13258: The First 95 vs The Last 5: An Unexpected Split

Raw transcript:

You probably work really, really hard at
getting good at what you do, whether
you’re an actor or you’re a voice talent
or you’re a writer. Uh, my peeps. But I
think sometimes it might surprise you
how two main sections of that work to
get good at this actually shows up. I’d
like to share that with you in this
episode of the VO Heroes podcast.
When we decide to become uh creative
types, when we decide to become a
performer, an actor, a voice talent, a
writer, um we’re getting into like any
business, like any pursuit, we’re
getting into a space where we need to
train just simply to know the basics of
what we’re doing, maybe get good at what
we’re doing, and if we’re lucky enough
to get really, really good expert at
what we’re doing. And I’ve noticed a a
trend in the surprise that some
performers exhibit in just how much time
they spend
on that first 95%
of the 100%
uh of their pursuit that they spend
getting good at what we do. you know, we
spend 50% learning the ropes, learning
the basics, and then maybe another 45%
getting really, really good at it. And
then there’s that final 5% where we can
become, if we work at it hard enough and
are are given some breaks, we we can
become world class at it. I tend to have
a group of people around me as clients
and students and peers
that are professionals at this that are
really really really
good at this that they’ve taken
advantage of that last 5% and they’ve
learned things that a lot of sort of uh
journeyman uh performers don’t know or
can’t take advantage of or get the
opportunity to be a part of. you know,
working in professional television,
film, commercials, audio books, uh,
writing, uh, you know, narrating their
own books as authors, you know, getting
good results from the sales of what
they’re doing, getting booked on things.
Not everybody gets to do that. But I
think it’s surprising sometimes if you
take a look at the amount of effort it
takes to do that first 95%
and how much time you’re going to spend
doing that final 5%. And we sometimes
mistake how much that last 5% is going
to be and how important it’s going to
be.
I would submit to you that you can
severely underestimate how much time
you’ll spend in your life on that last
5%.
So,
I think that it’s likely going to be
around, not exactly, but around half of
your life getting good enough to be a
professional at something and then the
other half or so of your life exploring
expertise, exploring worldclass stuff,
exploring really highlevel
professional stuff. That’s where I like
to live with my clients is getting them
not through the first 95% alone, but
also worldclass concepts and and and
strategies and tactics that that get
them even further along in their
business. I love because that’s where
success lies. You can have success
with the first 95%. But that last 5% is
going to naturally give you a bit of an
advantage over the people that are still
maybe in the first 20 or 30%, right?
But know that that’s going to be a
lifetime thing and be ready for that and
enjoy that. You know, we sometimes
forget just how far we’ve come. I was in
a session with uh Adrien Salisbury who
uh helped me get my studio and
everything looking great and my camera
set up and you know the ability to use
uh my surroundings appropriately for
doing these podcasts, for doing my
auditions and all that sort of thing.
And it struck me that um his other
students and I
uh sometimes uh forget just how far
we’ve come. Like this looks great and I
could tweak it and I could be better at
it. But it’s that last 5%. And I’ll
spend the rest of my life going, could I
do better with this? Could is there
something I could do that would be
better with this? What’s like a really
advanced technique that I could do? You
know, for example, the camera that I use
has this special feature on it where if
I want to show you something up close
right now, you see it’s it’s it’s uh
focused on my face and my eyes. But
watch what happens if I put this pen
right up to the camera. You can now see
the pen and I’m out of focus, right? So
that’s like a little 5% thing that I did
so that I can show people microphones
and connectors and cables and stuff up
close so they can see what’s happening.
I probably wouldn’t have thought about
that when I was first getting everything
set up. And maybe I can even use it in
uh auditions for something. I don’t
know. Who knows? But it’s that little
kind of tweaky thing, that 5% thing that
I’ll be discovering for the rest of my
career.
Don’t forget where you came from. Don’t
forget the huge amount of effort and and
success that you’ve had getting from
zero to 95%
while you’re exploring that last 5%.
I don’t know if this is like helpful or
inspirational to you, but it’s something
that occurred to me and I thought, let’s
bring this up with everybody who watches
and listens to the podcast.
If you like what you’re hearing, share
this with another actor or voice talent
or writer who might want to hear it. Hit
the like button if you like what you’re
hearing. You can subscribe to my
channel. You can uh be notified when uh
new episodes come out. You can put
comments below this over on
vohhereroes.com where the conversation
is sane and respectful and lovely. I’d
appreciate it if you’d do that. And I
thank you so much for watching and for
listening. I’m David H. Florence the
17th and I’ll see you in the next
episode of the VO Heroes podcast.

(from YouTube)