Don’t get mad.
I hate baked potatoes.
Instead of citing some psychological research this week, I am going to be citing my own anecdotal, unique to me experience about hating baked potatoes.
I’ve given you lots of options for motivating your other voice over identities based on loads of psychological research. If you’ve been reading the other parts of this series, you should be well on your way to becoming a well-oiled, motivated machine. There’s actually only one part left after this week, so make sure you subscribe in the box on the top right of this page so you don’t miss it.
So this week, let’s see how my hatred of baked potatoes can motivate your “Accountant/Bill Collector” voice over identity.
“I love food.”
That phrase always sparks the sarcastic bone in me. Oh, you love food?! Wow, you must be a living organism! It reminds of that popular Willy Wonka (Gene Wilder) meme where it’s always a really sarcastic/condescending response to a sentiment like that.
There probably is some sort of food loving continuum where some people just LOVE the food eating experience, regardless of what it is, and trying all sorts of different food while others just do it to survive. I’m probably somewhere in the middle. But still… when you say, “I love food!”, how is that at all some unique characteristic that only describes you you?
That’s enough ripping on that phrase, because conversely, there are certain kinds of food that I hate. This is when things get real controversial.
Like I said before…I hate baked potatoes.
Just thinking about eating them kind of makes me quiver. I know, I know…
“But John, you’re from Minnesota! Baked potatoes are a way of life!”
Yea, not for me. Throw as much sour cream, cheese, bacon, and everything else on there as you like. I still won’t enjoy it. It’s just something about that texture that really bothers me, because ironically, I LOVE mashed potatoes.
These kids make eating a baked potato look easy, but it’s not.
However, I can’t completely get away from that “Minnesota nice” thing. Whenever anyone ever serves baked potatoes at a meal, I will eat them. I mean, they went through the trouble of baking them, and I am hungry. It would be rude not to eat them.
Always the first to go.
So yes, I will eat them, but once they hit my plate, they’re gone. I mean gone, too. I am a firm believer in not wasting food, so if there something on my plate, I’m going to do my best to finish it. My “plate-eating order of operations,” or as I call it, PEOO (made that up right now), is all about getting the worst stuff out of the way first. First, I like to take a quick bite of something delicious to get my taste buds going, but then I devour the not-so-good stuff. I usually rotate between foods, but I always try to take care of the bad stuff as fast as possible.
When I’m really hungry, I’m much more willing to eat the bad stuff. So I take advantage of that insatiable “love of food” so I don’t have to suffer through eating it toward the end of my meal.
My VOBEOO.
When I’m working as a voice over talent and business owner, I LOVE the voice acting, marketing, customer service, and big picture stuff. I really dislike creating invoices, organizing my finances, and sending them out to clients. Believe it or not, that’s not why I went into this business!
Truly, these tasks don’t take THAT much time, but I still don’t like them. And yea, I know I wouldn’t be able to operate my business without them.
So, I take care of them first when I’m “really hungry” (not tired after a full day’s work) in the morning so I can stay motivated to enjoy the better food later on. My VOBEOO (voice over business order of operations) follows the same line of thinking as my PEOO. Here’s my VOBEOO in terms of the 8 VO identities:
-A little bite of CEO/Voice Over Talent (delicious food)
-Accountant/Bill Collector (invoicing, organization, receipts, etc.)
–Customer Service Representative
-CEO (Will be covered next week.)
A lot of these overlap throughout the day much like my PEOO, and I enjoy the middle 3 or 4 pretty much the same, but it still paints an important picture:
Get the baked potatoes out of the way first!
Take a nibble of that fried chicken leg to get the business taste buds going, and then devour the baked potatoes so you will still be motivated to eat and enjoy the rest of your delicious meal.
Know what I love? Blog reader engagement! (No sarcasm this time.)
What food do you hate? And what is your PEOO or VOBEOO? Answer these questions or leave any comments you have in the comments section below.
I hope you found this baked-potato-hating analogy useful and encourage you to apply some of it to help you motivate your “Accountant/Bill Collector” identity.
Last week, I covered how to motivate your “Executive Assistant” identity. Next week, in the final blog of this 8 part series, I cover how to motivate your “CEO” identity.
Subscribe on the upper right hand side of this page so you don’t miss any of this 8-part blog series about “How To Motivate Your 8 Voice Over Identities.”
[Baked potato image via Jerry Pank]