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Don’t Mistake The Joy Of Knowing For The Joy Of Doing

Hey there!

I love going to events where I anticipate learning something. I crave new information, new strategies, new tactics and how-tos.

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with learning for the love of learning. But I learned something about the danger of this love of knowledge that I want to share with you in these next few videos, and then show you how to fix the situation.

This first aspect I see happening all the time with some of my clients. And it can lead to frustration and misplaced blame.


(Click/tap ↑↑↑↑↑↑ that red YouTube button to subscribe to my channel. You’ll get notified when I release new videos.)

Hope this helps!

David

All Episodes

One Step At A Time

Five Ways To Have An Excellent Coffee Date With Me

Five Ways To Have A Crappy Coffee Date With Me

Taking Advantage Of The Wisdom Of The Tribe

How To Be A World Class Complainer

The False Nobility Of The Struggle

Watch Out – The Rules Are Going To Change

“Show Me The Secret, Daddy!”

Coaching vs Consulting vs Facilitating

The Perils of Live Performance And Why Jeremy Kappell Should Not Have Been Fired

Let’s Welcome To The Stage…Failure!

Don’t Confuse Price With Value

Whiteboards In The Hallways

Go Wake Up Your Luck

Playing and Planning

The Two Things Most Talent Try to Accomplish Way Too Soon

10,000 Hours To Become Good At Something? Not Really.

The Curse of Knowledge

The Trick Charlie Munger Uses To Make Better Decisions

Everyone’s A Customer, Not Just Your Customers

“What do you mean, you’re a ‘process guy’?”

Pay Attention To Your Storytelling, Not Removing Your Breaths

How To Conquer FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out)

The Problem In Every Commercial Script

The Job In Every Commercial Script

The Secret In Every Commercial Script

How To Pick Your Stage Name

Voice Over Is REALLY Hard. Until It Isn’t.

Helping Make Resolutions Stick

ACX Jobs: They’re ALL SAG-AFTRA-Friendly

Non-Union? You Can Still Open An AFTRA H&R Account. What?

Who Says You Need To “Feel Like It?”

Are You Engaged?

Your Day Job Might Just Be Worth Keeping For A Bit Longer

Want To Learn Something Really Well? Teach It To Others

Don’t Confuse What Works With What You Like

The Lost Keys And The Microphone In My Elevator

My Insane Backup System Plus Two Helpful Tips

What Open Loops Are And Why They Work So Well

Two More Things For Which You Can Use Open Loops

Three Things Not To Say Or Do…When Trying To Learn Something New

Front Burner and Back Burner Project Management

How To Properly List The Accents and Dialects You Perform

My SAG-AFTRA Presentation On VO Demos (Part 1)

My SAG-AFTRA Presentation On VO Demos (Part 2)

A Simple, One-Word Decision-Making Question To Ask Yourself

Ready, Shoot…Aim

How You Can Use The MVP Model As A Performer

How Lazy Can You Be?

Avoid The Struggle Porn

The Robocall Equivalent Of Unsubscribe

Saying Goodbye To A “Failure”

Making Your Links Irresistible

HTTPS Is Not Just For Banks – It’s For You

The Threat That Made Me Create a New Page For LAME

The Resource You Must Guard Most Carefully

How New Media Is Using The Oldest Ad Model Ever

“You Could Be Hit By A Bus!”

Killing Customers With Kindness

I Found Out What She Was Podcasting About

How I Answered Voices.com’s Inquiry

Turning Mountains Into Molehills

Motivation: Your Three Big Needs In A Cool Little Package

Go Ahead. Multitask. But Try It Like This.

The Prodigy Game Doesn’t Deserve This Treatment

I Don’t Want To Go Blind

What Fair Markets Are, And Why Voices.com Isn’t One

Trevor’s Three A’s From Apple On Killing Customers With Kindness

Getting Ready vs. Getting Started

You’ll Never Believe Who Got Rejected By Harvard

There Is No Failure, Only Feedback

Who Is Your Most Dangerous Adversary?

