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A Note:

I’ll be travelling to Utah this week for family stuff, and since M-I-L’s house is without WiFi, or any internet for that matter – She’s turning 80 this week – I MAY not be able to post something next week.  Thanks for your understanding! (I’m just going to pretend that all of you are sitting around every Wednesday morning at 6AM breathlessly waiting for my blog to publish – Please don’t crush my fantasies!).

What’s it all about, anyway?

So, what is this week’s post all about?  Well, there are a couple reasons for me writing on this topic today.  First, my friend and fellow VO Artist Joshua Alexander asked me (along with several other VO Artist/Bloggers) to write a short piece about the topic for a book he is putting together now.  Second, I’ve seen a fair amount of discussion about it on social media this week.

We have a responsibility

Yes, yes…I know…responsibility is a very long 4-letter word that most people don’t like.  Like it or not everyone has responsibilities, but in this case, I am talking about the responsibilities we have both as VO artists and as bloggers.  As a VO artist, we have a responsibility to be truthful to the script.  As bloggers we have a responsibility to our readers to be truthful regarding our topic.  These are slightly different responsibilities, but, similar enough that they are accomplished in some of the same ways.

What does it mean to be truthful to the script?

This should be self-evident, but apparently not to everyone.  As a VO, we are working with words and thoughts that someone else has provided.  MOST times, that someone else also provides a clue as to what they expect from the artist when delivering their file.

There ARE some easy things to accomplish…

While the client typically tells you things like how to structure the file name, what file format they expect to receive and things like sample rate and bit resolution – those things are easy to follow.  You should absolutely be paying attention to these, and if you are not, and are not booking much, this may be the reason.  The other very important, and often overlooked things to pay attention to is the length of the spot.  A :30 second spot should not be delivered as a :45 second audio.

Simple.

But that’s not what I’m talking about here.

I’m talking about the script itself; topic, audience, tone, pace – to name a few.

It’s important to remain true to the author’s intent of the script.  Who are you? Who are you talking to?  Why are you saying the things you are saying?  What are you trying to accomplish in the piece?

How do you KNOW these things?

Many times, the author/client either tells you outright or infers it in the “production Notes” or “VO Direction”.  You see things like an age range (For the record, the age range does NOT refer to your ACTUAL age, but your “Voice Age”…how old you SOUND). Other things you’ll see as direction are things like: Natural, believable, upbeat, conversational, “Real Person”, excited…more descriptive words than I can list here. Sometimes they’ll tell you their audience, or who they are trying to reach.  There are, however, times when you get little or NO direction for the script.

In those cases…

Believe it or not, in those cases (which frankly can be the most fun), it’s up to the artist to come up with the answers on their own.  This is a very long-winded way to say: You make it up. That’s right, make it up.  But not out of whole cloth.

We interrupt this broadcast…

To take a short trip down the rabbit hole of that last phrase “out of whole cloth”. What the HECK does that mean?  Well, here is what The Free Dictionary by Farlex has to say about it:

“To fabricate something entirely fictional or utterly false and not based on reality at all. A reference to tailors who would falsely advertise garments being made “out of whole cloth,” when, in reality, they were pieced together from different cuts.”

Why did you take that detour?

Bear with me, I’ll get to that – but back to my thoughts before the brief recess.

When we as VO artists “make up” the context for the script, we must do it by reading, and re-reading, the script and whatever direction you DID get to come up with something plausible.  The good news is this is a skill that can be learned (and improved over time) and it doesn’t require a degree in literature either. The FUN part is you can usually come up with more than one completely plausible backstories for the script that way, and give the client something they didn’t KNOW they wanted.  In any case, you MUST stay true to the context all the way through.

In all honesty…

Even when you get a full description of the context to the script, you can still give the client something unique that they may like better than what they originally had in mind…on the SECOND or subsequent take.  Bottom line: Always pay attention to the direction given and give the client what they are asking for on the first take.  If you feel like you have a great unique take on the script, go ahead and record that on a subsequent take.

