Hey guys, how exciting. This is episode 5 from the
podcast Actors You Aren't Enough.
Today we have a very special guest.
We're going to be talking about how to get rid of stress.
But we brought in an expert because Ophelia and I, I don't
think we're experts on the subject.
We would might hurt you more than we would help you.
I think I can give my talent stress.
I think I think we're going to be listening to our guest today
more than you think, and hopefully he'll go through an
exercise that we could use too. So, Ophelia, why don't you
introduce our guest? Yes, Welcome, Clark.
How do you say your last name? Is it?
Telling sours. It's unique Clark Sowers.
We are excited to have him here today.
Let me tell you about Clark. Clark is a seasoned human
resource leader and executive coach with over 2 decades of
experience across entertainment, hospitality, non profit sectors.
He's ACEO and founder of Expert Effect, and he specializes in
providing stress resiliency coaching to high performers,
including executives, entrepreneurs, athletes and
students. His notable roles include
director of human resources at Ann Shoots.
Is that how you say it? Yeah, and Shoots.
You got your pronunciations down today.
No, I I don't even know what's happening.
And his Entertainment Group where he managed HR for major
venues like crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, the Coliseum at
Caesar's Palace and The O2 in London.
He's also an associate certified coach to the International Coach
Federation. And in addition to his
professional endeavors, Clark is passionate about helping
individuals achieve peak performance while maintaining
well-being. I first was introduced to Clark
right after COVID started because we are both part of a a
mutual organization called Hollywood Prayer Network.
And I was reading in HP NS events page and there wasn't
much happening anywhere because it was locked down.
But lo and behold, I'm reading and I'm like, oh, this looks
like something awesome. And it was like a hike that was
focused on stress resiliency. I don't remember what the actual
official name of it was or what you titled it, but it really
caught my attention and I was like, and I was like, what is
it? What is this expert effect?
What is this like I'm so interested.
And it and I, it didn't, my didn't end up working out my
schedule, but I was just really fascinated with it.
And then like just recently we met someone introduced us at at
a church that we went to and that car goes to and we were
talking like, Oh my gosh, you were the stress resiliency hike
guy. Yeah.
And I was, I was like, this is so cool.
And as we were, you know, we kind of talked a bit more and I
thought, Oh my gosh, this information is so needed and for
everyone, actors and anyone and everyone.
And, you know, Amy and I were involved in the acting world
particularly. And so I just thought I we've
got to get him on. We've got to get him on because
it is really stressful to be an actor.
And this, the time and season that we're in right now is
unpressed and is the most stressful time I think it's been
for actors like ever. You know, as I'm talking to
people that been doing it way longer than me, like this is
unprecedented. So we are just so excited to
have you on Clark and we would love to just start by having you
tell us a little bit about a little bit more about your
journey like how did you get into stress resiliency?
Like how? You must be the most relaxed
person on the planet. OK, first of all, why don't you
just tell us like like why is like what is stress resiliency
and how do you apply it in your daily life?
Yeah. You know, our stories really do
kind of bring about what we're passionate about and what we
want to help other people with. So I've not always been the
calm, cool, collected guy that you see right now.
I wanted to be super successful. So starting at about 13 years
old, I was like, I want to be successful.
I want to be in the business world.
And so I just started pursuing that through extracurricular
activities, good grades, the works and sports.
And so really. If you had a product you would
probably be on Shark Tank at 13. Oh, yes.
Oh, yes, I would have been. Yes.
Yeah. Like, literally at nine years
old, I started a club for all my friends.
We had a logo. We had a newsletter.
Everything like that was acquired to like be a CEO.
God, that's. Fantastic.
So are they, are they CEOs today?
Or is it just you? Good question.
I don't think anyone else is ACEO.
No, they're just drug addicts. Yes, our club breeded a good
group of kids. Oh man.
So yeah. So, so that's so did you, did
you just say I want to lean towards this area?
Like how did it come about? I had a crisis moment.
If I'm totally transparent, in your year of college, you know,
set to perform. And, you know, just like people
who are pursuing acting, no one is like, I want to be a mediocre
actor. Like, right, you want to be the
best of the best. And so I wanted to be the best
of the best. And I came into my junior year
trying to do everything and all of a sudden, the stress was too
much. And just like actors, the night
before a big audition, I couldn't sleep the night before
school 'cause it was like an audition for me the next day.
Like I had to show up and just rock this world of being a
student leader and a, you know, perfect a student, all these
things. So I couldn't sleep.
Yeah. That's intense.
That's a lot. That school's a lot of pressure,
like a lot of them. Yeah, a lot of pressure.
Beautiful view, a lot of pressure.
You came out on top of your class.
Yeah, so get this, we get this. Junior year, I had a week of
insomnia, so I quit school. I took the semester off left
because I was like, after a week of no sleep, I'm like, something
is wrong. So yeah, I became a student of
stress at 21 years old. I was just like, I went and took
a class at the YMCA 'cause I'm like something is not working.
And then I went back to Pepperdine and applied every.
Class did you take at YMCA? It was stress management.
Stress management one O 1. Wow, they had that at YMCA.
Yes, very progressive. Guys, I'm telling you if you got
a problem just look for an answer.
It's even at the YMCA. Yes.
I love that. So you, you, then you went back
to school and then what happened?
Went back to school and still, you know, focused on achieving,
but I just, I knew how to deal with stress.
And that's where that stress resiliency piece came in.
I was always just trying to reduce stress.
And I think, you know, as a world we're all about, I need to
lower the stress levels in my life.
I need to reduce stress. I need to manage it, but the
stress isn't going to go away. No, I I always felt like that
was impossible advice. Yeah.
