You're listening to Voice Acting Mastery episode number nine.

Welcome to the Voice Acting Mastery podcast with Crispin Freeman.

Voiceactingmastery.com is your place to learn both the skills and the mindset you need to become a professional voice actor, even if you're just getting started.

In each episode of this podcast, you'll discover valuable tips, tricks and insider information to help you portray characters in animation, video games and beyond.

And now here's your host, voice actor Crispin Freeman.

Hi there, my name is Crispin Freeman, and I'll be your guide through the world of voice acting.

If you'd like to know more about me, feel free to check out my personal website at www.com.

In this episode of voice acting mastery, I'm going to be addressing an issue that's obviously very important to a lot of my listeners.

Many of the comments on the voice acting mastery blog are about this topic.

It's a question almost every beginning voice actor asks me,

What can I do to be more confident?

Now, I understand your dilemma.

I started out as a shy young boy who never dreamed that I would be able to get up in front of people and perform as an actor. I was not a naturally outgoing person, and I had to learn how to become a confident performer. So let me share with you what I know about building confidence. Hopefully you'll find it useful. And now the feature segment.

First things first, what is confidence?

Is it simply feeling better about yourself?

Is it never making a mistake?

Is it getting approval from others?

It's funny, we all recognize confidence when we see it in others,

but have you ever stopped

and tried to define it for yourself? The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines confidence as,

a feeling or consciousness of one's powers. It goes on to describe confidence as being a faith

or belief that one will act in a right, proper, or effective way, the quality of being certain. For me,

...