And now, honesty in blogging…

Frankly, I use “blogging”, but this applies to any written or spoken/video content as well.  BE HONEST on the topic.  And what do I mean by “BE HONEST”?  There are actually a couple layers to this, in my mind.

Top layer…

This should go without saying, but as I tell my kids all the time; The things that go without saying are USUALLY the things that need to be SAID the most.  The top layer of being honest in your writing, whether it be a blog, a book, a podcast or a script for your YouTube video is this:  Know your topic and share it honestly.  If you do not really KNOW the topic you either need to spend some time researching it before writing, or just find something else to write about.  If, like me, you write a weekly blog, I suspect your intention (like me) is to help as many people as possible.  Trust me, you’re not helping anyone if what you write is misleading or just not true.

Remember the rabbit hole earlier?

This is how it relates.  I used an outdated, or not well-known phrase, a dated figure of speech, that many reading (most maybe?), wouldn’t recognize or understand.  I myself knew what it meant in a general sense but had no real sense of where it came from or how it came to mean what it means now.  So…and here is where it deals with the topic…I looked it up.  I did some research so I could make sure that everyone reading understood it, and knew I wasn’t just making it up.  Anyone sharing information should be doing the same, not just with outdated phrases, but with any details you may not be clear on so that you don’t either confuse or mislead a reader.

Underlying layer…

This one sort of gets me…underlying the whole thing here is putting yourself out as an “expert”, when you’re really not.  There are so MANY people out there trying to come across as an expert, and leading people astray.  This is a VERY competitive industry, being off course by even a little bit can slow down someone’s career, or even discourage them from continuing.  BE HONEST about your experience and expertise.

I get it…

Really, I do.  I started blogging because the google machine likes fresh content on your website.  You want to get ranked in the search engines, and you want people to be able to find you.  We ALL do.  But when I decided a blog would do the trick with the Google machine, it wasn’t just THAT that drove me to start writing.  I knew there were others out there, like me, who struggled to get started.  So, I started my blogging with a series of posts that talked about all the things I learned as I began this journey in voice over…I thought I MIGHT be able to help some people take a slightly shorter road than I did, and I wanted to get it down while it was still fresh in my mind.

I’m not an expert.

And I made sure that people all knew that this “Getting Started” series was a fresh look at what happened to me, and it was definitely “fresh”.  I made sure to tell people how long I’d been at this, and also spent some time directing them toward more experienced experts who had helped me along the way.

YOUR responsibility as a reader/consumer of information.

We as content creators and VO artists have a responsibility, but so do the consumers of that information. Make SURE to vet the people whose content you consume!  Are they presenting themselves as experts?  Can you verify that?  Can you substantiate what these people are saying through independent research?   Sadly, you MUST.  YOU have a responsibility to verify/validate the information you receive.  There are far too many fakes and charlatans out there.  As Abraham Lincoln says: “Just because you read it on the internet doesn’t mean it’s true”.  Or something like that.

If you enjoyed this, please leave a comment below to let me know.  If you DIDN’T enjoy it, well, I’d like to hear from you too!

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I tell my kids this…

I received an email from a friend with a nice winding story in it about coincidences and connectedness.  One thing led to another and things just sort of came full circle.  This email reminded me about a couple things I tell my kids:

• You never know how something you say or do is going to impact someone.
• Remember that the toes you step on today may one day be connected to the butt you have to kiss.

The email…

Just to not leave you hanging, the email I mentioned told a story about how this friend and I reconnected via email not long ago. This after 20+ years of not seeing or talking to one another. As fortune would have it, he is an author and I narrate audio books.  As it turns out, I was not going to be able to do justice to the narration of his books, but it has sparked an ongoing discussion over email (we literally live on opposite sides of the planet).

In this most recent email, he told me about how some things I wrote in an email encouraged him to start looking into how to best market his books, but he also encouraged me to write my book Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Getting Started in Voice Over (But Didn’t Know Who to Ask).