73 Videos In, My First Hater Appears

If You’re The Smartest Person In The Room, Do This ASAP

Your Glasses And Crucial Laptop Positioning Info

One More Insanely Over-engineered Piece Of Gear: My UPS

The Crazy Backward Way IKEA Prices Their Stuff

Voices.com Complained To YouTube That I Violated Their Privacy

The Gig Economy: RIP?

For Your Health: Not Perfect. Just Better.

Celebrate Your Isolation!

Mr. Wonderful Is Actually More Wonderful Than I Thought

Let’s Finally Close The Digital Literacy Gender Gap

The Guaranteed Way To Completely Avoid Criticism

The Two Things People Judge About You Within Seconds

Prioritizing…Nashville Style

Are You Committed? Or Just…Interested?

Audible Retail Samples: Why They Suck And Why It Doesn’t Really Matter

How To Voice Copy That’s Set In Italics

Dyslexia, And The Palindromic Poem. The Wha?

Increase Your Chances Of Being Seen And Heard On Facebook

Jamie Has Some Thoughts About Fiverr

Is Simply Discouraging Distracted Driving Enough?

“Young People Are Just Smarter.”

The Real Purpose Of The “Can You Hear Me?” Phone Scam

Beware Of Overkill

Laying Down The Perfect Slate

An AMA Preview: The Word “Ethnic” – A Slur, Or An Essential Adjective?

10 Rules of Profitable Self Discipline from Napoleon Hill

AMA (Ask Me Anything): Here Are The Answers (Part 1)

AMA (Ask Me Anything): Here Are The Answers (Part 2)

AMA (Ask Me Anything): Here Are The Answers (Part 3)

AMA (Ask Me Anything): Here Are The Answers (Part 4)

AMA Answers Part 5 Plus A Medical Warning

Last AMA Answers (#6): Gear, Services and Success

A 7-Word Reminder: “Don’t correct people when it matters little.”

Do You Have A Plan? And Is It The Right One?

What’s Your Next Big Move? Are You Ready?

Build Your Future On Your Own Platform, Not Someone Else’s

I’m Leaving Facebook: Why Groups and FB Live No Longer Spark Joy

Time To Accept That I’ve Failed At Something – Happily

Crowdfunding Without The Internet: Pulitzer And The Statue Of Liberty

The Amazing Power Of Recognition And Badging

Might We Have A Possible Cause For Alzheimer’s?

Why Podcasting And Radio Are Out Of Whack

Value Enthusiasm, But Value Persistence More

Ten Ways To Make Money With Podcasts Besides Ads

One Quick Question To Find Out How Important Something Actually Is

The Workflow For Producing These Videos (So Far) Part 1

Why Not Wade? And…Why Not You?

Audiobook Narrators: How Paymasters Work, And The One I Recommend

Why Gen Z And Millennials’ Love For Audiobooks Is Crucial

American Idol: It’s All About Story, Not Just Singing

Less Beating Yourself Up, More Talking Yourself Up

Resist Oversharing. Instead, Start A Dialogue.

Vocal Care: It’s All About What Works For You

3 Biases You Should Be Aware Of

3 More Biases You Should Also Be Aware Of

Wow. People Really Grokked Biases. Let’s Tackle Fallacies.

Three More Fallacies You Need To Watch For

What’s Your Imprint?

Fallacy Follies, Volume 3

Two Last Big Creativity-Crippling Fallacies

Fail Sooner To Succeed Sooner

A New Lead Source For Performers: Voice Assistants And Smart Speakers

A Great Way To Handle Trolls and Haters

Quantity Does Not Usually Equal Quality

Is Facebook Truly A Monopoly? No More Than Microsoft Was.

Fear Of The Unknown, Or The Day Before My Surgery

A Strange Aspect To Performing That Should Be Cause For Protest, But Isn’t

Want To Grow? Don’t Go It Alone.

How Am I Doing? I’m Gobsmacked. That’s How Am I Doing.

Why I Give My Agents 10% Of Everything

Not Just Explainer Videos, But Video That Explain Things Spectacularly

Mental Floss To The Rescue: Skills You Can Pick Up On YouTube

What’s Better Than Willpower? Grit.

Regarding Apple’s App Store: Be Careful What You Wish For, Pepper

Of COURSE You Wonder What Porter’s Five Forces Are. Who Doesn’t?