They were, really. Impact the more like, you know,
reduce stress, you know, OK, how like it's it's like it just
because it's like I'm not choosing.
I don't feel like I'm choosing right.
And then if you can't reduce it, then that starts to add to the
feeling of, oh, OK, I failed at managing my stress and that's
another stress. Well, I also.
Think that the thing about mental health that you're
talking about mental health. The thing about mental health,
it's not like you have a cold and you could just take some or
something or Nyquil or something.
You can't just take a pill you you literally have to recognize
it and say I have a problem. Yes, it's so true.
And when, you know, stress is cumulative, it it's not like,
yeah, we can just wake up the next day and all, all stress is
gone. It can take a long time.
I needed three months to recover from the amount of stress that I
was in at 21. And so, yeah, to your point,
it's like, so if if rather than just trying to reduce stress or
recover from stress, what if we can make our mind more resilient
to stress? What if we can make our body
more resilient to stress and then when stress hits either
positive stress or negative stress, it just doesn't affect
us as much? Wow.
Yeah, that's an interesting angle.
Rather than leaning into, Oh my God, things aren't working,
leaning into I need to manage this.
Yeah, because it's going to be there.
Yeah. I think all of us have stress.
Yeah, it's going to. Be there, but how do you manage
your stress? And I I believe that that's why
people hire you. Yeah, we, we, we have a cool
team. There's 'cause I, I realized I
started helping people with stress about 17 years ago and I
was doing it through the life coaching modality, but I
realized like that was only a part of the equation.
So we built up this team where we have specialized experts in
all areas of stress resulency. So there's performance
psychology experts, there's a relationship expert because
relationships can, you know, take out our stress resiliency,
time effectiveness, how can we really be affected with our
time? And then looking at the body as
well. We have an applied kinesiologist
on the team, nutritional mass strengthening and conditioning
person. And so yeah, all these experts
are like, how can we make someone's body and mind more
resilient to stress? And I just realized I couldn't
do it myself. So let's bring in a whole
diversified team, kind of take a holistic approach, so.
Is that? What expert effect is?
Yeah. So we have a whole team of
stress rezoning experts, Yep, that help people in high
performing roles. And then we also have a whole
team of human resource and organizational effectiveness
experts because I have a pack around in HR.
But yeah, so it's all about these experts that go into
companies or who help individuals.
Oh, that's amazing. Yeah.
I mean, because it's impossible to be at peak performance when
you're filled with stress. And you know, in our business,
the stress comes from fear comes from, you know, you're not,
you're not, you're not booking or, or you're starting to move
up or how, how are you able to deal with the next level?
Cause a lot of people sabotage themselves at the next level.
Yes, we actually we actually are wired to actually feel comfort
in the status quo. Really.
Isn't that wild? So we will sometimes self
sabotage. If, you know, an actor gets this
amazing role, it's like even though theoretically they're
like, this is my dream come true, but all of a sudden what
they're used to is going to go away.
So subconsciously they will fall on their face before they, you
know, as they go into the opportunity.
So what, what would you say is a really good exercise to help
somebody before when they see that coming?
Because like for me, I used to have panic attacks all the time,
but now I, I know when they're coming.
So I know how to manage it. I never like thought of it that
way, managing a panic attack, but it is panic attack
management. I I know it starts and when it
blows up so I just stop it when it started.
Yes. You know, but I had to learn
that, yeah. You know, but.
So how do you what exercise do you think an actor could do
right before something that would be like a career break,
like they're going up to the next level?
What? What kind of exercises would you
have them do? Yeah, we, we've been just kind
of studying kind of, you mentioned peak performance,
like, right, actors want to be at their peak performance
levels, not just for the addition, not just when the
camera is live, but just in daily life, right?
They they want to be in kind of peak performance mode because
you never know when that addition is going to happen.
So are you suggesting that that it's not a Band-Aid that you
just put on, that you need to be doing it on the daily?
Yes. So this is what we came up with
it. We, we call it our, our peak
performance assessment and you just do it every single morning.
So every single morning you just do a self-assessment, and we
figured out there's six areas that just really help us stay in
peak performance. OK, why don't you put us
through? This Oh my God, I'm like,
where's my pen and paper? Let's.
Do it. Let's do it.
What is this of assessment? What do I need to assess?
Yes. And I woke up and my hair still
looks the same. I mean what?
What do I need to do? I, we, we left off the hair.
We left off the hair assessment because that's important.
Yeah. I need a.
Glam squad in there. Like what?
Yes. All right, there were 6, now
there's seven. So the first one is assessing
our energy level. You know, a lot of times we just
wake up and we just go straight into the day without really
thinking about where's our energy at.
And we're also doing things to mask what our real energy is.
So actually doing this assessment before we had the
coffee. So great.
OK, so my energy when I woke up, what was your energy when you
woke up this morning? OK.
Oh gosh, when I woke up this morning, my energy was like, I
don't know, like on a scale of one to five, I would say it was
like, I was saying it was like a four.
It's not all, it's kind of inconsistent.
But today was like a four. Like I had pretty good energy.
I kind of, I woke up and I thought it was later than it
was, which is always a sign that I have more energy than I, you
know, like, oh, it's, it's, I think it's 7:30 and it was like
6. I'm like, what says it was OK,
It was OK this morning. No matcha or anything.
Nice. I woke up and I was like, let's
go. Are you normally like that?
Not always, but today I was, I was like, because I it's
technically my day off, so I really could have slept in, so I
could have gone back to sleep and I had that conversation.
I said, should I go back to sleep?
Should I have that conversation? And I'm like, no, you're up.
