“I can predict the long-term outcome of your success if you show me your daily habits.”
-John Maxwell
When I first started in voice-over, I did it as a part-time job on the side. I had a full-time job and kept busy outside of work, but was still able to build my voice-over career and eventually leave my full-time job to make voice-over my source of income. I did this by setting goals and creating daily habits.
Daily habits are beneficial because they become a routine and create consistent movement to keep the ball rolling towards your goals. Research shows that it takes 21 days to form a habit before it becomes a routine. Daily habits help with time-management, focus, and maintaining self-discipline.
First, you want to determine what your goals are: what are you specifically looking to achieve? Are you looking to get more voice-over work in general? Is there a specific area of voice-over you’re looking to break into? Are you looking to get more auditions, or getting yourself out there more?
Also, determine the WHY behind your goal. Are you looking to break away from a full-time job and do voice-over full-time? Are you looking for financial freedom? Is there a specific voice-over area you know that you’ll enjoy and want more work in that area?
Write your goals down so you know your endgame. Once you know what you’re working towards, break it down into something small you can do each day that will help you get there.
Make sure that your daily goals are attainable and something that you can do each and every day. Don’t set your goal at working for an hour a day or doing 10 auditions a day if this isn’t something you can do consistently. Set your goals small so that they are attainable and can fit into your schedule with no excuses not to do them. For example, you could plan to work 15 minutes a day on your voice-over tasks, or you could record three auditions or one audition. Just make sure it’s something that you’re able to complete even with the busiest of days. This will ensure that you won’t burn out and you can keep the momentum going. Alternatively, let’s say your goal is 15 minutes a day, you always have the option to put in more time. It’s better to surpass your goals than fall short of them.
You could even make a goal to do one thing a day to advance your career. I heard Joan Rivers in an interview once talk about how she would always do at least one thing a day to help her career and she would make sure she got it done before she went to bed at night.
It can be helpful to set the same time every day to complete your daily habit. That way, you aren’t putting it off and it can become part of your routine. It could be the first thing you do in the morning, right when you get home from work, or right when the kids go to bed.
Keeping a daily habit will help create a consistent momentum in your voice-over business and keep the ball rolling. You’ll be surprised at the big goals you can accomplish long term with small daily habits.