Along the way…

Along the way in doing research for marketing his books, he ran across another old friend who mentioned he could translate his books from English to Italian at a very reasonable price.  After receiving the first 100 or so pages, he asked his daughter to review it (she is fluent in Italian), which she did making a few minor edits for readability.  She then mentioned that she wanted to compare the English and Italian versions, but didn’t really have time to read along in both languages, so he suggested she use the audio version of the book in English to listen to while she read the Italian version.

She loved that idea!

And mentioned how much she loved audiobooks, and would like to narrate the Italian version of his book, but she didn’t have the professional setup she used to use to do VO at a previous job.  First, he was floored to learn she had done VO previously, and then he mentioned he knew someone who had written a book that contained a couple chapters about setting up your home studio.  He then bought her a copy of my book so she could narrate his book!

It all came full circle.

From me saying something that encouraged him, to him encouraging me to write my book, all the way around to his daughter using the book he encouraged me to write (and helped me with it a great deal I might add) to be able to narrate his books!  It seems everything in this world is related in some way.

Another example.

I know that last bit doesn’t really relate fully to the two quotes I tell my kids, but this one does.  Same friend, in one of our earliest “reconnecting” email exchanges, mentioned that something I had said offhand while we were stationed together in Southern Italy had affected how he approaches things.  The comment had no real meaning to me, but he remembered it 20+ years later.  While we were there, he repaired combo TV sets for the Navy Exchange video rental store (WAY back when you had to actually rewind tapes to watch a movie at home).  He was turning it over to me as he was leaving and asked how it was going.  I told him I had pretty much everything that could be repaired fixed, and he asked how, since it took forever to get parts delivered.

A different approach.

I told him I just talked to the store and asked if I could take all the TV’s and make as many working sets as possible out of the pool of parts in the total lot.  I was able to fix 80-90 percent of them simply by pilfering parts from another set.  All I said was it turns out the store was interested in having as many working units as possible and didn’t mind losing 2-3 to make all the others work.  That comment, a throw away for me, changed how he approaches projects now.  You just never know what impact something you say may have, even if it is just a “throw away” comment.

One more example.

At the risk of boring you to death, I’ll give you an example about toes and butts too.  So, there I was on Facebook when I should have been working and saw a post (I won’t tell you what it was about) that rubbed me a bit wrong.  Admit it, this has happened to all of you I’m sure.  So, being me, I made a somewhat snarky, maybe even mildly offensive, comment about the original post.  Turns out: Th subject of the original post was also in that group and saw my comment. They definitely called me out, and I had to spend some time groveling and apologizing (rightfully so).  To make matters worse, the person in question is a talent agent for both VO and acting.  Locally.  Where I am trying to get work.

Yep, they were attached.

You guessed it, the toes I stepped on were attached to a butt I would now have to kiss if I wanted to be able to get any work from this agent.  NOT a great place to be.  As it turns out, that agent was kind and gracious and not ONLY forgave me, but also added me to their roster.  Things rarely turn out that well, so I consider myself fortunate.

Same is true with newbies to any industry.

In recent days I’ve see some pretty epic flame spraying of new talent in one particular Facebook group.  This flame spraying relates to a newbie asking a question (admittedly over and over and over again) and more “seasoned” pros responding in very sarcastic ways, putting this person down.  Now, I GET that this was pretty annoying – but there is no reason to actively discourage someone from pursuing their dream because they are (as yet) ignorant of what’s required.  I even tried to mention something along the lines of “Give the guy a break and direct him instead of castigating him”, but my attempt at being reasonable was drowned by the cacophony of people piling on, basically telling this youngster they were stupid and should try some other line of work.

It takes as much effort…

It takes about the same amount of effort to put someone down as it does to lift them up.  So why not spend the effort guiding them and lifting them up instead of lambasting them publicly? Give the best advice you can, and if they don’t listen or take the advice, then when they return with the same question later, just ignore them. As my mom used to say “If you don’t have anything nice to say, then don’t say anything”.

