Not “Around”: Through – not around or circumventing or simply over.
Through – not ignoring or shoving things “under a rug”. Through – not making excuses. But….
But Actually Through: Through – moving through, one step by one step. The path may not be straight. It may not always go forward. The overall momentum will be forward, but there may be/expect a step or two back at times, and that’s okay. Through – acknowledging that at times you need help and at times you need to learn new things, upskill, take classes, etc. to complete/move through a project. Through – accepting gentle nudges (constructive criticism/suggestions) and accepting help from colleagues, mentors, teaches, friends, etc. to allow you to move through, and continue on your journey. All of this takes humility, courage, persistence, hard work, and a “can do” attitude.
Personal Experience: I speak from experience…recent experience. I’ve worked as a full time voiceover actor for over nine years and recently I had the opportunity to work in a genre I hadn’t worked in before.
It was a long-form project that took me several months to complete. What a wonderful experience and opportunity! And moving through I did. Figuring out a daily workflow, asking questions, hiring tech help to learn a software program more efficiently and to learn some short cuts, hiring an editor/proofer, and just figuring out how to be more methodical and organized were all things I had to do to complete the project successfully.
You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know: When starting to move through the project I had a workflow…or at least I thought I did. I’ve learned to send new clients an audio sample using the project’s script to make sure I have the tone, pacing, and read/performance to their liking. I did the same with this project, but this time it was more of the technical aspects that I needed to work out. It was pointed out to me what I needed to improve upon (there’s that constructive suggestion I talked about earlier). It was my bad for sure, but that’s okay as I fixed it and that’s how you learn. So in order to make the audio consistent I ended up starting over. Was I frustrated? Yes. But…I learned, wrote notes down for next time, and moved through the process again from the start, but this time I moved through it differently. Remember I mentioned at the beginning that sometimes there’s a step or two back? This is a good example. However, in starting from the beginning once again my workflow did become more efficient and hence a smidgen quicker and I continued the process forward and saw the project through to completion.
Slow Simmer: In this day in age of seemingly expected instant gratification (think “likes” on social, instant messages, direct messages, texts, emojis, etc.) and the perceived “need” for instant responses, answers, reactions, and the “need” to get the latest and greatest, and to get everything done “yesterday” – this project was anything but. And you know what? I’m okay with that.
In welcoming the challenge, learning along the way, accepting that I don’t know everything and asking for help I was able to successfully accomplish what I set out to do by moving through the needed steps in a methodical, organized way.
A huge thank you to Alan O’Hashi, Susan Ianucci, and Jim Edgar.