10 Rules of Success.

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Listen to the post here: The Los Angeles Method Podcast

Success is a subjective state. Success is translated in different ways for each one of us. No matter what you want to achieve in life, whether you want to become the CEO of a company, the loving father of 4, the great coach who offers amazing results and opens new ways for her clients, the next Oscar winner, these are the 10 rules you should consider.

1. Find your purpose.

Know where you are going. You need a point, a mark at the end of the road telling you "You have arrived". Visualise that point and bring it closer to you with every step you make. 

Most importantly know WHY you want to get there. Everything we do is for the way it will make us feel. You are not working hard to make money just to have the "paper" in your wallet or the "numbers" in your bank account. Money makes you feel a certain way; for some it offers security, for others freedom and so on. 

The emotions are the fuel we use to achieve our goals.

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2. Do not listen to the #littleman.

Understand that you are unique, special and one of a kind! You are precious! There is no one like you in the entire Universe. That is what makes you valuable to us. You are worthy and you deserve the best things in life. Do not allow anyone else to tell you otherwise. The first person who needs to believe that this is true, is you. Do not listen to the #littleman telling you you are not good enough, or not clever enough, or not rich enough. You are more than enough. If you believe that, everyone else around you will too. 

You educate people to treat you by showing them the way you treat yourself. Disrespect your self and everyone will disrespect you. Love yourself and everyone will love you.

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3. As you think, so shall you Be.

What you think of, expands. Your thoughts dictate the frequency in which you vibrate. Your thoughts are the "juice" you have within you. If we squeeze an orange, we will get orange juice. We can not get lemon juice no matter how hard we squeeze. If the orange is bitter, the juice will taste bitter too. What are you thoughts? If we squeezed you, would we get bitterness, anger, fear, resentment or would we get love, joy, happiness, gratitude?

4. Make a Choice.

Marlon Brando used to say that everyone can be an actor. And that is true, we all have talent. Talent is not your problem for not going ahead. What separates an actor from a Star, is in the choices they make. Now, the higher the stakes, the riskier the choice, the greater the reward. Put yourself out there and take a stand, make a choice!

5. Commit.

As we say in the theatre, "Commit to the scene". Once you made your choice, commit in doing the work. Put your self in it. The key word here is "your", you! 

The more personal you are, the more universal you become.

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Work hard and put yourself in the work. Work on yourself. Find out where is your power. Like a Superhero in the making, discover what are you secret powers and use them. Align your gifts with the real reason you are here. Fill yourself with those gifts. In our workshops we talk about "standing in the light" and "making yourself seen, visible". Stand tall and be an inspiration to others. Become strong to be able to help others rise. Embrace being "full of yourself", you have so much to offer! 

Commit to that race and run it as hard as you can. Do not waste your time by comparing yourself to others. You only need to be competitive with the person you were yesterday. You can not control what others do, you can only be responsible for your actions. Commit to your decisions and move forward.

6. Believe.

Have faith and trust in you. Believe in your greatness, in your success. If you do not believe in you first, no one else will follow. Believe in your talents! Believe you are here for a  purpose, for a reason and work hard to improve the skills you need, to accomplish that purpose, that goal. Make sure your beliefs are your own, not the confining convictions- the limiting beliefs you have downloaded along the way of becoming you. Believe as the perfect creature you arrived as in this world. A baby, a child does not second guess. They want food and they trust that the food will be delivered to them, and it does. A child in a playground wants to play- nothing will stop him; not the clothes he is wearing, the car he is driving, the degree he has or does not have. Children do because they believe.

7. Connect.

Knowing yourself, understanding your voice will help you connect with you. Once you know how to connect with you, you can connect with everyone else. Because then you understand that we are all one. You can not rise if the rest of us are on the ground. Finding and connecting to your Authentic Self reveals the greatness in you and in everyone else around you. 

The moment you connect with the others, you create a support network, assisting you towards the realisation of your goal and your success. 

8. Hustle.

Do not be outworked. You have the talents you need, you were born with those talents. Invest in learning the skills and do not let anyone outwork you. Once you find your true purpose, your voice, the song that you were meant to sing in this world, it will not even feel like work. You will want to be the last one leaving the room because being in the room will fulfil your values and needs and it will help you express your worthiness. 

Cherish and respect what you do.

9. Reach for the Stars!

Do not settle for anything less. You are a precious and unique human being and you deserve the best things in life. Reach out with your hand and bring in the best of everything you can think of. 

There are no limits for you. The only limits that exist are the ones you put in your way. These are just thoughts you make, and thoughts can change.