So what’s the message here?

This is actually an easy message to decipher, but I will lay it out explicitly anyway.  ALWAYS be nice. Be kind (as they say on Quora).  At the end of the day, we don’t know HOW something we say (or write) or do is going to impact someone.  You may not even be talking TO someone for your words to have an effect.  I think we would ALL like the Karma we send out into the universe to return to us in a positive way, and the only way that’s going to happen is for it to be sent in a positive way to begin with.

We all have struggles.

Every one of us, regardless of how we try to make it look on social media, have struggles in our lives.  Sometimes large, sometimes small. We have no idea what a given person may be going through, and even if it is something terrible, they may not want everyone to know.  It’s imperative we remember that just because someone may be being “not very nice”, that is no reason not to treat them with respect and kindness; they may well be going through something in their life that is making them act that way.

And here is the kicker.

One day YOU are going to be the “not so nice” person, or the newbie, or ignorant of some requirement detail.  Wouldn’t you want people to treat YOU with kindness and respect?

 

 

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It’s all different now…

Spoiler alert!  If you want to keep watching TV and listening to the radio the way you always have, this may not be the post for you.  Below I am likely going to reveal some things that make these pretty common events just a little different.  I know they are different for me now!

It’s not like the magic is GONE really…

It’s just a different KIND of magic. There’s no easy way to say it, so I’ll just say it: Since starting a career in voice over and acting, TV and Radio are not the same.  Oh, sure, they ae the exact same shows and commercials that have always been there, with improvements in technology as time has gone on, but I’VE changed and see them differently now.

Radio…

It’s not QUITE as bad for radio, but I definitely hear it differently now.  Not the music, thankfully I can still listen to my favorite bands and just enjoy rocking out (Yeah, classic rock is my thing).  It’s the commercials, mostly, and to some extent the DJ’s.

First…

The first thing I noticed since becoming a voice over artist is I actually LISTEN to those commercials and DJ’s now.  I almost look forward to them, when previously I just ignored them (which is probably not good news to advertisers).  Here’s what I do differently:  I critique them. Do they sound conversational?  Announcery? Flat?  Now, instead of just “hearing” them, I imagine them sitting in their booth, isolated from the world, sounding as though they are talking directly to me…as though I was there in the booth with them and having a conversation.

Try it….

When you hear a commercial on the radio, or the DJ talking between songs, what do you see in your mind’s eye?  Once upon a time I would picture them in whatever situation the spot called for.  Maybe they are in an appliance store, or car dealership speaking to a salesman.  Maybe I see them sitting in their kitchen with a husband, wife and kids having a conversation.  But they’re NOT.  As a matter of fact, the narrator is either sitting in their booth at home or are in a professional studio somewhere talking to a person that is not there, and who they likely have never seen. The person they’re talking to?  ALSO somewhere isolated doing the same thing!

The DJ on your favorite radio station?

And the DJ?  Do you see them sitting in a radio station surrounded by equipment, with a glass wall looking out on a producer?  That’s what I’ve always seen.  But here is the truth (especially now with COVID):  They’re likely sitting in their home studio broadcasting remotely.  Or MORE likely they are recording their show and are not anywhere NEAR a microphone when you are listening to it!  Unless you are hearing a drive time call-in show, then the content is likely pre-recorded. Now you know how your favorite DJ can have a 3 hour show with NO MISTAKES.  They made them, but then fixed them.  And all the music is pre-selected and programmed.  They record it, send it in with the song list and when the show starts an engineer just starts it and monitors the equipment to make sure it keeps working. Easy.

Have I ruined radio for you now?

Sorry – it has just changed the way I listen to radio now that I know how it works.  Next time you’re listening, I suspect it will be a somewhat different experience.  I can’t shake the mental images that are now completely different than they were before this career change.  Sorry (not sorry) if I messed it up for you now too.

