Florencia Andrés was set to perform at Buenos Aires' Maipo theater after signing with Sony Music when a skeptical manager's dismissal triggered paralyzing self-doubt. She shares a Jack Canfield technique: chanting "Om" and "Oh, what the heck, go for it anyway" to shift your emotional state and perform despite fear.
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I discovered the power of this tool 13 years ago. I was facing one of the biggest challenges of my professional career. I was, I had just been signed as a speaker by Sony Music, and the president of Sony Music decided that it would be a good idea if I had my opening night in one of the most iconic theaters in Buenos Aires. If you've ever been to Buenos Aires, you probably heard about the theater that is called Maipo. This is a theater where the biggest ballet dancers in the world perform. This is a theater where the best opera singers go and sing there. And for some reason, the president of Sony Music said, go and have your opening night there. And I remember feeling, ah, I was so excited and at the same time nervous. And I remember walking into this majestic theater, huge, huge theater. And I remember, uh, I was standing there, we were doing a rehearsal with all the technical crew. We were checking the lights and the sound and making sure everything sounded well. And I was standing in that theater and I closed my eyes and I was doing my visualization of, you know, visualizing the entire theater filled with people. And as I was doing my own thing, in comes a guy and he walks to me and he introduces himself saying that he had been running the theater for almost 40 years. And so he says, "I want to meet you because I don't think I've ever seen you before. So what kind of artist are you? Are you a singer?" I said, "No, no, I'm not a singer." Are you a musician? No, I'm not a musician. Are you an actress? No, no, I'm not an actress. Are you a dancer? At this point, I'm like.
No.
Well, you know, after a few drinks, I have my moves. I'm trying to make him smile. The guy is not even smiling. And he goes, what kind of artist are you? And I tell him, I'm a motivational speaker. And he goes, you're what? I'm a motivational speaker. I motivate people to go for their dreams. And he looks at me like I just landed from Mars. And he goes, and people are going to pay to come to listen to you speak in this theater? And I look at him and I go, yes, of course, with a fake smile and a fake sense of confidence. And the moment the guy walks out, I felt like a huge bag of poop had just been dropped on my head and was dripping all over me. And I started obsessing. obsessing around the idea, what if this guy is right? What if nobody shows up? What if this is one huge mistake? Who will pay to come to this theater to listen to me speak? And the next 2 or 3 weeks were one long proof of what self-doubt can do to you. It can mess you up. I'm talking about tossing and turning in bed all night kind of self-doubt.
I'm talking about snapping at my children for no reason kind of self-doubt and anxiety.
Mm-hmm. I'm talking about anxiety diarrhea all day long. It was not pretty. And at one point I thought, you know what, let's cancel this whole thing off. It's a ridiculous idea. We're going to embarrass ourselves. Nobody's gonna come. And so as I'm about to pick up the phone and call my manager and tell him, let's not do this, you know, we're 10 days away, no tickets have been sold, let's cancel it. I suddenly remembered a mantra.
What mantra?
A very powerful mantra, a mantra that I was taught by Jack Canfield many years ago. And he said, Florencia, whenever you're going for something big, whenever you're taking action towards a dream and you feel nervous about it and you feel doubts, use this mantra. It's powerful. It will shift your emotions instantly. And so I said, ah, let's give it a go. And I want to teach you this mantra. I want to teach you because maybe you are about to go for something big and you feel this sense of, what if I fail? What if it doesn't work out? What I'm going to do in a moment, I'm going to start playing some music and I will invite you to close your eyes and we will do a couple of oms together. And we will do this together, okay?
Okay.
And after we do a couple of ohms, we will start chanting the mantra. All right? But before we do this, I want you to get in touch with the uncomfortable feelings. I want you to get in touch with self-doubt. Think about your big dream. Take a deep breath in, and we're going to start chanting.
Om.
One more time. Oh, one more time. Think about your big dream.
Oh, what Oh, what the heck, go for it anyway.
Open your eyes.
Oh, what the heck, go for it anyway. Oh, what the heck, go for it anyway. Oh, what the heck, go for it anyway.
Now pretend we're having an energy ball. We're going to bounce it from the floor to the sky. All right, here we go.
Oh, what the heck, go for it anyway. Oh, what the heck, go for it anyway. Oh, what the heck, go for it anyway. Oh, what the heck, go for it anyway.
Good job! Give yourself an applause. And you know what? Yes, this sounds a little bit like a joke, but let me tell you, it's not a joke. You need to be able to push yourself. You need to be able to push yourself even if you're feeling a little scared.
And all we ask is this. If you enjoy this, you might want to check out her full program on Mindvalley. And also leave a subscribe on our YouTube channel.