Let's. Go.
And so that's what I did. I, I said you got stuff to do
today. Get your butt out of bed.
It is. Let's go.
That's that's awesome. And that's what it is.
It's like what you can do is, is you could self correct before
you go into the day. So if either of you woke up with
A2, you're like, what do I need to do to get that energy I need
for the day? Do I need to go back to sleep
for 1/2 hour? Do I need to go for a walk?
Do I need to go do some grounding in the grass?
Like whatever it is, whatever brings that energy.
And you're saying when you wake up, make an assessment of where
your energy level is? Exactly.
And that was, but then that's not it.
You also look back from the last 24 hours and if your energy is
really high, if it's a 5, what did I do in the last 24 hours
that got my me in the top energy mode where I can be in peak
performance or if my energy is A2, I'm like, Oh my gosh, I'm So
what did you do yesterday that you could do differently today?
So that look back. I, I will tell you that there
was, I think I had a lot of sugar like one day, right?
Right. Next day I was sluggish.
Yeah. Sluggish.
I was crawling out of bed. I couldn't sleep, but I had a
lot of sugar the day before and so that was a signal that it's
not good for me. That was the culprit.
It is food is food is a really big one.
I think that's, I think there's become so much more awareness,
but I think it's still widely overlooked.
If I have more carbs, I'm supposed to kind of not do
gluten, but I sometimes I just do because I want it.
And it, it almost always can feel an effect like the it's
sometimes up to three days later.
I think food is kind of not given the attention that I think
it should because I think it's having more of an effect than
people think it is. Oh yeah.
Seems like, well, I mean, sugar could like totally mess up your
concentration. So if you're trying to memorize
lines, that's not going to happen if you're having a lot of
sugar, you know, Absolutely. Oh.
Yeah. Well.
Let's move on. What's #2.
Oh yeah? Well, I just have to say you're
spot on there because if we do have a nutritional mishap, the
organ that is affected the most is the brain.
But you're right on, like, like, yeah, an actor is taking out
their brain if they're not eating the right thing the day
before the day of, etcetera, etcetera.
That's yeah. I remember like when when we
were auditioning in person, remember those days I would have
to bring food with me because I would literally feel my energy
start dropping. Yeah, you know, because, because
you're 2 waiting so long, and you guys should always bring
food with you to auditions and to callbacks.
Yes, because you you don't know how long they're going to keep
you and then you can't think if your blood sugar level is
dropping. Even when you're on a Zoom like
they now they're do, you know, a lot of like obviously everything
is on on. But we were finding that when
people are doing Zoom, it's usually callbacks that end up on
Zoom. And when they're doing that, we
have people that have been kept waiting on the Zoom for two
hours. Past the.
Time because they just got running behind it's like a
doctor's office right the people they started running behind I
mean that's that's you know they're.
Saying you're at home, you feel like just go get something.
Right, but you have to kind of stay near the computer because
they could just pop on any seconds.
Yeah, Yeah. I'd be like, OK, hold on, hold
on, hold on. Wait a minute, you bring your
snack hold. On hold on.
I'm just getting. I'm just getting something just.
Getting some some. Peanut ones 'cause you got so
long OK #2. 2 Here we go, Distress, eustress index.
So this is an interesting 1 So you really kind of see, OK, I
have stress. We're human beings, we have
stress, but am I having more eustress or more distress?
This stress is bad stress. It's like I am freaked out about
not having any additions for two weeks.
I you know, you're in the stress state, you're having cortisol.
If we can move that into you stress where it's more of like
you see stress as a challenge that you can overcome.
And so it's, it's not taking away the stress, but it's
saying, you know what? You know, like if you haven't
had the auditions for two weeks, it's like, I know for sure I put
my name out there in so many places that something is going
to come through real soon and I just can't wait until that next
audition. I'm super excited about it.
So you're turning that this stress into eustress.
And if each morning we can kind of feel where we're at in that
and how could we transform some of that?
And then the eustress actually pumps in positive hormones even
though it's stress. I really like that.
I like that because you know, what happens is, is that a lot
of people you, you can't assume that if you've been in a
depressed state, so to speak, a depressed state, but all of a
sudden you get an audition like that's not going to stink, you
know? Right.
It's not like you're like your depression and your being and
what you look like is going to turn off like that.
You almost have to stay in EU state.
Yes. So when it comes, you're already
elevated. Yes.
So important. It's crazy, like what mindset?
It's crazy how powerful mindset is.
And that that's just like a small shift, a seemingly small
shift, but you're like changing, like your brain chemistry.
Yes, it's it's. Come across in auditions.
It really does. I mean, you can feel like cast.
Your daughters can feel. They can feel it.
Yeah, it's so true. I gotta.
Go, I gotta go yell at my dog. OK, do it.
She's gonna put the dog in some distress.
Poor dog. I just had to break up the bark.
I just. Break up the bark.
He gets like, you know, he's like, you know, just break it
up, OK, So he's not barking up, OK #3. #3 is the Tranquility
index. So again, scale one to five is
perfect and just MI in peace or MI in chaos.
And we seek homeostasis. We want to be in homeostasis as
human beings. And so where are we at?
Do we have that peace that we actually long for?
And if we don't have that peace, what can get us in that state of
peace? OK.
Let's talk about that because otherwise it's just a concept.
Peace is that, oh, I feel peaceful.
I am peaceful. It's it's sexual.
So what's a good exercise to for somebody to find their peace
'cause you can't stand the in peace until you find it first?
Yeah, You know what, what we typically do is, is we go after
cravings if we want peace, right?
And so there's a lot of detrimental cravings.
