Dave Courvoisier's Blog

Hi, Dave. I just had to comment on your question about how I feel when I read of projects performed by other talent. It’s human nature to look at another person’s perceived circumstances and make comparisons. I wrote the following on my blog (http://www.blog.karencommins.com/2006/11/voiceover-secrets-from-adam-bo.html) and copied it here because it partly answers the question.

“Comparing yourself to other people is a guaranteed formula for feeling BAD! Without too much effort, you can always find someone who apparently:

* has more credits and/or more impressive credits
* has booked more jobs recently
* makes more money
* has better equipment
* has more agents and/or more aggressive agents and/or agents in more markets
* has higher search engine rankings
* has a better demo
* has more training
* has better marketing promotions
* has more audition opportunities

You get the idea. By comparing yourself and your achievements to anyone or anything, you more than likely will find fault with your own situation. This negativity can cause feelings ranging from discouragement to despair and not only jeopardize your career but damage relationships as well. We are all unique, and we all have different gifts to offer the world. You cannot use the career of another person as a yardstick with which to measure your progress because every circumstance is different.”

I wrote a second blog entry that addresses the power of positive thought and word choices that you may find helpful:

http://www.blog.karencommins.com/2008/10/thinkwritespeak-what-you-want.html)

The thing I’ve come to understand lately is that one really needs a “keep-the-faith” mentality. Always *KNOW* in your heart and project in your thoughts that the good that you want IS COMING TO YOU if you don’t already have it. You don’t know when, you don’t know how, but you know it’s on its way. Others can dismiss this next statement as silliness, delusional thinking, etc., but — I KNOW I will win a Grammy for Best Spoken Word on an audiobook. I don’t know when or how, but I know it’s on its way.

I adopted the keep-the-faith habit for good after recently reading this story in HABITUALLY GREAT: Master Your Habits, Own Your Destiny by Mark Weinstein. I highlighted this passage at location 1243 on my Kindle (dontcha just love your Kindle?!). If you substitute “successful in my voice-over dreams” for the word “free” in this paragraph, you’ll see what I mean.

“Jim Collins talks about the Stockdale Paradox in his classic book, Good to Great. Admiral Jim Stockdale was the highest-ranking military officer to be imprisoned in Vietnam, and he survived over eight years of torture when many POWs died after a few months. He credited his survival to what I call a “Keep The Faith Habit” (and I’m not necessarily talking religious faith). His disciplined emphasis on that Habit let him trust that someday he would be free again, though he did not know when that day would come. The prisoners of war who survived were the ones who thought, “I’m going to get out of here. I don’t know when so I’m going to keep moving along, keep myself in shape, keep my mind sharp, and it may be five years, ten years—who knows?—and still one day I know I will be free.”

According to what Admiral Stockdale recounted, the ones who didn’t make it had a different Habit—and this is may surprise you. They had an “Optimist Habit.” They thought, “I’ll be out of here by Christmas,” or “I’ll be out by Easter.” And Christmas came and went, and then Easter came and went, and Thanksgiving, and Christmas came and went again.

Each time they set up those optimistic goals, they did so with a measure of fantasy. In the midst of their optimism was torture and fatigue, yet ironically their spirit and will were crushed by the devastation of their optimism as well as the physical hardship. They set their dreams up with too much optimism, and therefore they were heartbroken and ultimately destroyed by the reality.”

So, to sum up my answer to the question: what other people do or don’t do is of no consequence to the fulfillment of your own dream. We can be happy for other people while being content with our own lives. If somebody else has done something I want to do, then I know that opportunity exists for me, too. I have stopped comparing myself to other people and have adopted a keep-the-faith habit and inner knowing that my good is coming to me.

That concludes my philosophy lecture for the day (and possibly rest of the year)!

Cordially,
Karen Commins

Karen:

Excellent stuff as always.

Admiral Jim Stockdale was a man to be admired yet those with more jovial memories will recall attempts of humor at his expense on SNL during Ross Perot’s presidential run.

Shame on us all for not showing more respect.

Best always,
- Peter

Interesting thoughts following the “MushMind” post.

I have been working on re-creating the 1968 Les Crane record (Yes there was such thing as vinyl records that played on a mechanism called a “turntable” at 45 RPM or 33 and 1/3 RPM in the days of yore) titled “The Desiderata” which was a spoken word musical version of a poem by Max Ehrmann; circa 1927.

To quote a few lines which apply to this blog post:

“If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain or bitter,
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs,
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals,
and everywhere life is full of heroism.
Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love,
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment,
it is as perennial as the grass.”

There is much more, but apply these thoughts to your daily life to achieve a brave existence.

Frank F

Dave:

I’m not a VO person but my husband and kids are, so I’m in by default. First off let me say that I thoroughly enjoyed your post! Thanks for your honesty.

As someone who is using social media for my business, I wanted to throw my 2 cents in on this topic. I try to stay with the 80/20 rule. 80% of my tweets are related to my personal brand and business which is coaching so those tweets are inspiration, encouragement and information. The other 20% are personal, which is me connecting with other people – it is after all “social media”.

We can’t control how others perceive our tweets everybody has their own filters, but when we know that the motive behind the tweet is good and not prideful, etc. then that is all that really matters. Some followers think VO work is cool and eat up any little thing you say. Some followers work in parallel businesses and like to hear what is happening in the production/entertainment world. Others are friends and enjoy hearing what you are up to, and still others are following because they are on a quest to build up the biggest list so they aren’t paying attention anyhow.

I always liken VO to playing golf. You are never really competing against the other guy, only tying to play your best game. When my husband shows me audition directions and then plays the finished product of the person who won the audition, I sometimes shake my head – only a mind reader would have figured that out! And by golly he deserved the job if he’s that good. But honestly, in my humble opinion, most clients don’t know what they want until they actually hear it. You are all so talented and unique and the client directives are so individual that there should never be any comparing.

Keep being true to your own creative voice work!

Thank you, Dave, for posing this question, and to all of you who’ve responded. I find it helps to know that I’m not the only one who – on a rare occasion – will “second-guess” myself after reading someone else’s “I’m all that” post. Thankfully, the dark side doesn’t last long; I’m naturally an upbeat person and I love what I do.

I love that quote from ‘The Desiderata,” Frank. For me, Karen, Bridget, and Shakespeare really said it all: To thine own self be true …