noting whether or not that’s
better or whether or not it’s not
something little that I was doing in
this podcast I was trying to jump in
with my intro without saying my name and
I’ve just realized after three episodes
in the new year it just doesn’t feel
right to me so a little tiny change
let’s see how it works or I changed the
lights if you’re watching the video
version of the podcast I changed the
lights just a little bit I added some
diffusing material to my key light just
to see if it made a difference and I
think it does so these little tiny
adjustments here and there can really
make all the difference in the world
when it comes to improving your lot in
life
and and the best part is every time you
do something tiny that works it’s
actually like a little bit of dopamine
in your brain because what happens is
you get that little tiny victory and you
go oh that’s cool I can do better and
not only does it help you do further
little incremental upgrades as you move
that dial from zero to ten all the way
through all the numbers rather than boom
on rather than off but it also makes the
bigger changes easier for you to you
know handle to approach to actually
execute
and more importantly to enjoy when
you’ve finished so as you look at your
career as you look at your practice as
an actor as a voice-over talent tell me
something do you find it a comfortable
situation to just make a slight change
to make things better or does it just
not work for you to do that you have to
make wholesale changes tell me in the
comments below whether you’re watching
this video or you’re listening to the
audio of the podcast let me know
wherever you are give me a comment and
tell me what you think about this whole
idea of slowly but surely upgrading your
life rather than trying to just remove
and replace entirely wholesale the
things that aren’t working for you tell
me if that’s worked for you in the past
if it has great if it hasn’t tell me why
tell me what’s going on there for you if
you want to join my list please drop
down to the bottom of this page if
you’re on vo heroes calm and get on the
list as I do this podcast we’re about to
launch the a CX masterclass for the new
year so I’m excited about that and I
would love to know what’s going on with
you so please be in touch alright I
thank you so much for watching and for
listening I’m David H Lawrence 217th and
I will talk to you soon.
I need to turn up a couple dials regarding my vo performance, and not just my soft voice 🙂 Learning and growing, that’s what it’s all about.
This idea reminds me of Benjamin Franklin’s method of improving ones self as described in his autobiography. Focusing on one aspect of desired change, just a portion of that aspect even, and for one week at a time work on this one area. Next week another area. For one week you work to intentionally make this a part of your life, like you mentioned listening with intent. Next week while you are focused on the next area, this weeks focus will come a bit more natural. By degrees we better ourselves.
DJ
Isn’t life more enjoyable when life is a series of gentle experiments, rather than a bunch of newly final revelatory changes? A lesson I seem to need to learn over and over again… or a practice to continue practicing.
Hello beautiful brother David! I am a dial being to my core. The impact of the incrimental is enduring.
Oh my god, I just came out the other side of this. Last year was a lovely series of incremental dials, and then towards the end I decided to flip a couple switches with what I do–and I’m pretty sure I blew a mental fuse. I’m back to dials now, slowly getting back into the groove of doing what I do best, the simplest way possible, and making only small changes along the way.