So, you know, I need peace. So I'm going to scroll social
media. I need peace.
So I'm going to eat this food. That's a comfort food, but not
good for me. I need peace.
So I'm going to have some alcohol.
A friend is like, I need peace, so I'm gonna have Kava.
You know, there's all the different things that we're
going after to bring peace. So it's really what are the
beneficial cravings that we need to bring peace.
And so each person. 'S.
Meditation. Yep.
Meditation. Someone could crave like I need
meditation or I need to just go lay in the grass and look at,
you know, look up in the sky. Like what is that thing that you
that we crave, but it just gets pushed, pushed away because
we're in a hectic life and then we just go to detrimental
cravings. It's almost like detrimental
cravings are like, like a shortcut, like it's like what's
the fastest thing And like that's seems like that's if if
you're, if you find yourself going to like the fastest thing
that almost you can almost know that that's probably going to be
detrimental in some way, 'cause it's like a shortcut, it's like
a counterfeit. And we're designed to try to get
into that homeostasis as quick as possible.
We don't like feeling out of whack.
We don't like not having tranquility.
So those quick fixes are often the thing that we'll just
naturally go to. How do you stay away from the
quick fixes and do something that's good for you?
Good question. That is, you know, a commitment
to it of and then the more you do the beneficial cravings, the
more you just won't need the quick fixes because you're
making your body mind more resilient.
You're basically saying just start.
Yes, start doing it. And the big thing I, I, I think
is important is, you know, you read all these books about
habits and you know, there's even some really successful
actors out there. They're like, you know, before I
start my day, I'd spend 3 hours doing, you know, going to the
gym, doing my meditation, doing all this.
Most most of us don't have the luxury having 3 to 4 hours to
work on our habits every day. Right.
Or the resource. Yeah, the resources.
Or the resources, the money. Yeah, Yeah, they do yoga class
every day. All that's gonna add up.
Have your own cold bath. I spent, Yeah.
I'm like, I'm like, must be nice.
Exactly. Must be nice.
So yeah, I mean, I'm lucky to fit it in.
Like I I fit in 1/2 hour of I'm stretching, yoga and light
weights today. But like I have to now like to
go in somewhere, but I literally schedule it into my book down in
the book. That's a perfect approach.
And that, you know, I like to call this micro habits.
And so if if you had just if people like have this list of
like their 10 beneficial cravings or 10 habits, it'll
bring tranquility and have that somewhere front and center each
day. Just look at that and say, can I
do one or two of these? And even if I just do it in an
abbreviated way. So a lot of times we'll look at
the list and it'll be yoga and be like, I don't have two hours
to go do a yoga session to drive 1/2 hour there to be there for
an hour. But I do have 3 minutes to do
the yoga pose. That is the most beneficial pose
for me in that day. Wow, that's so good.
Well. There's also YouTube, you know,
I mean, like, yeah, I'm, I must be subscribed to about 10
different yoga instructors. That's all.
I just, I, it's one that I feel like like, OK, this one
stretches and doesn't move in this other way, and this one
moves in this other way and doesn't stretch.
So it depends which mood I'm in that day, like what kind of
energy I have for them, for these subscribed people.
But what should go on the list? Let's talk about that, that list
that people should have in front of them.
OK, so you have meditation, you have yoga.
What else? The list is so crazy long
because. OK, just let's do top five.
Top that that seems that seem to seem to because it's probably
individual for each person, but what do you see the most
consistently across the board? I would say anything that gets
someone into the parasympathetic state and that they really
enjoy. Music can do that.
Music is amazing that way. And while we're on the topic of
music, it's really cool what neuroscientists are doing with
music. Have either of you heard of
Brain dot FM? This is so cool.
It's you know, you can go to the web, you get get a subscription.
It's very cheap, but it actually helps you focus and you can use
choose your music of choice. So literally, if someone is
memorizing lines and is having a hard time focusing, the music is
actually created by neuroscientists to increase the
focus level. What?
It's amazing. Over there right now.
What is it called? Again.
Yeah, right. Yeah, it's called brain dot FM
brain. Dot FM.
Brain dot FM. Yeah, it is incredible.
When I do speaking things where I'm, you know, coming out with
content, I put that on and I get so in the zone.
It's just amazing. And it even has this like thing
where it takes away habituation. So, you know, if you just listen
to Anya or some nice music, you know, you can kind of get
relaxed maybe in the flow, but your mind gets tired of it
'cause it's the same music. So they keep adjusting it so it
doesn't feel habitual. That is crazy.
Yeah. Oh my God that's so I wonder if
that have you seen that help people like with ADHD?
They actually have a ADHD station for people that have and
the neuroscientist programmed it just for that.
Wow. Oh my gosh, that's crazy.
Yeah, so that can be a game changer.
But yeah, like music, I mean, the list goes on and on.
And I always just encourage people to experiment.
Yeah, try all these different things that'll bring them.
I'm. Not going on a walk, like if you
go on a walk. But the thing with a walk lately
is that, you know, especially in Los Angeles, you got to be
careful where you're walking, right?
Yeah. So it has to be a place that you
feel safe so you don't have to like, keep your guard up and
your pepper spray in your hand, you know?
Yeah, you got to bring the pepper spray, but then you got
to leave this cause most people who are walking, they're
actually doing this the entire walk, which isn't good for the
neck, and then they're not getting into the
parasympathetic. No, no, no, no.
You got to turn your music on on your phone and put it in a one
of one of those little waist pouches.
There you go, talking about a Fanny pack.
Yeah, yeah. Let's bring back the Fanny
packs. Bring it back.