And even WORSE…

More so than radio, now that I’ve spent some time on set working in the film industry watching TV is COMPLETELY different. If you don’t want to change the way you watch TV and movies, you should probably stop reading now.

Background…

My first experience with being on set was as a background actor on a limited series for TV.  I can’t yet reveal the show, or talk about the principal actors, but I can tell you that it is a no-kidding “Hollywood style” professional production put on by Disney.  No, it’s not a Disney movie like you would typically see, it’s grittier and more real life, but they are the main production company.  Which means there is a budget, a NICE budget.  Which means there are no-kidding sets built that honestly look real when you are in them.

What IS background?

In short, background is random people wandering around in a scene behind the principal actors.  Background actors don’t have “lines” to speak like the principal actors do, although they pretend to be talking (without making any sound – the sound equipment would pick up any noise they make).  I NEVER really noticed the background actors before, but I sure do now!  Next time you’re watching a TV show or movie, don’t focus on the main scene, focus on what’s going on BEHIND the actors.  You’ll see what I mean…and now I’ve ruined TV and the movies for you!  You’re welcome!

It doesn’t work!

Here is the thing…the scene just doesn’t work without background actors.  Imagine, if you will, a scene set in a NYC deli or diner.  The actors are at a table having a conversation and they are surrounded by people at other tables.  There are waiters and waitresses, there is a hostess, there are people coming in and going out of the store.  There are people outside the window walking up and down the street.  There are people driving by in their cars, and on buses and bicycles and scooters.  THAT’S background.

It JUST wouldn’t be right!

No scene in a public place will ever look right unless the mass of humanity in whatever location it’s set in are moving around behind the scenes.  It JUST doesn’t work at all without background actors.  Background actors are the lowest part of the industry’s totem pole, which is strange because they are so important to each scene. Next tie you are watching something, notice the background.  It’s meant for you NOT to notice, but imagine it happening without them.  It wouldn’t be realistic.  There, now, like me, you’ll constantly have to rewind to watch what’s really going on in the show because you’ll first be looking at the background.

The Set…

Maybe it’s just me, but this is the most amazing part of this to me.  That courtroom, or board room, or doctor’s office or living room you see in the show?  Yeah, it is a set built specifically for those scenes, and it probably is sitting among a dozen other sets inside a huge warehouse somewhere.  It takes WEEKS just to build the set and there is an ARMY of builders, electricians and lighting experts doing it.  The outside of the set is just plain wood, but INSIDE the set it looks like the real deal.  These folks are painstaking in building, painting, and decorating these sets so they look realistic.  There must be a warehouse somewhere FULL of period specific items that get included just to make it look real.  In one set I was recently on (I got to wander around looking at different sets in between takes) there was actually an aquarium, with fish in it, set up and running full time (to keep the fish alive I am sure – no fish were harmed in the making of this film!) in what looked (from the inside) like a home.  From the outside?  A wooden box.

Ever wonder?

For a long time I wondered how you can have a scene where two people are talking and the camera switches between one person’s face and another…and over the shoulder shot…but somehow they have disguised the cameras so you can’t see them in the shot.  I always just assumed the camera was just out of frame or was disguised as a plant or something.  Nope.  That’s just not how it works.

So how DO they do that?

It’s really quite simple, believe it or not.  They shoot the scene and obscene number of times, moving the camera each time, then cut it all together in post-production.  I suppose if you really sat down to think about it, you’d figure that out…but who does that? Well, the people who figured out how to do it, for one.

It takes FOREVER…

Truth is, it takes about 2 hours to film a 2 minute scene.  And the actors have to repeat the scene 6-8 times in order to get it done.  They shoot the scene, stop, reset, move the cameras and if need be change the lighting and then shoot it again.  Lather, rinse, repeat…till they have all the angles and shots they need.  It’s fun, but it can also be a bit of a drudge.  Go ahead, sit down with your family and have the EXACT same conversation six or eight times, before moving on to a new topic.  Blech.

Lights, camera…ACTION!