Don’t Waste Your Time: Talk Shows Aren’t Meant To Be Fair

Sooner Or Later, I’m Really Going To Tick You Off

Just Because You Can Do Something Doesn’t Mean You Should

Wait, What? Audacity Records In The Background?!

Enjoy Your First Booking. Pay Close Attention To The Next Three.

Pattern Interruption And The Musicality Of Voice Over

Do You Still Have A Landline? Is It POTS? Wait, What’s POTS?

Increase Your VO Accuracy, And You’ll Increase Your VO Profits

Age Range Isn’t Really A Valid Metric For VO

What Is The Overton Window?

How To Stop Jealousy From Killing Your Progress

Even The Bible (And Game Of Thrones) Has One-Star Reviews

How Much Is Enough To Make Per Hour?

With Royalty Share Plus, ACX Makes Hybrid Stipends Official

Wait, Vices Can Be Good For Your Health?

What A Lovely Thing To Discover: Praise From CourVO

I Figured Out What I Provide: The Onboarding Performers Don’t Get

You Don’t Need Permission To Care Or Contribute

It’s Not Just You. It’s The Superstars, Too.

Do You Sometimes Think Irrationally? Maybe. Here’s How To Stop It.

The Struggle Of Announcer-y Versus Non-Announcer-y Voice Over

How My VAs Support Me And My Team

What Exactly Is “The Cloud?”

The Often “Most Difficult” Concept I Teach

Please Unsubscribe From This List. But Don’t Do This One Destructive, Lazy Thing.

Don’t Mistake The Joy Of Knowing For The Joy Of Doing

Why Giving Yourself Some Simple Homework Can Be Life-Changing

One Weird Trick I Do That Makes My Note-Taking Superhuman

The Worst Thing About The Biggest Money-Making Entertainment Category

What Can We Grab From A Schedule This Strict?

Get Better At Executing Today’s Plan By Starting Last Night

How To Create Useful, Organized Audition File Names

Where To Find Related PDFs For Audiobooks on Audible

I’m Halfway Finished. What Have You Valued Most? What Can I Do Better?

Our Digital Attention Span Is Incredibly Brief

“Serves You Right!” She Actually Has No Idea How Right.

Create A Safe Environment For Self-Improvement

Why I Use One Single Channel For Crucial Communication

The Even Cheaper AT-2020 USB Plus Microphone?

Fred Willard (and Billy West) On Quickly Creating Authentic VO Characters

Leo Makes Your Searching Spectacular

On Asking For Things Performers Can’t Do

How To Battle The Urge of “Efficiency”

One More Best-Of-Breed Way To Brilliantly Complain

Changing Audacity’s Sampling Rate To 48,000 Hz

10 Words Of Encouragement When You’re Stuck

Seek/Give Mentorship That’s Appropriate To The Journey

Two Cases Where You Might Not Want To Simply “Follow Your Passion”

Having Fun With Headphone Volume

Please Stop Rushing To Perform

Something To Consider: Everyone’s Internal Menu

One Crazy Key To Creativity: Pure, Unadulterated Boredom

For The Sheer Joy Of It

The Most Commonly Consumed Media Is…!

What’s Dangerous For Us To Care About

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Wait, Wait…What? They Actually Listened?!

Why You Should Take The Same Classes Twice

How Your Character’s Menu Informs Your Performance Choices

What Shouldn’t Be Your Metric For VO Success

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Union Or Not, Start With Union Rates

O. M. G. Look What Matt Zurbo Did!

So Where Will That Huge Facebook Fine End Up?

The Root Words of “Typecast”

Avoid That One Obvious “That Worked” Sound We Make

Why Union Members Can Audition For Non-Union Work

200 Auditions. 1 Booking. A Ghost. Really?

I Can’t Do One Thing I’m Asked To Do Every Single Day

One Of Your Secret Weapons: Agility

Do Networking Events Make You Anxious? Let’s Fix That.

Project X Is Just About Ready. I’m A Bit Giddy.

The Difference Between Mansplaining and Advice?

Too Late, Melissa. You Already Are.

Help Me Solve A Lovely Mystery!