10. Relax! It is going to be OK.

Be in the flow. In acting we have techniques and rules and steps you need to take to create the role you are portraying. But ultimately when you get up on stage, you need to let go of all the technical stuff and just be in the moment. React to what is happening in the scene, as your character. So if you have done the work, now you are ready to let go and trust the work you did will take you where you want to be.

Think of you a few years back. Think of a difficult situation you faced then. At that time everything seemed difficult and huge and heavy. How do they look like now, how do they feel? You are here to think about the past, so they must have turned out OK. 

Now travel in the future. And look back at yourself now. What would your future self tell the person you are now?

My future self would tell me "You did well, you did not have to worry so much, I made it and I am ok and happy. Thank you for everything you did for me to get me to where I am now. It all turned out well!"

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Theodora is the creator and founder of the TVP Foundation which operates through two main venues: The International Theatre in English and The Los Angeles Method. You can read more about her work here.

You can join our Success Masterclass or our #theSTARinyou Online Class.

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Plato's Cave and "What is Reality?"

We are living in a cave, experiencing an illusion.

What will happen when we finally get to exit the cave? Our eyes will hurt at first but will slowly adjust to the light. Then we will be able to see all the colours, feel the warmth of the sun, the wind, smell the flowers and listen to the birds.

We will return to the cave and tell everyone there is more to life than this cave. The others will laugh at us. Most people are comfortable in their ignorance and can even become hostile to anyone who points it out.

Philosophers, the lovers of wisdom, can be found anywhere. They can point out the reality and the ignorance. Like actors, they shed light where there is shadow.

Are you ready to exit the cave and become a lover of wisdom, a philosopher?

You want to increase your productivity? Here are 4 scientifically proven methods.[Video]

Do you want to increase your productivity?

David Hassell from the Next Web writes about Neuroplasticity, Stress Hormones and Paleo-Mammalian Brain, how to Pulse your productivity and the flow states.

Did you know you had three brains within your brain? The part responsible for your creativity is the newest part. If you feel unsafe, the primal part, the first brain takes over- the reptilian brain, in charge of your survival- and when that happens, all other functions stop. For your productivity and your creativity to grow and increase you need your neo-cortex. This structure, also called the frontal lobe, is responsible for language and abstract and creative thinking.

You can learn more on your brain and how it affects your habits by downloading our Webinar “How to Create New Habits” HERE.

The better we understand ourselves as leaders, the better we understand the capabilities and limitations of those who work for us. This new leadership paradigm involves constant learning about all of the elements of a healthy, balanced life. Research in the areas of neuroscience, biology, and human performance have produced some brilliant and counter-intuitive ideas about getting more accomplished in less time.

You can read the full article Here.

You can also check out Simon Sinek’s talk on Cortisol, the hormone responsible for the feeling of stress and anxiety.

The Los Angeles Method at the 4th International Scientific Conference.

A few months ago, after a long discussion about the Los Angeles Method and how the Arts can be therapeutic, I was invited by Ms. Dora Psaltopoulou-PhD, MA-CMT and the Aristotle University in Greece to join the 4th International Scientific Conference “Creative Arts Interconnection Paideia-Therapy” and present the Los Angeles Method.

The moment arrived.  On March 19th I flew from Amsterdam to Greece.  I was very excited to return to my country and present my work in such a distinguished environment.

Ms. Psaltopoulou runs the only Music Therapy Department in the country. Unfortunately the people responsible are not aware yet of the fact that Arts can be the solution to many challenges.  The Arts can cure practically anything, since all the challenges we are facing, whether they are physical or psychological, are based on the emotions we are having. Arts deal with exactly that; our emotions. They help us understand who we are and how we can achieve our full potential. This goes beyond therapy. Great multinational companies, pioneers in their field, are now preferring candidates with MFAs rather than MBAs. ( for more info you can check out our post “An MFA better than an MBA“).

thelosangelesmethod.com © Copyright 2009- 2015, Theodora Voutsa

The chair of the conference, Ms.Psaltopoulou, has pioneered Music Therapy in Greece since 1992, and founded the Music Therapy Centre of Thessaloniki. She is a certified music therapist CMT (AMTA) and holds a PhD and a MA (NYU,NU,USA). Her clinical work includes neurosis, psychosis, autism and community music therapy.

thelosangelesmethod.com © Copyright 2009- 2015, Theodora Voutsa photo by Thanasis Moutsianas

I am very honoured to have shared the stage with Pr. Barbara Hesser- CMT,LCAT, FAMI.  Prof. Hesser is the Director of the Music Therapy program at New York University.  In this capacity she coordinates the Master’s and Doctoral Degree programs of NYU. She is the program director of the Nordoff Robbins Music Therapy Centre and has served as President of the American Association for Music Therapy (AAMT).

