”I don’t want it bad enough’!’
”I dread going to audition therefore I don’t deserve this.”
”I’m not able to consistently wake up at 5 am and get my cold call emails out.”
”Maybe this just isn’t for me!”
These are just some of the thoughts that plagued me daily when I was starting out as a voice actor five years ago. I could see what I wanted but no matter how hard I tried, what new book I read, new workshop I took around my voiceover career, nothing was sticking. Every time I invested the money and nothing changed, the deeper my shame spiral would become.
Home, Voiceover and Mental Health – The Game Changer
Eventually, as things started falling apart not only in my business but in my role as a stay at home mom, a loved one told me they had been diagnosed with ADHD and what I was describing, aligned with their symptoms. I was floored. That had never occurred to me! I dove into research and eventually got a diagnosis for my ADHD. The freedom that came with understanding how my brain works and leaning into was amazing. This resulted in not having to do things the way other people do them anymore, and that was a game changer.
Animation and Video Games
I’m now able to carve out time in my day for my voiceover career. I now know that if I procrastinate on my auditions (which is ADHD’s destructive love language) I will resent having to do them. However, jumping in while the iron is hot is invigorating! I learned that after a lifetime of masking (masking is a term used to describe when neurodivergent people hide their symptoms or their “weirdness” in order to fit in in the neurotypical world), I could safely remove the mask and be my complete, weird self. In fact, this (spoiler alert) is a BOON in the voice over industry, particularly in animation and video games!
Now I was FINALLY able to apply all of the amazing skills, tips and tricks that I had acquired over my many years of training. I could now see why all of the pros that I idolized kept repeating, “you must know yourself”. I thought I did, but truthfully I had so many years of covering up the real me that I actually didn’t. Not really.
A Voiceover Career is a Small Business
As small business owners, nobody is coming to save us. That’s the scary truth. However that is also what is so incredible about this gig. We get to do it however we want to. Your super successful friend told you they spend three hours a day on pay-to-plays and that was their way into the biz? Cool, so happy that worked for them! Your other friend would not touch those sites with a ten foot pole and their jam is waking up at the crack of dawn to craft cold call marketing emails? Amazing! Just remember, this is YOUR business and YOUR career.
So learn who you are, inside and out. Figure out what tickles your brain and lean into that. THAT is where YOU will find YOUR consistency and passion! That is what is needed for a long lasting voiceover career.
How My ADHD Diagnosis Saved My Voiceover Career By Stacie Bongo