Self-Esteem Re-Structuring Part 3 - Identifying "Landmines" in Your Life

Unfortunately, performers too frequently fall prey to “landmines” they have actually set for themselves.  A landmine is a self-defeating, self-created and highly explosive action that guarantees the failure of an attempt to succeed.  Because these actions are not consciously executed but “stepped on” accidentally, the term “landmine,” is appropriate.  It may seem incomprehensible that a person would do this.  Sadly, in order to fulfill their own self-proclaimed prophesy about themselves that an audition was going to be a failure or that he/she was, in fact, not good enough, and on and on, individuals subconsciously create landmines.  This is an all too frequent, heart-breaking cycle and one that is of paramount importance to be identified before continuing further.

            There are essentially three types of landmines:  nerves and anxiety; ego and bluster; and, excuses or blaming.  Starting backwards, excuses or blaming take the form of shirking responsibility for any aspect of the audition, so it can’t possibly be his or her fault when it doesn’t go well.  “They don’t even listen for real talent”; “They just cast the same people all the time”; or, “Those judges wouldn’t know real talent if it hit them over the head.”  Ego or blustering takes the form of something like, “I’m professional caliber and this is an amateur company”; “It’s really ridiculous for me to even audition for this thing”; or, “I’d be doing these people a favor so I’m considering helping them out.”  In and off themselves, these are not landmines.  They become landmines when the person auditioning embraces them to the point that he or she makes them so large in his/her life that they become a landmine.  In other words, if a person becomes so focused on the fact that he/she believes a place only casts the same people every time, he/she will mentally, emotionally, and even physically make sure this becomes the truth, at least in their particular case (or at the very least, doesn’t cast him/her).  This is a landmine that is almost certainly going to continue to reoccur until the person auditioning is, not only, made aware of what they are doing but also given guidance to stop the sabotage.  It’s a “confess-possess” situation where something becomes true.  If you repeat something negative enough times, you intuitively move toward that failure, whether you meant to or not.  Obviously, you can’t just say something positive enough times that something happens but positive reinforcement definitely doesn’t hurt your chances either.

             I'm trying to make these blog posts a bit shorter so that they are a bit more digestible.  Please contact me through the comments with questions and/or comments, and please check out my website for additional ideas, SingitForward.net.  Sing it Forward!