RECESSION DEPRESSION… I don’t think it has made it into the DSM-IV yet (the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders). Give it some time and the American Psychiatric Association might include it in the next edition (together with Orthorexia nervosa, a harmful obsession with health foods).
If your plate or glass always appears to be half empty, it’s tempting to feel hopeless and helpless about the current state of the nation. Of course your freelance career is down in the dumps. It’s the economy, stupid! It has nothing to do with you.
Here’s the thing: if it has nothing to do with you, it means that you can’t turn it around. You’re a victim of circumstance. Now go to your doctor and ask for a happy-pill. You might be depressed, but the least you can do is feel good about it.
SUBJECTIVE REALITY
Remember that no matter where you look, you’ll always find a way to filter your perception of reality to justify your outlook on the world. If you feel that this time of economic crisis is limiting your chances of landing freelance jobs, you’re right. If you feel that the current recession is creating brand new freelance opportunities, you’re right! What you focus on most, is most likely to materialize. That’s the idea behind the self-fulfilling prophecy.
As a blogging freelancer, I get a lot of emails from colleagues who want to pick my brain. Here’s the number one question people ask me:
How do you beat the recession?
My first inclination is to ask them “What recession?” but that would be insensitive. Of course I know that millions of people are scrambling to get by. I used to be one of them. But feeling overpowered and helpless about it, is not going to pull you out of your slump. If you’re giving in and giving up, it’s game over. But that would be too easy. I think you deserve better.
INSIDE INFORMATION
At the risk of sounding like a self-help guru, I do believe that one way to beat this recession is by working from the inside-out. Before you do anything, I recommend you look at the way you are perceiving yourself right now.
In Holland we have a saying: “Als je voor een dubbeltje geboren bent, word je nooit een kwartje.” Or in plain English: “If you were born a dime, you’ll never become a quarter.” It’s another way of saying: You need to know your place (and stay there). Well, if that’s really how you feel, what impact does this have on the choices you make?
If you’re applying for a job, and deep-down inside you’re telling yourself “I don’t deserve this” or “I’ll never make it,” aren’t you setting yourself up for failure?
Other people grow up believing: “I can do anything I set my mind to” or “No matter what happens, I’ll always find a solution.” How do you think this impacts the way they lead their lives?
CONVENIENT ASSUMPTIONS
Here’s the remarkable thing about beliefs: it doesn’t matter whether they’re true or not. Yet, beliefs are a powerful driving force behind behavior. Beliefs can give us hope, strength and courage, or they can fence us in and bring us down.
A belief is not some innocent abstract concept without consequences. Some people are prepared to kill and die in the name of whatever they believe in. Americans wouldn’t be celebrating the Fourth of July, if it weren’t for a set of certain powerful beliefs!
Proponents of mind-body medicine like Bernie Siegel, M.D., are convinced that our beliefs can heal or harm our body, and that our state of mind has a measurable impact on our immune system.
If you think that all of this is just a bunch of mumbo-jumbo, realize that this too, is a belief. Beliefs don’t have to make sense. Beliefs don’t need to be scientifically sound. Beliefs give people a feeling of certainty. All that matters is whether or not a belief is plausible. The placebo effect is entirely based on this assumption.
SCIENCE-FICTION
Nevertheless, a group of medical students who firmly believed in a logical, analytical approach to medicine, wouldn’t have any of it. How could ordinary thoughts possibly influence biological functions and seemingly autonomous chemical-electrical responses? That’s just a bunch of New Age baloney!
One day, their professor walked in and said: “By a show of hands, how many of you believe that the mind is capable of influencing the body?” Not one single hand went up in the air. Mind over matter wasn’t science. It was science-fiction.
Then the professor started reading one of the more notorious passages from “Lady Chatterley’s Lover” by D.H. Lawrence. Soon his audience started to blush. At the end of a few quite explicit paragraphs, he looked up at his students and asked the same question again. “How many of you believe that the mind is capable of influencing the body?” This time, they all raised their hands.
So, let me share one of my empowering beliefs with you. It goes like this:
THERE’S NO ONE LIKE ME
I can already hear some people’s reaction:
“Well, duh… After all that build-up, is that the best you can do? Thank you Captain Obvious, superhero of platitudes! That’s not much of an eye-opener, is it? Of course there’s no one like you (and that’s probably a good thing).”
Well, once you get past the sarcasm and cynicism, consider the following.
Every day, thousands of people are waking up with a dream. Some want to become writers, news anchors or architects. Some want to find a cure for Multiple Sclerosis or invent an environmentally-friendly way to clean up oil spills… or a way to clean up the companies who are responsible for this Brutal Pollution.