Whenever I go to Mexico, I bring my Fanny pack.
We're like, we're like Will Ferrell, right?
Yeah, yeah. Acer where?
Hey, you know my hands are free to shop so there you go OK #4.
#4 is mental focus. So just doing a quick assessment
of am I ready to have mental focus today?
And if you're not, what would bring in that mental focus?
So what are things that could bring in the mental focus well.
That means it's not that that music probably is one of them,
right? That.
You're saying all this works together, but this is these are
things to ask yourself. Yeah, exactly.
Because if the mental focus is low, why is it low?
You know, just having that awareness, what, what, you know,
was it not enough sleep? Is it too many things on your
mind? So, you know, are there
anxieties? And we need to get to the root
causes of those anxieties so that you can have mental focus.
So just being like, I'm anxious doesn't do anything for you.
But you know, I'm a big believer in this coaching, Like if
someone met up with a coach or stress results the expert and
went deep on what's really behind this anxiety.
And you peel back all the layers and find out the true source.
And then you deal with that source and then all of a sudden
you have less of a mental load and can have better mental
focus. Yeah, I think a lot of people
don't want to pull back the layers.
They'd rather just live in that space 'cause that space is more
comfortable for them, you know? Yes, yeah, so true.
It gets a little scary peeling back the layers, right?
For sure, yeah. They could flip.
They have to flip the script where being peaceful is the norm
and being chaos is the abnormal. Yeah.
That the chaos starts to feel abnormal.
Yeah. And, you know, I think like, I
feel like they're like most, if not all actors that, you know,
like, we talk about this a lot, Amy, like, and and you, you kind
of like make, give, give me even more awareness of this.
That like almost pretty much every actor, there's brokenness.
And that's part of why they got into acting.
And if you like it, you know, the brokenness can serve like if
you get to the root of that, that can really serve you to
like give you more depth in your role and your your performance.
But if you don't, if you're not exploring that it like it's
gonna it affects your performance in a really negative
way, you know, along with everything else in your life
kind of being in that peak performance just on a that daily
basis and getting ready for that big audition.
But you know, every actor is like there's so there's
something to peel back and it's only, you know, it's only going
to benefit you to to do it if it if you're looking at it like if
it feels scary, it's like looking.
OK, Well, what do you have to gain from it though?
Like. Well, in all honesty, to be a
great actor you have to know thyself, OK.
And so if you are spending a lot of time running away or, or like
you said earlier, you said they were grabbing alcohol, what is
that called when? You.
Yeah, like a detrimental craving.
Yeah, yeah. Detrimental craving and leaning
into something that wasn't good for you.
You're not going to get to the core of where things are for
you. And how are you going to use it
in your work? It's actually better to know
where things are rooted so you can get to it.
Yep. Basically, stop lying to
yourself there. You go.
Bottom line. Writing the truth, get the truth
out. OK.
So what's #5 of the questions that you have to ask in the
morning? Yeah, work perception.
So how are you perceiving work for that day?
Does it feel, you know, are you passionate about it?
And, you know, a lot of times, you know, we're, you know,
living in LA, people are doing multiple jobs, whether they're
an actor or whatever they're in. And so, you know, are those jobs
bringing joy? Are they fueling the passion and
everything or are are, are are we not looking forward to some
of the work that's in store for us that day?
And so if we can change that perception, it's going to make
us more performance ready. It's going to get us excited and
we'll be joyful, excited and happy about going about the day.
But we can't be in that if if we're not excited about and we
have poor perception of the work that's ahead.
Now, what about, OK, let's say you like, there's someone who's
like an actor working multiple jobs and one of them is, you
know, they're a server, a barista, and they don't really
love it. You know, they're not fully
using their gifts, but they can't really totally get a
regular job 'cause they have to be available for auditions and
bookings. Like is there something like,
you know, it's and instead of like finding a whole new job, is
there kind of that mindset shift like like you know, you were
talking about earlier that to help them feel more excited
about their work if they don't like naturally love it?
Yes, definitely. Especially if something we've
been doing in a while and we're just over it.
Yeah. Then there can be this shift
where you could stay in the same job, but you really just get
back to, you know, what drew you to it and, and what do you love
about it and, and what do you have gratitude about it.
So, yeah, I mean, I definitely, I think life is so short, you
know, like doing that extra search to find something that
would be even more enjoyable is worth it.
But if it's just not possible, you're spot on.
Affiliate We it's amazing how our energy is affected by the
way we look at something. So you know if we go into
something with a negative attitude about it or if we go in
with like, no, I love this because of this this and this
rather than I hate these things about it.
So yeah, like the barista job, it's like, oh, I love this.
Sheila E was interviewed recently and she said every day
I just look how I can bless one person.
That's my goal. And so a barista could be like,
what's, you know, I just want to bless three people the day or I
want to just brighten the day of three people.
And then that's giving them this renewed sense of purpose and
passion. And the end of the day, they're
like, yeah, I did. I actually, I, I mean five
people's day by just, you know, joking or doing something extra
and having an additional conversation with them to bring
in the human element into what I do.
Love that. I think the human element is so
important because let's say you're a breast, OK, acting's
all about connecting, though. It would be really nice for you
to pick up the vibration of where the other person's coming
from. And if they're at a very low
vibration, at a higher vibration, that that could be a
really great thing, a nice deed for the day if their vibration.
So now they're feeling lighter. Yes, and.
And that's a blessing And, and well, you know, I think that a
lot of actors, they only think about acting.
There's a lot of things that you can do in your life that
actually adds to yourself as an artist.
And part of the addition is connection and acting to
somebody and and and making a difference can almost have the
same effect as doing a great audition.