Speeding Up The Playback On The Audible App

Why Those Other Casting Sites Usually Aren’t Worth It

Raw YouTube Captioning

hey there it’s David H Lawrence the 17th
and for the next couple of videos maybe
three videos this is a big subject so I
want to break it up so that it’s kind of
manageable kind of digestible I love
going to classes and taking courses
online and going to live events where
somebody on stage is teaching me
something that I didn’t know or being
part of a workshop where I’m learning
new things about performance about
marketing about video but you know all
my interests and I love teaching people
about all of these things as well and I
love sharing the things that I think
will help make you successful I also
love waving people off of things that I
think might be detrimental to your
success I love sort of exploring the odd
things and I think sometimes there is
the danger that if you share that kind
of love that I have for learning that we
could fall prey to loving learning more
than we love implementation and what I
mean by that first of all before I get
to that there is absolutely nothing
wrong at all
with learning for the sake of learning
the problem comes in I think when you
are frustrated that the things that
you’re learning the things that you’re
being taught aren’t helping you advance
your cause you know you decide you’re
gonna go take a cooking class but you
never actually cook you just take more
cooking classes I see it with voiceover
all the time you know people will take
voiceover classes from a lot of
different people and yet they never
actually implement what they’re learning
and so they tend to get frustrated
because they’re not moving forward in
their career and I think this is a
dopamine kind of thing this is a this is
a substituting one pleasure for the
other cuz I get a great deal of pleasure
I think most people get a great deal of
pleasure out of that aha moment when you
learn something you go oh that’s how
that works okay I got it I got it
that gives you that sense of
accomplishment that’s great because
you’re like okay I’m not confused about
that anymore right the problem is you
never quite get around to taking what
you learned and you say I got it – okay
I implemented that I did that I actually
took a pan and crack some eggs in it and
whisk them and added the magic
ingredients and made a really fluffy
Gordon Ramsay omelet you know we tend to
have this lovely feeling when we’re
learning something and especially when
we get what we’re learning right
and then sometimes we get that lovely
feeling when we actually take what we’ve
learned what we know and then do
something with it but that’s a pretty
scary thing to get around to you know
it’s like oh well if I actually do what
I’ve been learning how to do as opposed
to just learning about it there’s a
chance I might fail and doing it is
really hard because I mean they have to
choose to make that step forward and to
actually do it so I just wanted to sort
of discuss that issue that sort of that
sort of two sides of the coin of
knowledge you know the the learning of
knowledge the joy of learning of
knowledge the joy of gaining skills but
then the other side is actually taking
those skills and doing something with
them honing them making sure that you
can put them to real-world tests are you
good at it do you need to get better at
it are you really good at it can you
make it a profession that you can maybe
make a career who knows right so tell me
if this is something that you might my
grandfather used to call people that
identify that he would identify that had
this issue he would call them
professional students you know and maybe
you know people like that people that
have a million degrees but have never
really done anything with them or
someone that you see at all the
workshops in your industry or all the
the networking opportunities but you
never quite see them taking what they’ve
got what they’re gathering and using it
or you see them at these events and
maybe they’re not even learning they’re
just at the event that’s that’s an even
tougher situation because then you’re
not even knowing it you’re just in the
sphere of where it’s being talked about
but you’re still kind of confused about
it so it can be a really tough thing to
get past for some people the knowledge
of it and I I gotta tell you I have
students all the time who take my
classes and I urge everybody on a
constant basis to take
I’m teaching you and go put it into use
go do it because the danger is you take
all these classes and then take some
more classes then you take some more
classes but you don’t ever do anything
with it nothing ever happens and instead
of thinking yourself well I mean what do
you expect you haven’t done anything
with it you start to turn around and
blame the classes or the teacher or the
subject stupid food stupid voice over
stupid television acting you know
stupid marketing it’s too complicated it
can cause you to place blame in the
wrong area and at the feet of the of the
wrong parties and I’m not saying you
should blame yourself I just say
recognize this this precipice or this
portal that you have to cross and take a
leap of faith and take what you’re
learning
and do something with it go from knowing
to doing I actually bring this up a few
times in the courses that that moment
when you go from knowing to doing is
such an amazing moment so that’s the
first part
of the three parts in the next video I’m
going to share with you what I do to
both myself move forward from knowing to
doing but also a very simple process of
very easily manageable and easily doable
process that can help you over that hump
that can help you over the the the
little you know vestibule the the Dan
the area into the real arena of doing
things I’m gonna do that but what I want
to know from you first
is if you watch this video in your
thinking yourself oh maybe that’s what’s
going on with me or yeah I recognize
that a while back and and I kind of like
got over that and I’m doing things now
with what I’m learning let me know in
the comments below let me know if this
resonates with you because I would love
to make a bigger a bigger conversation
about this because I think this is one
of the biggest things that stop us from
success that one little moment of it’s
safer for me to learn more than it is to
do something with what I already know
safer for me to learn more then to do
something with what I already know so
let me know in the comments below if
you’re watching anywhere but vo to go go
calm pop on over there we’d love to have
you there we got all kinds of things
that will help you go from knowing to
doing if you’d like to join my youtube
channel and get notified when these
videos come out go ahead and click on my
head there if there’s no head there’s a
subscribe button somewhere nearby if
you’d like to see the latest episode
I’ve done go ahead and click on that
frame and YouTube will play it for you
I’m David H Lawrence xvii I thank you so
much for watching and I will talk to you
tomorrow.

