Hey there!
Ever been involved in a relationship that just went on too long? Or a project you really should have scrapped sooner than you did?
Or even continued with a creative process to the end, only to be severely disappointed with the less-than-stellar results?
Want to change that in the future? On a consistent and regular basis? I’ve got some great advice for you in this episode.
(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
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
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
The Two Things Most Talent Try to Accomplish Way Too Soon
10,000 Hours To Become Good At Something? Not Really.
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
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?”
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
How You Can Use The MVP Model As A Performer
The Robocall Equivalent Of Unsubscribe
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
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
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
For Your Health: Not Perfect. Just Better.
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
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
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
Two Last Big Creativity-Crippling Fallacies
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
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
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
The Most Commonly Consumed Media Is…!
What’s Dangerous For Us To Care About
Please, Clever Copywriters…Stop Using This Term
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
Someone Awesome Who’s Also Rising To A 365-Day Challenge
Union Or Not, Start With Union Rates
O. M. G. Look What Matt Zurbo Did!
So Where Will That Huge Facebook Fine End Up?
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!
Raw YouTube Captioning
hey there it’s David H Lawrence the 17t
question for you
have you ever
taken on a project and continued on wit
it just a smidge too long or even more
than a smidge too long it wasn’t workin
out but he had so much time and effort
put into it that you really didn’t want
to give it up just in case just in case
or a personal relationship or a busines
relationship a romantic relationship
where it just went on too long and
clearly it wasn’t going to be successfu
but you couldn’t quite give it up you
couldn’t quite think now if I just give
it that little extra push maybe I’ll
make the difference I think that
sometimes it’s hard to recognize when
that’s the case because you know there’
an argument to be made that with just
the right amount of effort you could
make a success out of a lot of things
but I think there’s a way to change tha
on a consistent and regular basis and
the way to change that is something tha
the subject line and the title of this
video and blog post on the site makes
very clear and kind of stark
and that is that we need to have the
ability and the willingness to fail
faster so that we can succeed faster we
need to be able to look for the good
work that we put into something and
weigh it on a constant basis against
whatever metric for success we had for
that particular project or process or o
whatever but part of that is recognizin
that something is truly failing and
being willing to say okay that didn’t
work let’s try something else
not let’s keep pushing and pushing and
pushing until it does work it just I
haven’t given it enough effort or I jus
haven’t worked hard enough or strong
enough or long enough
and we need to remember that just
because we make something just because
we create a product or we create a
service or we create a process doesn’t
mean that that’s something that we
created is the right something is going
to be the successful something in the
long run the good work is there but
we’ve got to be the ones that can look
at the effect and the result and say
okay I need to reconstitute this or I
need to rethink this I need to start at
square one and we need to not worry so
much about how much time and energy we
have into the project already the sunk
cost fallacy that I talked about in a
previous in a previous video it’s hard
it’s really hard it’s like you go into
things with the best intentions in the
world and yet sometimes it just doesn’t
work sometimes it just doesn’t work how
do you deal with that are you
embarrassed
are you flummoxed are you frustrated ar
you angry with others with yourself
if we create the option of failing
faster to succeed faster if we remove
the idea that failure is horrible
disgusting awful it’s it’s it’s
embarrassing it’s the worst that could
possibly happen rather than failure as
again we’ve said in previous videos
failure being a learning process
wouldn’t that be easier for us to then
go okay what wasn’t working let’s
examine what wasn’t working and let’s
try something else so my message today
is if you can figure out a way to do it
and for me it’s just been making the
statement that I want to fail faster
and I’ll be happy to risk that I didn’t
give it enough thought or I didn’t I
gave it short shrift or I didn’t give i
enough effort but I’d like to fail
faster so that I can look at the result
figure out what was going on that didn’
work so that I can then succeed faster
so fail faster so that you can succeed
faster how does that sit with you what
do you think about that
let me know in the comments below if
you’re watching on vo2 gogo I’d love to
know your thoughts on this I’d love to
know what your attitude is toward
failure and towards success and if this
is something that rather than being a
revolutionary and unachievable thing fo
you is actually a permission slip
that’s what I’d really like to know is
this something that will help you let m
know in the comments below I’d love for
you to do that do the commenting over o
vo2 gogo comm if you would because
that’s where the conversation is sane
and moderated and calm and the haters
aren’t there usually if you’re watching
this on vo2 vo2 go go great if you’re
watching this on youtube that’s great
too if you’d like to subscribe to my
channel so that you can be told when
these new videos come out they come out
every day if you’d like to get notified
go ahead and subscribe to my channel
they’re on youtube if there’s no head
there for you to click on click on a
subscribe button somewhere on the page
you want to see the latest episode that
I’ve done click on that link and YouTub
will play it for you I’m David H
Lawrence the 17th I thank you so much
for watching and I’ll talk to you
tomorrow.
I have lived my life in fear of failure. That word has such a powerfully negative connotation to me that I will hang onto something until the bitter end, ever hoping to make it succeed. I wish I had been formally introduced to the world of engineering at a much younger age. In that world, failure just means finding out that the current model doesn’t work (and usually comes with a revelation of why). This allows one to gain valuable experience much more quickly.
I was definitely in a relationship that went on too long. I tried so hard to be the nice guy but I should have ended it much sooner. Thanks for the video David.
I don’t think I fear failure as much as the unknown, and even success (I’m weird, I know) – but success changes things, and not always for the better, but that’s a whole ‘nuther kettle of fish. This is a good reminder for me to be present, and to know when to “cut bait” and when to keep fishing! Thanks David.
This was great! Thank you, David. As a “recovering perfectionist” I keep this quote above my desk: “We learn to walk by falling, to talk by babbling, to shoot a basket by missing, and to color the inside of a square by scribbling outside the box. Those who intensely fear failing end up falling short of their potential. We either learn to fail or we fail to learn.” — Ben Tal Shahar
Nancy that is an awesome quote – thanks for sharing it!
Wow, Nance, that is a great quote. Thank you for sharing. David, this was a huge issue for me until recently. I built a show for a person 7 years ago all on my dime. I did it because I listened to them and trusted their words. They said they had this and that, financial backing and so on. For 7 years I held on to the sets, props, and characters hoping, trying, forcing it to work but it just never did. The show got great reviews and people liked it but it didn’t make any money. On some levels, it was a success, but the truth is It was a failure that I could have stopped much earlier had I just stopped and looked at the full picture. I didn’t play Chess I played Parcheesi. I threw caution to the wind. I finally sold and gave away most of the show items. It felt good. I gave myself a pat on the back for trying and for the things that came out well and put it to bed for good. I learned so much from the experience that I think in the end it was totally worth it. I won’t have that experience or anything like it again. I learned to value my abilities and to ask people to show me the money first. If I had moved through the process faster it would have been even better. That experience is already helping me with new projects so it was totally worth it.