Wow. That's spot on.
So good. And this is.
Arc. This is good.
This is good stuff. I love this dialogue.
I can we do this every week? This is the.
Story. Yeah, yeah, with the title, you
have stress resiliency because at first I'm like, what the hell
is stress resiliency? But now here we are talking
about it and I'm like, oh, it's bouncing back.
Yeah, it's actually, it's not even.
Yeah, it's able to bounce. You're so resilient to stress
that it just doesn't faze you. You bounce back whenever you
come it it, Yeah, it bounces off of you.
Bounces off of you. That's what it is like.
I'm not feeling stressed because it's bouncing off of me.
Yeah. That's.
Cool. He doesn't want that.
Like he doesn't want stress to bounce off.
Like I need more of that. So if.
Somebody asks these five questions, which you guys, I
will be writing those questions that you need to ask yourself in
the morning before you even get out of bed.
Don't even kiss your dog. Just you.
You're having this moment for yourself.
Exactly, Yeah. And and try not to talk to
anybody because I think it breaks the moment, you know?
Yeah, just like being your own little pillow or something.
Oh yeah, yeah, it's just your time when doing this little 4
minute assessment. And there is, there is one
other, I might have said 5 earlier, but there's actually
6-7, then seven if we had a bonus.
Oh. No, we got time.
What's number six? Question.
Oh yeah, 6 is a body scan. Oh, so our bodies.
Hopefully. And I were like, oh.
So not the looking someone at the sound thing, it's your own
body scan right? Yes.
So our bodies are so intricate. Yeah, that's still there.
So the yeah, this is the in the mirror body scan of like, yeah,
this is OK, Where in my body is feeling off?
Where do I feel inflammation? Where is there tightness?
And often times we just ignore what's going on.
So like if the three of us just right now just kind of take a
little assessment of your body, let's.
Take an assessment all. Right.
We're going to do it. Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, take us. Through all right, so yeah, you
just kind of think, do do you have a headache or is your head
feeling, you know, fine, you know, are the neck muscles tight
and you just go throughout your whole body?
Do you have a, you know, a lot of anxiety so you have a knot in
your stomach? We hold a lot of tension in our
feet. How are our feet doing?
My neck, I've never heard of that.
Yeah, I I feel my neck tight. It's because I was doing a lot
of accounting today, so whenever I deal with money, my neck gets
tight. Yeah, right.
So if we do that body scan in the morning, it's like telling
us I can't be in peak performance today because my
body is not in peak performance mode.
We can't just have our mind in peak performance mode.
We got to have our body in it as well.
So even though, you know, you know, if someone's not a, a
stunt double in where their body has, but actually someone who is
just doing the lines and even if it's not a role where they're
running through the streets, you know, getting chased, it doesn't
matter. Our body has to be in peak
performance mode. So if we look at it like
something is off, that tells us again, what should I have done
differently so that I wouldn't have, you know, that that tenses
in my neck or what could I do to self correct it?
So even like right now I got, I, I got my shoes off, right?
So I could even just put my fingers on my feet and figure
out where is there a spot that says tense?
And then I could actually do some just kind of little
massaging of that area. And it's called acupressure.
And the body is kind of holding tension there and it can release
that tension. It could actually release
tension in other parts of the body.
Wow, so relevant. It's so relevant.
You know why? Because as you know, I'm an
acting coach, right? So what's relevant about it is
how is the character going to filter through you?
Because I believe that as an actor, you are a vessel for the
character needs to filter through you.
So you're you're. So I talk a lot to my students
about the gunk in your head. I don't really have not been
really talking so much about the gunk in your body.
Yes, there's a lot in my. Everything.
Because I'm like, you've got to get to 0.
What? What's going to get you to 0,
which is peacefulness? What's going to get you to zero?
So the writer's words and the characters can speak through you
and use you as a channel. And that can happen if you're a
pain or or if you're tight or if you're focused on something
that's not the character. Yes, so true, So true.
Totally, I love the feet thing. It's like so I don't I know, I
mean I've heard that with like acupressure points before, but
but didn't really think about my gosh, that's something you don't
have to actually go to again. It's like one of those like
privileges if you know, the four hours that some people can spend
because they I'm gonna go get acupuncture and but like if you
can just go find your feet and like do that little, I mean that
that just a quick little thing should be impactful.
Yeah, actually. Impactful, oh so impactful.
And if if you don't find an area that you feel needs attention,
the best part is, is kind of in the little arch of the foot
because that just really effects like the nervous system in all
different areas. So we can really get into a deep
state of relax in the patient just by doing some acupressure
right there. That's so cool.
What if your arch itches all the time?
What is that about? I am, I'm not AMD so I can't.
I can't sound in on that one. There's going to be some deeper
meaning. Yeah, that.
Happens deeper meaning to the itchy arch.
OK, let's move on. What's #7.
All right, that's it. Well, 7 was the the the hair
thing you know is, is your hair looking awesome?
Glam squad glam. Squad, that's number seven that
we're adding to our assessment. Yeah, like don't look fugly if
you stop looking fugly fiction. That's it.
If we focus on those six things, it could really be a game
changer and help people show up in peak performance mode a lot
more than they typically do. Yeah.
But the truth of the matter is it's not a switch that you can
turn on and off. Where Where can they go to
access what you have to offer that could help them with each
one of those things that they need to go through.
Right on. So you can just go to the expert
effect website, there's a contact us form there.
We offer a couple things that I think could be very helpful to
actors. One is we call them a micro
mental resiliency sessions. Oh.