Nope…it’s not real.  Here’s how it REALLY goes:  Position one, or if it is a second or subsequent take, reset.  This tells everyone to go to wherever on set they are supposed to be to start the scene.  Next you hear “Quiet everyone” and “Scrubbers off” (Scrubbers are air handlers that ventilate the set, and they are LOUD).  What’s cool is as soon as you hear that an eerie quiet descends and lights outside the set start flashing red to let everyone know they are getting ready to film.  The next thing the director say is “Roll sound”…this is where they start the audio recording equipment.  Then, “Background”…now all the background actors start moving and having their silent, pretend conversations – it’s all pretty well orchestrated.  And FINALLY “Action”.  This tells the principal actors it’s time to start doing their thing.  So it’s not “Lights, Camera, ACTION”…it’s: “Quiet Position one (or reset), Quiet everyone, Scrubbers off, Roll sound, Background and ACTION”.  Whew!

There, now the magic is ruined…
Not really.  I still really enjoy watching TV and movies but having had the chance to be on a set a couple times now, I notice things that most people wouldn’t.  It’s been an amazing experience to be part of several productions, to be in a real studio recording voice over and see how it is all done.  Depending on where you are, if you’ve ever wanted to “be in the movies”, production companies are almost always looking for background actors…with a little research I bet you can find some and get on a show yourself.  If you’d like to know how to find them, give me a shout and I’ll see if I can help.

If you enjoyed this, please leave a comment below to let me know.  AND if you DIDN’T enjoy it, well, I’d like to hear from you too!

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In keeping with the themes of getting a Late Start and having Persistence, particularly as it applies to a recently begun voice over or acting career, but really as it pertains to just about ANY new endeavor, this week we’re going to talk about what it take to become a master at your craft (whatever it is).  Thanks to Justin Knott for reminding me about this!

We’ve talked about this before…kinda

Now to be sure, I have hinted at this idea in several posts, but I’ve not delved deeply into it at all.  It can be frustrating and intimidating to start something new, whether it is a hobby, a passion, or a business.  Or maybe a hobby or passion TURNED business.  In case you didn’t realize this, when you are just getting started in something, you are typically not very good at it…and certainly not a master.

Not just you, everyone.

I could do that…

I know, hard to believe, isn’t it?  Think of someone you know who is REALLY talented at something. Do you wish you were as good, as experienced, as accomplished at it as they are?  I know I do, and I think that’s pretty normal.  How many people wish they could be a rock star, or a famous actor, a professional sports figure or even an accomplished magician? My guess is, almost everyone at some time in their life looked at someone and thought “Man, they really have it easy.  I wish I were a ______________. (Fill in the blank yourself here.  Use extra paper if you have more than one like me).

We all start somewhere

Here’s the thing: None of the people you aspire to be like started out as a master at what they do.  Every single one of them started out just like you: A novice.

Sure, many, if not most, of them had some innate talent. They could at least DO what they were striving for, even if not very well.  But you know what? YOU have some innate talent too.  I don’t know what it is, and I don’t know if what you are good at is what you want to perfect, but you HAVE some innate talent for something.

An overnight success…later

In previous posts, I’ve said that it takes 20 years to become an overnight success, and while I STILL have no idea who said that first so I can properly attribute it, that doesn’t make it any less true.

What I am trying to say to all of you new voice over artists and aspiring actors is this: Don’t lose hope because you don’t start off booking every gig you audition for, or even most of them ( Any of them?).  Surely it can be discouraging, but if you remember that each and every person whose name you recognize immediately at one point was a “nobody” trying to become the person they are now.

How did they get there?

The answer to that question is easy, although accomplishing it isn’t. Time and hard work.

A LOT of time. A lot of time working hard.

It is said that it takes 10,000 hours to master a craft.  Go back and read that again, and make sure to note the comma.  TEN THOUSAND hours.  For those of you not great at maths, let me break that down for you.

10,000 hours, if you could work at it 24 hours a day, would take you 416 and 2/3 days to reach.  You read that right, if you did NOTHING else but practice and perfect your craft, it would take about 14 months to master it.

