Interview with Life Coach Mike Magdaleno

Mike Magdaleno's outlook on life is pretty simple - he strives to do the things that make his heart sing. That's pretty much all you need to know. I first found Mike by hearing his Élan life coaching podcast, which is all about living with enthusiasm. I've been talking to Mike a lot recently about creativity; because one of my main interests as a writer and director has been pushing past those areas of ourselves that are great at self destruction, namely the ego and the inner critic.


Mike, thank you so much for taking the time to do this interview. What have you been up to recently?

Thanks Kid, it's a pleasure to be here. Let me take this opportunity to say hello to all my friends at home and abroad. It is always a pleasure to connect with and meet new friends. Most recently I have been focused on getting truly great content into my podcasts. I have been getting into the top 100 of self help on iTunes, and that has been the inspiration to try to get a little better at what I do each and every day. I have also launched a new website that grew out of a podcast that I did recently that generated a lot of e-mail and moved people. The website is at http://www.mywarriorlife.com/. This concept of being a warrior at life creates a yearning in people to go out each day and do their level best. This theme so resonates with me that it will be the title and concept of my first book. My plan is to have it ready for release this year.

I've found a common theme in creative people - they are surrounded by people saying "what if that doesn't work?" - and in people starting new careers they get a lot of "what if you don't make it?" and "how long before you get a real job?". This negativity can be really damaging, how can people get past that?

Finding a career that sings to your heart is a journey and not a final stop. It is important to keep this in mind and keep searching for the next right answer to whatever the career may be. Abraham Lincoln was an utter failure at politics before being elected as president. I would like to take your concept of creative people one step further, however. Getting past the naysayers in life is always a challenge. The key to getting past that and the poison that negativity can bring is to have firmness of purpose and focus. The tenacious pursuit of your goals will quiet the critics and when you show them success they suddenly do not choose to be around you anymore.

Having a personal mission statement, values, and realistic goals is a technique I share with clients to get clarity on where they are going and keep them on task. A focused person cannot be swayed off track. I get them this focus and then at this point it is rather moot what others bring in terms of negativity

I find there's a thin line between the inner critic who says "your script sucks" and the inner-knowledge of knowing "okay, that scene needs re-working" - how do you find the balance?

Our inner critic can be our friend and our foe. There are a couple of important concepts to be aware of though. First of all we need to remember that the inner critic is just that, inner. It is not other people and no one else is judging you. I always tell clients to be brutally honest with themselves and at the same time be kind. Question your inner critic. Make sure that the observations of this critic are truly from within and not influenced by outside opinions. Being kind to yourself is leaning more toward the input of reworking the scene. When you are kind to yourself you are also open to learning the next right answer when it comes to reworking a scene.

I guess what I'm getting at here is self-doubt, that inner voice that tells you you're not good enough to be a writer, or that your acting performance isn't going to be real enough. Do you know what I mean? That inner-voice of self-doubt, that has got nothing to do with how talented you are, it's just the voice in your said -- the same voice, I think, that stops most people from doing what they really want to do in life...

That self doubt voice is truly baneful. No other force can move you to sabotage more than your own doubt. With self doubt you are giving yourself permission to make yourself feel inferior. That is not only stunting the creative process, it is also at its core egoic. Think about this for a second, who are you trying to impress? Certainly not yourself because you already have it in your mind that you are inferior. You are afraid that any failure or success will be viewed by others and judged. Move beyond this and forget about how it looks. Make your plan and execute it. You waste more time wondering about how this or that looks rather than focusing on moving to bigger and better things. Jon Bon Jovi said it best in an interview recently when he never took what others in the industry were saying about him. Rolling Stone hated his first album, but it has a song that has become an icon of rock history. Bon Jovi always just did what he wanted, created his music, and has never looked back. We should all take a lesson from him and just do what sings in our hearts.

On my last film shoot - I was really careful to get a crew of wonderful, positive people - and we had a great time, and the actors even emailed me afterwards and said "wow, that was a really positive set!". Why doesn't this happen more often? I feel we could create so much more amazing work if we were in these environments.