8 Responses to Don’t Mistake The Joy Of Knowing For The Joy Of Doing

  1. Nance Weber June 24, 2019 at 8:49 am #

    This is great. I feel like it ties in so well (at least for me) with your video from a few days ago about trusting that we are ‘enough’ as we are, and not thinking we always have to ‘bring on the announcer voice’ and be more. I am a learner and enjoy taking in as much information as I can about subjects that I want to pursue. But often when that class is finished and I have been given everything I need to move forward, I hesitate thinking that I can’t possibly be ready for this, I must have missed something important, or I doubt I have all that I need to really DO this? I like to call this “Unique-itis”. i.e; “You don’t understand! I’m different, I’m unique! I need more information than everyone else!”
    A terrible malady that I work to overcome daily. Thanks!

  2. Wes June 24, 2019 at 8:51 am #

    This resonates quite loudly! Currently the greatest struggle I have. I think there are also overtones of FOMO and FOBO.

  3. Bob McCoy June 24, 2019 at 10:04 am #

    One of the things you said in the ACX Master Class was, “Be predisposed to action.” That really stuck with me. By the way, I am currently working on my 21st and 22nd books since mid-February. Thanks.

  4. Kirsten June 24, 2019 at 10:08 am #

    It does resonate. I think that it ties in too with the ready shoot aim theory. I love to learn, and I could take classes and learn about tonnes of stuff, but there’s a time to get out there and send auditions, send proposals, get to the doing. You’ll never get anywhere if you don’t start… the journey of a million miles as it were.

  5. Chris Buckner June 24, 2019 at 2:54 pm #

    I think of this concept when I see my martial arts students struggling with their material. Regarding VO, I need to practice more often. Thanks for the video David.

  6. Stephanie June 25, 2019 at 12:23 pm #

    OOOOOOO … cord struck with “it is safer for me to learn more than to do something with what I already know”. Wowzers! This is so true! I love learning but I also love to apply things I’ve learned. I have to admit I do lose my mind from time to time and feel like I might miss out on some pivotal piece of the puzzle to solving the universe so I do take a lot of classes. Sometimes I use what I’ve learned just to better my life. Most of the time it is for business. I do have a list of classes I have to get through for all kinds of subjects. I just schedule them by importance and set dates to complete them. I feel like knowledge is power but putting that knowledge to use is the real end goal. Learning and gaining skills makes me feel like I’ve unlocked a secret. If I could plug my head into the net and download everything thing at once like in the Matrix I’d do it today. Ok, now to implement and get back to recording my next book, which I learned how to do in the ACX master class. Shameless plug. :)

  7. Christopher Smith July 9, 2019 at 12:48 pm #

    Absolutely true for me lately. Never really was that kind of behavior in me until I had some medical complications. At this point it’s a combination of really enjoying learning almost more than doing, and a fear starting out and being penalized not being instantly profitable.

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