Welcome back to another Mornings with Matt Podcast. This episode is revolved around one question, "Do you REALLY Listen?" Active listening is something most of us struggle with, and no one is perfect at it. Listening is something we focus on heavily at the corporate level in our training. This episode gives listeners steps to read the room, listen to what's going on, and adjust your energy for maximum productivity. Sit back, relax, grab a notebook, and Just Listen!

Read the Room

Asking yourself these five questions before you go into any room will enhance your productivity and reduce the chance of having friction or negative energy. Question number one is, "What is the current energy of the room?" It's important to start here because if you don't evaluate where the room is at, you can't adapt to it. Question number two, "What state of mind am I in?" Self-awareness is critical to a successful life and you can't listen correctly without it. Question number three is, "What do I want to accomplish when I walk in the room?" Setting an intention before you move into something makes the worlds difference. It allows you to have a strong why that helps you make quick decisions in the moment. Question number four is, "Do I want to be seen?" This question is extremely important because it is your strategy. Last but not least, Question number five, "What is the current situation in the room?" By assessing the situation before walking in, you've armed yourself to present solutions instead of problems. 

Okay, so this is Podcasting 101! You have to watch your insights and get excited for certain milestones. Every podcaster can't help themselves from checking their podcast download numbers. Todays goal & the reason for this episode is we are pushing to 1,000 downloads in one month! We need your help, so we hopped onto the mics at 11:30pm and brought a midnight episode! Tonight, Matt and Joey talk about changing focus as a company, the importance of learning new skills, and the difference between arrogance and laziness. Welcome to the Dearing Acting Studio Podcast 101! 

Personal Brand Statement

We just had an amazing episode of our morning show, going over this exact thing! Ian Segears joined Matt on Mornings With Matt to talk about branding himself as an actor. Matt starts by complimenting Ian on his personal brand statement. He then advises Ian, who wants to be an actor and use that platform to motivate and inspire others, to teach and critique using himself as the bad example. He then gives multiple examples of how he does it himself to our students, and our staff members. The best place to teach from is "I could be wrong" and that is something Matt has always preached!

Falling in Love with Learning

Sounds cheesy right? It's not! Knowledge is the single most valuable thing we can possess as human beings. Those who commit to mastery never grow tired and give up on their craft. Instead they understand that to become a master is to commit to being a student for life. Matt has been buried in numbers and SEO the last few days and it can feel like a brick wall with no progress. However because he stuck with it and was consistent, the terms and the knowledge he was seeking not only helped him with the website he was working on, but also translated to helping others. 

How to stay Focused

This pandemic faced many of us with a choice, and a very big one at that. You can either find ways to innovate, grow, and think outside of the box; or you can try and keep things normal and hope for the best. We chose route 1. The reason is because our staff saw this as an opportunity. We've always wanted to go online and effect people outside of Phoenix Arizona. This gave us the opportunity to do just that. Our staff went ALL IN on youtube and online courses and we failed... HARD! But on the other end of that is success! Suddenly we've found ourselves with something we love doing online and would have never made the time to make it our focus before.