No one can work 24 hours a day at something!

Not for more than one day anyway.  So let’s assume you had nothing else to do, but needed to sleep 8 hours a day, how long would it take THEN? Well, assuming you could work on your craft 16 hours a day it would take you 625 days to master it. That’s 1 3/4 years.  Doing nothing but sleeping and practicing.  I suppose it could be done, but you’d be divorced (or never married) and your kids would wonder who you were when you emerged from whatever cave you were working in.

But practically…

Practically speaking, you probably have a lot more demands on your life than working to perfect your craft.  You have family and friends.  You probably need to eat, shower, relax, go to the store…and a myriad of other “life” things that need to be done and that take away from your being able to master a craft.  So, let’s be reasonable and assume that you could work at your craft like a job and devote 8 hours a day, 5 days a week to it.  How long would THAT take to master something?  Hold onto your hats.  If you could devote what amounts to a full-time job to mastering your craft, 40 hours a week, it would take you 4 and 3/4 YEARS to become a master.

But…I don’t have THAT much time!

Right, and frankly neither does anyone else!  Odds are that you ae still working at a “day job” so that you can have a roof over your head and food on the table, you probably have family obligations like taking out the trash, doing the dishes and driving the kids to their soccer games as well.  If you are like MOST people who start out on the road to fame and fortune (HA HA HA) as a voice over artist or actor, you have on average 2-3 hours per day to devote to training and practice.

Realistically…

Realistically, unless you are independently wealthy, single, childless, socially awkward with few to no friends and absolutely dedicated to mastering something, you have at most 2-3 hours (or less) a day.  Let’s assume you are fantastically dedicated and devote 3 hours a day, 7 days a week to this endeavor.  How long till you master it? Did you figure it out yet?  It’s a little over 9 years.  NINE YEARS!  That’s right, pretty much a decade JUST to master the craft.  Then of course you ‘ll need to be discovered by actually DOING it and showing off your mastery.  Apparently, give the “20 years to become an overnight success”, it’ll take another decade to let everyone know you are a master!

The truth?

The truth is, even that 3 hours a day average is probably too much.  There will be vacations, and Holidays, and family visits where you will be expected to be “present” and not working on your craft.  There will be times when you are discouraged and exhausted and feel like you just don’t have anything left to give.  This is normal, this is life, so don’t beat yourself up if you “put it down” for a while to recharge and renew.

Why did I write all of that?

All of that to say – keep going.  Don’t be discouraged if you are not yet where you want to be (well, unless you’ve ALREADY been doing this for 20 years and getting nowhere, which is unlikely, in which case you should pick something else).  Keep at it until ONE day YOU are the master, YOU are the one people look at and wish they had what you have, Keep training, keep practicing, keep improving.

Along the way…

Here’s what you’ll find.  Along the way as you continue to improve and get closer and closer to mastery, you WILL start booking more gigs.  You DON’T have to be a master to be successful and remember there are degrees of success.  It’s overwhelming to think about reaching that 10,000-hour mark without setting goals for intermediate milestones along the way.  Make sure to set goals for yourself…both ultimate goals AND intermediate goals so you can know you are making progress toward reaching mastery.  I can’t tell you what those goals should be because they’ll be different for each person. Just find a way to measure progress toward your ultimate goal of mastery and then track it. Each milestone reached will give you encouragement to head for the next one.

How do you eat an elephant?

Most of you have probably heard this 1000 (not 10,000) times, but how does one eat an elephant?  Desmond Tutu, a South Africa cleric and theologian says, “there is only one way to eat an elephant: a bite at a time.”  Whatever you are trying to master is like eating an elephant.  It can’t be done all at once, and it is going to take time.  What are you waiting for!?  Get started right away, it’s going to take a while!

If you enjoyed this, please leave a comment below to let me know.  And If you DIDN’T enjoy it, well, I’d like to hear from you too!

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