Mountain temple in Japan
The other day I was working on a project. A colleague offered to help.
My first thought was ‘that’s ok’ I can handle this. Then — perhaps as a result of all the positive reading that I’ve done and podcasts that I’ve listened to — another thought came to mind, and the actual words that came out of my mouth were in the vein of…’this is what I’ve done — what do you think? How can I improve it?’.
In another instance a respected colleague said to me, ‘move this to the beginning of your demo, and dump this other demo, it doesn’t work for me’.
I thought about it and said, ok…I respect this person’s opinion & experience…I’m going to follow his advice.
I’ve spent much time in the past ‘protecting myself’ and forging ahead. I’ve discovered it’s liberating to work as part of a team and ask for help and feedback.
The voiceover world is no place for those of a delicate disposition of one kind or another. In the studio, it’s good and necessary, to be open to client feedback and different interpretations. We might think we did a stellar read — but if the client wants it done a totally different way — open up to being “schooled” and do the revised version with enthusiasm and love for the craft. You wanna get asked back, don’t you? Humility is a good thing sometimes. There’s strength in letting go and flowing.
Here’s a tip from Mark Hunter, “The Sales Hunter” [see link on the side of this page].
“At the end of each day, congratulate yourself for accomplishing whatever you believed was your most successful event of the day, even if it is something as small as getting an email from someone. The key is to never allow your day end with a negative thought.”
Cheers…