What's that? It's a 15 minute Zoom with
myself or one of our performance psychology experts and they just
help someone tackle one mental obstacle that they're facing
can. You just put us through one
thing. Could you like do 5 minutes of
the mental resiliency or not? Yeah, yeah.
You actually do it. You want to be the Guinea pig.
A little sample sample mini session.
Yeah, mini, mini, mini. OK, which one of you wants to do
it? I want to do it.
Let me do it. All right, let's let's go.
So maybe what? I want to watch this.
I need to get my popcorn like let's do this.
Yeah. OK.
I'm ready.
All right. So what is the one mental
obstacle that you're facing in this day that you wouldn't mind
sharing on this podcast? Feel like why did I volunteer
pay? No, no.
Actually, I keep saying, Ophelia, you go first.
Like, never mind. That that how other people run
their business is none of my business.
Tell me more about that. Well I'm trying to get this
voice over company to actually pay me.
They, they sent it to some other, they sent it to somebody
in their bank account. And I don't know how that
happened. So I'm talking to them now and
just maintaining peace as I'm talking to them and saying,
well, I just would like to know if I filled out all this
information for you, I'm just curious how it would end up in
another manager's bank account. Like how does that happen?
So, so you're, you're like frustrated because you're not
getting paid. Is that right?
I'm frustrated with the amount of work that they made me go
through to, to on their system instead of just saying, hey,
what's your address? OK, we'll send you a check.
I, this was like Fort Knox. I mean like Fort Knox, the
amount of stuff that they put me through and then the routing
number, the the, this, the that, you know, basically I had to
give them a first born of which I don't even have.
Yes. OK, hold on without.
Your money. Yeah.
And and yet they the first check went to somebody that's not even
my manager. Oh my gosh.
Like how does that? And they said they paid me and
then they send me. They went, they said, Oh yeah,
we dug into this and they went and dug into it and it was
somebody on some other manager on there.
I go, well, that's some other manager.
They're like, really? Yeah, yeah.
So if we take a step back from the situation and you just kind
of really figure out what is going on because it's, it's,
it's kind of like taking you out, right?
It's right. So what?
What is it about this just in general?
Stupid people. I hate stupid people.
Yes, I hate stupid people. Do confessions.
Yes. I mean, if you're going to put
me through hell on your system and then you're stupid.
Like that system was smart and you're stupid.
And then how did this affect you?
How did it affect your day dealing with these stupid
people? It it almost makes me cry
because it's like I was I didn't ask to be a part of your
problem. Yeah, yeah.
You made me a part of your problem and now I have to do 12
emails, phone calls and it's it's coming out of my day
because you're stupid. Yeah.
So if we got guys. I know you can relate to this.
So one of the people, everyone, if they don't say it, they it's
yeah. Yeah.
Well, I can say it. So if so, we know we can't get
rid of the stupid people. And also we have big companies
that are just like holding, you know, making their employees act
in stupid ways because of all the policies and and all the
hurdles and all that. So what would be just a creative
solution anywhere this would it would bounce off, it would be
that bounce off effect. So next time this happened.
That it's not my company. Yes.
I'm not stupid because I don't do that like they do that.
You know what I mean? I don't do that.
So that just because you're a big company doesn't mean that
you have it together, you know? Right, true.
So what? What could you do differently
the next time? You know, an hour, hour and a
half of your day is robbed by stupid people.
What could you do differently so that it would just bounce off of
you and you could just laugh it off?
I don't know you wanna, you wanna lead me through this one
'cause I really have no idea. So one, I'll, I'll just give
some ideas. I mean, you, yeah, you get to
decide like if it resonates 1 is, is could you delegate that
to someone else? So, you know, you, you bring in
a, a virtual assistant and their job is to deal with stupid
people 5 hours a week. And it's worth it to you to pay
that person five hours and and they're OK doing.
Well, actually I did delegate it.
I delegated it to my manager. But then I felt guilty that now
he has to deal with them because I was thinking he doesn't really
get paid that much to deal with stupid people.
But would it affect him as much as it would affect you?
Yeah, 'cause he doesn't get paid.
Yeah. So it could be looking at like
if this is really like the thing that this, you know, doing what
you do, this is what bring it it, it brings you down.
Just dealing with stupid people is, you know, really just
thinking long term, either how you or he could shift the
perspective so that it wouldn't wouldn't take you out as much.
Well, I mean, it's, it's heading towards a resolve actually.
You know what happened when he stepped in and when both of us
were working together? It seemed less on me.
Oh my gosh, that's it. That's the insight is if the two
of you 'cause if if it falls 100% on either of you.
Yeah, it was 100% on me. Yes.
So then if the two of you can tag team, just like you know
those pro wrestlers, you know the.
Actually, you're right. When I brought him in today and
he he like he really, I mean it was a real good, nice mutual
thing and felt a lot of relief. So huge.
And then you tell him the same thing, like, hey, if you're, you
know, it's transparency. Hey, I know I, I, I like to be
paying you more. But you know, if there's ever
something that you're doing that just is really wearing on you
and taking you out, let me know 'cause I wanna share the burden
and hey, I'm gonna do the same with you.
And so it's. Good.
Right on. Carrying burden?
Yes, you ever doing it together? That I'll go with sharing burden
because sharing burden for five Bob.
There you go. I'll go.
Bingo. Bing, Bing, sharing burden for
five. Yeah, I'll go with that.
Yeah, and then the other thing is just a little perspective
shift. I hate parking tickets and
speeding tickets and so when I get one it just like it destroy.
It used to destroy me like, Oh my gosh, you know?
I need to look for this 'cause I just got a a tick A ticket for
coming out of the carpool lane at a line.
