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[0:00] Justin Guarini: Hey, so this week I'm going live on my Instagram and my Facebook, and it is all in the run-up to October 28th, which is my 41st birthday, and the official launch of Audition Secrets Volume 1, the book, and the Audition Secrets Online Mastermind. I'm so excited because this week I'm going live, like I said, every single day, and I'm breaking down my seven-step mindset makeover success formula. And basically what it boils down to is it's a way to break negative beliefs, negative behaviors, negative thoughts that hold you back from the kind of success that you want so that you can create new beliefs and new empowering thought patterns and actions that get you one step closer, if not get you right to the kind of success that you want and that you deserve and that you work so hard for.

I'll talk about that more later on, but there's a story that I wanna share with you right now, so let's roll the theme music and get right to it. Welcome to Audition Secrets, the podcast. My name is Justin Guarini, and I'm an audition and performance expert with over 25 years of experience in the entertainment industry. You see me on huge television shows like American Idol, playing characters like Lil Sweet in national television commercials from brands like Diet Dr. Pepper, on Broadway in six musicals and plays, as well as on Instagram and Facebook, where I bring you success mindset coaching on the regular. Each week on this podcast, you'll learn actionable strategies, mindsets, and tips that take the guesswork out of creating auditions and performances that make you stand out from the crowd and help to increase your odds of getting the job so that you can create the career and lifestyle you work so hard for each day.

If you haven't picked up your copy of the book, Audition Secrets, volume one, then all you need to do is visit auditionsecretsbook.com to get instant access to your copy. The Audition Secrets book and this podcast are your secret weapons to rising above your competition, successfully navigating the entertainment business, and keeping your sanity as you rise to the top. So kick back and relax. Five, six, seven, let's go.

[2:18] Justin Guarini: Chapter two of my book is titled Don't Ever Lie, and the reason why I put that into the book is because it's something that's so common for all actors and performers to do when we walk into the room, the audition room. And we usually don't even know that we're doing it. And here's the scenario. We'll be at home, we'll feel good about the material, we've worked on it, and then we go to the casting office and we start to get nervous. And even when you're at home, you feel nervous too, right? But there's something about being there, being right in the casting office, right about to go in, that kind of jacks up your blood pressure, right? Happens to everyone all the time. I don't care what level you're at.

A friend of mine was a reader for the Superman movie. And he said that everyone that came in there, all these big name actors that came in there, they were all super nervous, right? So it doesn't matter if you're going to a cattle call for some sort of community production, or if you're going for like a huge Marvel movie or some blockbuster, everyone gets nervous, right? So you're standing outside of the room in the casting office and you're feeling all these things. And then you hear your name called. And so many times my blood pressure is jacked up even further just from hearing my name called, knowing that I have to go in and deliver. And then you walk into the room and inevitably somebody on the other side of the table says, hi, how are you today?

And one of the things that I have seen so many people do, performers, actors, singers, dancers, and I've done it myself, no judgments, is to lie. The first thing we do when we walk into the room is to lie and say, oh yeah, yeah, sure, I'm great. I'm doing fantastically well, everything's perfect. And what that boils down to is basic manipulation. And so many people, performers, actors, singers, dancers, myself included, have walked into audition rooms trying to manipulate the people on the other side of the table into liking them before they start the audition. And that is a huge trap that I do not want you to fall in. And so I want to share a story with you that I shared on my social media about my son and how he tried to use manipulation in a way that almost got his mother and I in a bunch of trouble and how unnecessary it was and how instead of using manipulation, which is underhanded, which has its own sort of negative energy, using the truth and using that and developing that muscle in order to get what you want. Okay, so here it is, take a listen.

[5:05] Justin Guarini: Good morning, good afternoon, good evening. It's my last day in LA and I've had an amazing time here. I taped the Kelly Clarkson Show on Tuesday that's gonna air this upcoming Wednesday and did a bunch of really cool podcasts, had a whole bunch of meetings, just very, very cool things happened out here. And I got to catch up with a lot of folks that I haven't seen in a long time and got to do kind of the shiny Hollywood famous-y sort of thing. But back in the real world, back home, I gotta share this story with you. My wife got a phone call from our school, our son's school, and they said, hi, we're doing a wellness check to make sure that you and your family are okay. My wife was like, what?

