13269: Maya Angelou Dropped A Powerful #1 Takeaway
Hey there, hero!
Short and sweet: six words that might make your day a bit more impactful, and give you a bit more moxie and courage to do what we do as professional performers.
(I ask my students at the end of each of our live workouts if they had anything resonate for them during the session – a #1 takeaway – and as I traversed the web yesterday…Ms. Anjelou, in just those six concise words, handed me what was my #1 takeaway of yesterday.)
Thoughts? Let me know in the comments below.
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Raw transcript:
Raw transcript:
This is going to be a bit briefer than
our normal episodes. I just wanted to
share something with you that I think
might be useful as we face the world
every day. Uh we’ll do that in this
episode of the VO Heroes podcast.
I’ve often wondered what life must be
like for poets.
How do they spend their day? Crafting
words, putting them in particular
orders, making choices of what those
words are. Maya Angelou said something
as part of a larger quote of hers that
just, you know, just resonated with me,
was my number one takeaway for the day.
She said, “Continue
to astonish
a mean world.”
And golly gosh, one, two, three, four,
five, six. Six words that embody so
much. And I wish that for you today.
There’s nothing big and heavy here about
the industry. Nothing big and heavy
about audiobooks or voice over or
writing or anything. I just it just
struck me. Continue to astonish a mean
world.
Yeah, there’s no guarantee that people
are going to be nice to you, but you can
certainly guarantee that you will have
them walking away shaking their heads at
how awesome you are. And I hope that
happens for you on a daily basis.
Hit the like button if you like this
little nugget. You can subscribe to the
channel if you’d like. You can uh hit
the notification bell and be notified
when other episodes are released.
They’re all longer. Uh, you can also
forward this on to somebody who might be
really frustrated with how the world is
today. I’m David H. Lawrence 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)
Love this.
Thank you! Be the light!
Wow. Yes 🙌🏻
David, you are an excellent example of following Maya Angelou’s words.
You are Awesome!
I do like this little nugget David. Being kind in the face of a mean person is so hard, but it can have a very positive effect on the world.
Wow! Thank you for sharing!
Thanks, David.
I took a friend for a treatment at Bowman Gray Medical Center c.1995. I sat next to a man in the waiting area and struck up a conversation with him, which isn’t always easy for me since I have what people call “resting bitch face” – I look mean when I don’t intend it.
His name was W.C. Bryant and he had brought a friend for a treatment, too. We shared our backgrounds, laughed at how we looked – two big guys sitting side-by-side…in little chairs…in a cramped waiting room, and spoke seriously about the ordeals our friends were enduring.
He was dressed in chauffer’s livery, and I asked him about that, He said that he was actually on the job, that his friend was his employer. “I work for Maya Angelou” he said flatly. When I expressed interest he offered to introduce us if I was still there when her appointment was over. Sure enough, she came through the door and we both stood. He assisted her with some belongings then said: “Ms. Maya, I want you to meet a friend of mine who is also here with his friend.” He told her my name (I had said it once about 40 minutes earlier.) We greeted each other warmly and I didn’t impede her exit.
As they were leaving, Mr. Bryant expressed his pleasure with our acquaintance, his best wishes for me and for my friend’s recovery (he’s fine, BTW), and with that they were gone. Over 30 years have passed and that impression of genuine positive humanity remains, because Mr. Bryant lived those six words: Continue to astonish a mean world.
Great content. Thanks for THIS podcast.