Oh my gosh, yeah. That's like literally everyone
was. Doing it yeah.
And he just and it's a lot of money and that I, I, this
happened like a couple months ago.
So I, I, I now I'm OK because I'm not thinking about it.
But every time now, like just now, I'm like, right, I'm
feeling it again. Yes, like you were singled out.
Clark, how did you get out of the anxiety around that?
Yeah, what I start doing now, is that OK, over the course of my
lifetime, I'm probably gonna get like 15 parking tickets and I'm
probably gonna get like 5 traffic violations.
And so when 1 happens, I'm like, all right, I just, you know,
it's part of my tally for my lifetime and.
Oh my God, that's awesome. Oh my God, that's awesome.
I know. That's awesome.
That's a great way of looking at something.
Yeah, so it's the same way, Amy. You know, it's like in the
course of the year you're probably going to have to deal
with, you know, ten stupid people.
So, you know, we're in May. So if you've dealt with four,
you're OK. And it's Yeah, Ali for the year.
Oh, this is good. I really like I'm taking that as
a taking that with me and just don't.
It's like one OK, you're now down to 1 less.
Yeah, that's so good. So good.
Love that. Amy, thanks for volunteering to
do a mental resiliency session. That was fun.
This is great so they can do these micro like 15 minute
sessions. Experteffect.com.
That's right. That's great.
So every time that they have a little knitch, they can just
like, pop in. Exactly.
So they also have a. You just gave me like I, I, I
now have the answer for it, yeah.
So go ahead. Share the burden and in my
lifetime I'll and give myself a number how many I will have.
Yeah. So good.
Right on did. You also have.
We also have this stress resiliency process for high
performers and it's where someone can meet for 45 minutes,
which each of our stress resiliency experts and the whole
goal is to make their body and mind more resilient to stress.
And all the experts talk to each other and it's like their team
to make this individual more resilient to stress.
So that's kind of more of a robust solution that's.
Awesome. That's so awesome.
That's really great for people that have like, high blood
pressure, you know, if they're physically get themselves worked
up or tense all the time or if you feel like you're depressed
or Yeah. It's like my philosophy is what?
About if you're like not booking jobs, but you're, you're getting
auditions, you're not booking. Do you think that like if you're
in kind of chronic stress, that might be contributing to it?
Yes, yeah, 'cause if we're in chronic stress, we're not going
to be as creative, we're not going to get in that flow state.
So yeah, it is, it's, it's, it's figuring out and sometimes
partnering up with someone is the best way to do it.
Like it's so worth the investment to be able to get out
of that. Yeah.
And also, actors have a tendency to add the previous audition
failure into the next one. And you know, by the time they
get to the audition #10 it's been compounded, and they can't
even ask. They just can't look at that
point. They're just like mobile because
now they feel like a total loser when it and it's not even.
Wow. You guys call Clark.
Seriously, please just call Clark.
Do yourself. And we have to believe.
We have to end. Oh my God, we're having so much
fun. Last quick, last question, do
you have? Anything ending?
We've got stuff to do before we end, but what was your last
question? Question, yeah, one last, OK, do
you have events? Because I know sometimes you've
done like that hike, you know? Do you have events coming up or
should? Was there a place someone could
look for? Yeah, how could they get on a
mailing list or what? Oh yeah.
So yeah, just on our website, there's a place where you can
get on our list and then we send out expert tips on a quarterly
basis. Oh.
That's great. And then we don't have any
public events right now. We're doing things for companies
or or different, you know, associations or conferences.
But we did do a stress resiliency mastermind for the
entertainment industry a couple years ago.
So it's getting 15 people together and we go deep on these
topics of stress resiliency and learn from each other.
So I am kind of inspired to maybe launch another one of
those. Yeah, do it.
Thanks for your time. Yeah, it was amazing.
So so they could get in touch with you by going to give them
the the the website again. Oh yes, experteffect.com and
then you can start. It says expert effect and he's
the CEO. Clark, I want to offer you
anything from my shop. I am enough collection.com.
So what I want you to do is to go to collection.com.
Look, that's Ophelia's gift. I.
Love this shirt. A couple of things.
Oh, look at that. That's the enough in the seal
blue Pick what you want and then you'll e-mail me at
thelindentechnique@gmail.com with a picture of what the what
you want and the size. Amazing shopping, beneficial
cravings. So yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's an official craving.
And address of where I. Should send it to because I send
it from the factory. Nice.
That's so kind of you. Thank you.
And make each one custom made. And for all of you guys, just go
to imnfcollection.com. Use the promo code SPRING 20 and
you get 20% off anything on the site.
But since Clark's our guest, you get something for free.
Thanks. But Ophelia and I thank you so
much, guys. Clark did an awesome job.
We could probably talk to him for hours.
Oh my gosh. Seriously, we didn't even get to
like a lot of stuff. Well.
Maybe we'll have him back soon. You may have to do that, yeah.
Or he'll have like a he'll have a session with a whole bunch of
people that we know. Yeah, the masterminds.
Guys, if you're interested in Clark's mastermind, could you
just say yes, please let me know and then we could send Clark
your e-mail. Just make sure you put your
e-mail in there. We could send Clark your e-mail
and he could keep you abreast of what's that.
And if you really liked what we're doing here, please give us
a like and, or a heart and tell people and subscribe and follow
and all that stuff. We do this for you guys for
free. We love you, right, Ophelia?
What do you want to say to them? And you are enough.
You are enough. That's right, Mark.
So appreciate you. You're welcome, I thoroughly
enjoyed the conversation. This made my day.
What a great way to close out the week.
This was great. Yes, absolutely.