What are you talking about? It turns out that our youngest son, our six-year-old, Asher, said to his teacher, my dad is in LA working, my mom's on vacation, and my sister is taking care of us, my 14-year-old sister is taking care of us, but she won't give us any food because there's no food in the house. And when my wife heard this, she was like, wait, what? My wife is there, and that's not happening at all. And the whole reason why our crafty little six-year-old said that was because he was hungry. He's used to eating at home whenever he wants. He's such a grazer. And so he hadn't had enough food in class for his lunch or for his snack. And so he was manipulating the teacher into giving him more food.

And it makes me think about the things that we do on the regular, and especially being out here, how we manipulate people into giving us what we want, and how much energy and effort it takes to play that game, whether it's a short game or especially the long game version of that. And what bullshit it is. And so really the question for you today, for me today, especially being out here and being back in the scene and just seeing how it operates out here, it's been a while since I've really gone and done it at this level, is how can we stop using manipulation to get what we want and start exercising our muscle that just is asking for what we want, coming straight out and asking for what it is that we want and telling people how we feel.

Because I know it's hard. I know it's challenging. I, for a long time, was a non-confrontational person. I'm not confrontational pretty, anyway, now, but it took me a long time to just ask for what it is that I wanted, as opposed to playing this game and having to pretend this and blah, blah, blah, blah. And it's exhausting. I just don't have time. Nobody got time for that. So if you feel like you can't say how you feel, if you feel like you've got to pretend and put on a mask and manipulate to get what it is that you want, and I know that we all have this at some point in some place in our lives, what is one thing that you could ask for today? It could be small. It's like a muscle. I heard a story, I forget, I think it was Maya Angelou, who said, you know, there was somebody in my house at this party who was acting a fool, and I went up to them, and they were well-known.

I kicked them out of my house. And somebody said, oh my goodness, did you feel so bad? Did you, oh, was that rough? And she said, no, you know what, it's like a muscle. I couldn't have done that probably five, 10 years before that point, but because I had just been exercising that muscle, being able to say what it is that I want, what it is that I need, and asking for it, and sometimes demanding it if you have to, I was able to do that, and I was able to make sure that I had a nice party and kick that fool out of my house. Well, the same thing goes for you today. How can you exercise that muscle that gets you what you want and what you need and what you deserve without having to manipulate, having to lie, and having to fool other people into it?

[9:01] Justin Guarini: All right, have a great rest of your weekend. So as you can see, it's a muscle like any other muscle. Honesty, integrity, those are all muscles that you need to work, and there is no better place to work that muscle than as we walk into the audition room, because it's an energy game. Yes, it's a numbers game. Yes, it's a talent game. Yes, it's all these other games, but it's also an energy game, and when you walk into the room owning who you are, owning your own power, that energy is the energy that makes people on the other side of the table sit up and notice you, and it is one of the things that makes you stand out from the crowd, and that's part of the whole point, isn't it? We wanna stand out from the hundreds of other actors who are coming in, or dancers, or singers, who are coming in trying to get our part, or our role, or our job, what it is that we're going for, and being vulnerable enough to just be honest with where you are and how you're feeling is a huge, huge step in the right direction.

If you wanna find out the actual formula that I use, the three-step process that I use to walk into the room and make sure that I own my own power and transition my way from telling people how I feel into the audition itself very smoothly, and in a way that makes people sit up on the other side of the table, make sure you pick up a copy of my book, Audition Secrets. I break down that formula for you. It is so simple. It is so powerful in chapter two called Don't Ever Lie, and you can get that book at auditionsecretsbook.com. All right, that's all I got for you today. My name is Justin Guarini. You've been listening to Audition Secrets, the podcast. Thank you so much for listening, and remember, at the end of the day, you're just one audition away.