Sounds like you took the time to get a team that shared the same values and had the same goals in mind. Give yourself kudos for that but also remember it as a key for the next shoot. Teams which consist of members who share the same goals are truly unstoppable. You are correct in that you could achieve so much more if you work in a positive environment. Create the team again and give each member the ability to think outside the box. You will be amazed at the creativity and great ideas that will flow.

Creativity is an amazing thing - I often talk about ideas, and how a script or a film begins as something in your mind. What are your thoughts on this?

I have always maintained that everyone is creative in their own special way. Far too often, we as the human race limit ourselves by thinking that only painters, sculptors, musicians, and actors are "creative". This is so far from the truth that when we believe this, it limits our own special contributions we have. In limiting ourselves it really only serves to constrict our imagination. This is such a pity because we all should have very large and active imaginations. Through our imagination emanates our creativity. As Walt Disney used to say "if you can dream it, you can do it".There are other barriers to creativity also. What sometimes happens and we are challenged to seek it out is when we have pessimism. When we allow ourselves to adopt a pessimistic attitude, or when we spend time listening to someone who does, they only serve to limit our own creativity. I am not saying to be unsympathetic to someone who is having a hard time. I am only saying that we should be vigilant and try not to waste time listening to it. Know that there are some people who will never be happy no matter what. I have known some people who could make a lottery win a bummer! Fear and dread are also a nemesis to creativity. We are our own worst enemies at times. We fear and dread so many things into existence just by the mere fact that we put our attention to them. How tragic that is to have your happiness, well-being, enthusiasm robbed by fear. All fear is is false evidence appearing real. Many times if we only focused ourselves on the positive we would not realize what we dread. I am not suggesting to become a Pollyanna, however our fascination with fear and dread does not have to rule either.

I think you have hit a really profound point here - about how we can be our own worst enemy, and how fear can set in. Applying it to this industry; the fear of failure and even the fear of success are both big things, I think. What is it that makes people hit the self-destruct button? Sometimes, say an actor gets a really great part, their first great role-- and they turn up to set two hours late on the first day, and they haven't read the script, and they're arguing with people.... do you know the kind of people I mean? It's like they work really hard with their ambitions and when the opportunities come they sabotage it. It's a pretty unconscious action..

Both success and failure are truly the same human emotions. Like the Yin and Yang, we need both to create synergy but the trick is to harness the correct amount of energy from both emotions to help us re-create ourselves. We need to remember to let things happen in their own natural flows. All of life is a series of crests and troughs. Self-destruction is our feeble attempt to try and control things we should not. Human performance is about responding to the hills and valleys in a way that truly empowers you. You can derive strength from your defeats, just do not try to take matters into your own hands and hoist on your own petard!

Focusing on writing -- I think the best writing is when you speak the truth. When you find how you really feel. It's like a magic concoction of your ideas, your imagination, your experiences and your heart all rolled into one. I think that's what great writing is. But getting to that point and knowing yourself is really hard.

It is hard because we waste so much time trying to be someone we are not. It is ego, and it is that construct between who you really are and the outside world. We try always to impress others and these efforts put us out of touch with our true selves. To speak from the heart we need to put all the ideas, however wild they may be, on paper and forget about form. Just get them on paper and then roll that magic concoction. I carry a Moleskin notebook precisely for that purpose. Keep it with you and make it for your eyes only.

This is not something that can be solved in a thirty second response from you today, but what are your thoughts on that. on the writing process, or any creative process-- how do we strip away the layers of doubt, and ego and conscious thinking and get to that point of what we really have to say?

I think you hit the nail on the head by noting that the ego needs to stripped away. We all have egos, there is no escaping that. What we have to realize is that getting to who you really are is an active process of continually questioning yourself and being honest with your answers. This can be hard because the ego feeds on this self fulfilling prophecy. The ego loves to create this internal debate. When the ego is stripped of its power over you, then the layers of doubt will disappear and your thinking will become more conscious. This can only help to making the creative writing process more to the point and resonating from the heart.

Mike, thank you so much for sharing your thoughts with the Kid In The Front Row readers. I hope people can take as much from it as I have.

You can find subscribe to Mike's podcast Élan Life Coaching through iTunes, and I also recommend taking a good look at his websites, http://www.elanlifecoaching.com/ and http://www.mywarriorlife.com/.