Prof. Hesser opened the conference. Her speech was about our “Healthy Potential”. We are all born with a healthy potential- our true nature. As Maslow states, we all need and have creativity and aliveness. If someone has mental, physical, emotional problems- these problems stand blocks to their Healthy Potential. It is those people, with these problems (mental, physical, emotional), that music helps them express their Inner Healthy Potential.

Prof. Hesser talked about the benefits and the life changing effects of the Arts and specifically Music Therapy; using as an example young Joshua. We first saw a short video of a young boy, 5 or 6 years old, in a room with a piano. A young man was playing the piano and another was singing, but the boy did not respond. The boy did not want to be touched and was completely secluded from its environment. The next video, shot some days later, shows Joshua being held by one of the therapists and singing along, even touching the piano and creating sounds.  Before we go on, prof. Hesser explains to us that Joshua is a blind autistic child.

Understanding the challenges that an autistic child faces and adding to that the blindness, one can realise the great progress that was achieved in a short period of time through music.  Through the videos, you begin to see a response, a vocalisation in tune with the music. Joshua is singing, Joshua is having a good time and Joshua reacts and does what the lyrics say.

In another video we see Joshua having a tantrum. The therapist playing the piano, follows through the music Joshua’s tantrum and gradually guides him to a more serene place, and Joshua follows and collaborates to the music. The music relaxes him. Joshua accepts the music.

Joshua, a blind, autistic kid, feels confident and allows himself to heal through music. He feels safer, accepted, calm and trusts himself and his environment. Joshua found a sense of rhythm, a desire to vocalise, an ability to play the piano, spontaneity, joy, pleasure and the ability to focus.  All that through music. He developed a new aspect of himself through Art. A new self concept was developed. He moved from wanting to control his environment to collaborating and improvising.

At the beginning Joshua would describe himself as disabled, unaccepted and unworthy.  Now all that has changed; he understands himself as being loved, accepted and able for anything.

Joshua experienced the Expansion of Being through the Arts.

If Joshua can do it, what is stopping you?

thelosangelesmethod.com © Copyright 2009- 2015, Theodora Voutsa. photo by Thanasis Moutsianas

thelosangelesmethod.com © Copyright 2009- 2015, Theodora Voutsa. photo by Thanasis Moutsianas

The next day I presented the Los Angeles Method. We talked about how our lives are the movies we write, direct and star in; how we are 100% responsible of our reality- since we are the ones creating it.

Acting is about our truth, it is not about pretending. I must first know who I am, what do I want, what kind of “tools” do I have- in order to be able to serve the role.  These are the techniques we teach “non actors” ( I am using quotation marks even though we are all Acting on our lives, we are all actors).

We play many roles throughout a day, we are not only one character. The techniques help you distinguish the different objectives and create different maps to achieve them all. (If you wish to read more on the Los Angeles Method, you can follow the link.)

We talked about our theatre project and how the Art of Theatre can be therapeutic and liberating. ( You can read more about the Theatre Project here.)

thelosangelesmethod.com © Copyright 2009- 2015, Theodora Voutsa. photo by Thanasis Moutsianas

thelosangelesmethod.com © Copyright 2009- 2015, Theodora Voutsa. photo by Thanasis Moutsianas

It was a wonderful experience working with all the participants in the Los Angeles Method Workshop. Their commitment and dedication were memorable. Most of the participants are studying towards the degree of Music Therapy. It makes you feel happy and trustful knowing that such able, committed and devoted individuals will be “released” into society soon to help others. The world is about to become a better place, and we can all be part of the process.

thelosangelesmethod.com © Copyright 2009- 2015, Theodora Voutsa. photo by Thanasis Moutsianas

It was a very rewarding experience.

My gratitude and appreciation to Ms.Dora Psaltopoulou-PhD,MA-CMT, Mr. Nikolaos Zafranas-PhD,MA,BA, Ms. Margarita Hatzinassiou-MA-NRMT and everyone on the organising Committee of the 4th International Scientific Conference of the Aristotle University, “Creative Arts Interconnection Paideia-Therapy”.

My special thanks to Mr. Yiannis Kaminis for taking care of all the important details that make the difference- and Mr. Th. Moutsianas for the photos and assistance.

thelosangelesmethod.com © Copyright 2009- 2015, Theodora Voutsa

Art can save Lives.