13261: Have You Limited Your Circle Of Competence?

Raw transcript:

So pretend for a moment I’m somebody who
you’ve just met and they say what do you
do and you have 10 seconds or 15 seconds
to tell them what you’re good at what
you do and I’m wondering
how you arrived there and whether or not
you might be limiting yourself there.
Let’s talk about your circle of
competence in this episode of the VO
Heroes podcast.
We’re asked to create profiles, to
create bios, to create really short
statements about what we do and how we
do it and what we’re good at all the
time. And it’s not just social media.
It’s everyday conversations. It’s uh
going to professional meetings. It’s
meetings with potential clients,
potential uh production partners. And I
wonder what the story is that you tell
and how you arrived at that story. So,
usually you have a good idea once you
get further along in in the training
that you might have to be a performer
what you’re good at, but sometimes
you’re still trying to identify that or
that changes over time. I certainly
couldn’t say early in my career that I
was competent at being an on camera
actor because I wasn’t one yet.
But then I was and then I became one. So
uh the question is what is your uh
circle of competence? That’s the the
phrase that’s used in business. What are
you good at? What are what is what when
somebody thinks oh I got to get this
done? Who do I talk to? Aha this person.
And they can identify you immediately.
Now how did you arrive at that? Was it
listening to what others say you’re good
at? Was it you deciding what you’re good
at? Um, the reason I bring this up is
that sometimes we limit ourselves
in the interests of brevity or in the
interests of not wanting to take up too
much stage time. Um, and also trying to
avoid smartly the idea of being
everything to everyone. So, we create
the circle of competence.
And one mistake that I see people making
all the time is that they unnecessarily
limit that circle of competence. Here’s
a great example. I had a client who came
to me and and had a very childlike voice
and she uh was well aware of it. She
wasn’t trying to deny it, but she was
limiting herself in terms of what she
was seeking in terms of employment. I
said, “So, what do you want to do?
Clearly, you have a very distinct brand.
You have a distinct voice.” And she
goes, “Well, I think I’d be really good
at children’s audio books.” And I’m
like, “Okay, anything else?” And she’s
like, “No.”
I’m like, “Well, what about the times
when uh an animation uh piece might need
kids voices?” Oh, yeah. Yeah, that too.
So, children’s audiobooks and animation.
Yeah. Okay. Animation’s a little bit
difficult to get into. You’d have to
work on that a little bit, but a little
bit of an expansion. And I said, “And
what about commercials that sometimes
need that for either voice over or as
characters or whatever?” You know,
commercials sometimes need childlike
voices that aren’t kids. Maybe they’re
uh telling a story from a childlike
perspective, but not necessarily a
child’s perspective. What about that?
Well, yeah, I’d love to do that. Okay,
so um limiting yourself and your circle
of competence to what you could possibly
use your skills for might not be the
best approach. Just in general, knowing
your circle of competence and knowing
what it could expand to is a really
interesting exercise because we can’t
safely predict what we’re going to be
able to do in the future once we’ve
gotten training, once we’ve gotten
experience, what once we’ve introduced
ourselves and become familiar with new
tools and new systems. So, I just want
you every so often to take a look at how
you describe yourself
and what you tell others you’re known
for, you’re best at, you’re good at, and
make sure you’re not limiting yourself
unnecessarily.
Again, you don’t want to go so far that
you’re being observed as someone who has
no idea of uh what they’re actually good
at. They’re they’re they’re everything
to everybody. Don’t do that.
But also don’t unnecessarily limit your
circle of competence to just those
things that maybe other people have told
you or that you have told yourself. Do
that exercise of looking to other
things. And maybe get some help from a
trusted coach or a trusted uh peer that
looks at what you do and says, “Yeah,
but you know, you could do this, too.”
You know, who knows? Uh does this make
sense to you? I’d love to know what you
perceive your circle of competence to be
in the comments below uh on
vohhereroes.com where this uh podcast
episode lives. Let me know what you
think you’re good at, what you think
people will hire you for, and also
stretch a little and see what else those
skills might be applicable to. Tell me
in the comments below on voeros.com. Hit
the like button while you’re at it. Uh,
you can hit the subscribe button and
know when new episodes come out by
clicking the notification bell. You can
share this by forwarding this to another
actor or voice talent or uh writer who
may not be aware that their circle of
competence could grow just a little bit
and expand their opportunities. 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.

(from YouTube)