But by the time we enter our teens, most of us have learned that dreams are figments of the imagination and that in order to grow up, we must face “reality”. Isn’t it strange? We start out as this helpless but boundless human being filled with infinite possibilities (especially if you were lucky to be born in a country like The Netherlands or the United States).
Then the process of social conditioning and conforming sets in. If we wish to please our parents and other role-models, we better be compliant and allow ourselves to be conditioned in order to be worthy of their love, attention and affection. We learn to blend in and not to raise our voice. If we do well, we are rewarded. If we don’t fit the mould, we have to face the consequences. Heaven forbid that we should stand out from the crowd…
GO YANKEES
When my 8-year old daughter wanted to go to school in a Yankees-shirt while 98% of the kids were wearing Phillies-Jerseys, some parents thought I was nuts. Why would I expose my daughter to ridicule and make her stick out like a sore thumb? What kind of a parent does that?
Here’s the thing: my daughter didn’t feel all warm and fuzzy about the Phillies. She happened to root, root, root for the Yankees. And when she went to school, she soon found out that a few other kids were Yankees fans too. Yes, some classmates made fun of her and others ignored her. But she held her head up high and felt even stronger because she stood up for something she believed in. Months later, the Bronx Bombers defeated the Phillies to win the World Series.
What does that have to do with beating the recession? I’ll tell you! If you want to be self-employed but you don’t believe in yourself, you are sabotaging your success even before you’re out of the gate. You have to be comfortable with who you are and with what you have to offer (comfortable, not cocky).
If you’re in the service industry, you are your product. If you’re producing a product, you will be identified with it. Whether you like it or not, you are your brand and you better embrace it.
RIDICULE AND MOCKERY
When I set out to become a full-time voice-over professional, I knew the odds were heavily against me. Some people said:
“Do you honestly believe that you’ll make it as an actor? Dream on! The restaurants of New York and LA are filled with thousands of hopeful waiters. All they do is wait and wait for an opportunity that never comes. These days, anyone with a mic and a laptop can claim to be the next Don LaFontaine. The market is saturated. The economy is bad. Why don’t you get a real job, my friend?”
Here’s why I didn’t: because I knew that there’s no one like me. Yes, there are tons of people who do what I do, but they don’t do it the way I do it. It’s just a matter of letting the rest of the world know what I have to offer.
Believe it or not, this process started less than twelve months ago. This time last year I had no ‘corporate identity’ and there was no company website or a blog. I didn’t own expensive equipment and I had no big shot agents ready to represent me. All I had was a bunch of excited neurons bouncing around in my brain.
Well, that’s not entirely true. I had a number of people who believed in me, and who were willing to lend me a very generous helping hand (Thank you Pam, Dick, Polly and Folkert!). But before they could believe in me, I had to believe in myself.
GETTING THERE
After less than a year I’m nowhere near where I want to be, and it would be arrogant to pretend otherwise. However, I am proud of what I have achieved so far.
This blog is read by more people than I ever hoped for; Internet Voice Coach just posted my first tutorial, and the award-winning Florida Realtor Magazine now features an article I wrote about voice-overs and virtual home tours.
I am recording voice-overs in four languages for clients on all continents, and I couldn’t be happier that I proved my skeptics wrong.
Now, this list of personal achievements is not some vain attempt to show off. Rather, it’s my way of telling you what could happen if you refuse to give in to recession depression.
The skeptics will tell you “I will believe it when I see it”. I am telling you that you have to believe it before you will see it.
When Disney World opened its doors, Walt Disney was no longer alive. Before the opening ceremony, a reporter asked Walt’s brother Roy: “Don’t you think it’s a shame that Walt Disney isn’t here to see it all?” Roy answered:
“That’s not exactly true. Because Walt saw it, we are seeing it today!”
Paul Strikwerda © 2010
www.nethervoice.com
PS What are some of the empowering beliefs that help you deal with the recession? Share them in the comment box below!
PPS My next article is all about freelance dilemmas: is it better to be a generalist or a specialist?
Technorati Tags: beating the recession, Bernie Siegel, D.H. Lawrence, DSM-IV, Dutch voiceover, empowering beliefs, Florida Realtor Magazine, Fourth of July, freelance, freelancer, how to beat the recession, Lady Chatterley's Lover, mind over matter, mind-body medicine, Nethervoice, Paul Strikwerda, Phillies, recession depression, Roy Disney, voice talent, voice-over, voiceover, Walt Disney, Walt Disney World, World Series, Yankees
“It’s the best thing I ever did” 
