Caroline 0:00

What if the biggest barrier to your next role or your next chapter is your own mindset? Dr. Al Bramante blends psychology, hypnosis, NLP, and decades as a talent agent to help performers rise above self-sabotage. This episode is for artists and career changers who feel stuck second guess themselves, or want practical ways to rewire their thinking and move forward. Dr. Albert 'Al' Bramante, is a veteran talent agent and CEO of Bramante Artists a psychology PhD, a professor, a certified hypnotist, and an NLP practitioner. He is the author of Rise Above the Script and helps performers overcome fear, imposter syndrome, and self-defeating patterns. Today we trace Al's journey from book loving kid in a sports family to psychology scholar 9/11 crisis responder, professor and talent agent, and we dig into the mindset tools he now uses to help creatives thrive. In this episode, we cover how early doubts and labels shaped Al's drive and how he rewrote them. What 9/11 crisis work taught him about resilience and purpose, why actors self-sabotage, and the mindset shifts that unlock thriving, how hypnosis NLP and identity language help turn a struggling artist into a thriving artist. Welcome Al. I am so thrilled to have you on Your Next Success today. Thank you for being part of our show.

Albert 1:44

Well thank you so much, Caroline, for having me. I'm so happy to be here.

Caroline 1:47

Yes, absolutely. I'd love to kind of get to know a little bit about your career story and how you ended up from then to now. I know of course now you are extremely talented, you help a lot of actors with their talent. You are an author, you have hypnosis things, so we are gonna get to that of how people can work with you and how you work now. But let's dial it back to the beginning. Can you tell me a little bit about your childhood growing up. And were there any career things that you were interested in at that time?

Albert 2:23

Sure. Well, I was always an inquisitive child and I was always kind of like the child that daydreamed a lot and was very nosy. And I think that kind of lead now to where I'm at, in a sense because, just curious about people. I'm just curious about things. I still daydream a lot too. I still, meditate and daydream and all of that. So I started off, I was a very different type of child in my family, so I grew up in a predominantly blue collar family. As athlete, family. My brothers, my father were all into the athletic life. There were coaches, my oldest brothers, both of them were like in football and very active in that. Football coaches as well as being playing football. I had no interest. I was a reader. I love to read no interest in playing sports and of course, naturally being the male in the family, they tried to suit me up. They tried to, you know, put the ball in my hand and bring me out in the field and all of that, thinking that they were gonna toughen me up, which good intentions. It just wasn't for me. So I think for me, I was so much more into reading and that was a big thing. Reading was such an important, it still is, but even as a child, that was like my sanctuary. I spent a lot of time in the library. Whereas, again, remember, my family may be on the sports games or playing sports. I was in the library. So during this time I started reading a lot of books when I was in high school about psychology, the human mind, one of my classic books that I read that got got me into therapy. The idea of therapy was, a classic by David Burns called Feel Good. And it's kind of like a primer now on cognitive behavioral therapy when it was first coming out and so I just became very interested in this. I was like, this is interesting and exciting, and so I read some more psychology books and then I just decided that I was gonna major in psychology. I made a determination by the end of my sophomore year in high school.

Caroline 4:29

So your family, your dad, your brothers, they were very into sports. How about your mom? What was that influence? Did she like reading? What were her interests?

Albert 4:38

Her influence. My mom's influence got be kind of instilled the educator in me. For 31 years she was a school teacher. So she taught a combination of like kindergarten and first grade. So I think that's where the teacher's side of me comes from, and also the coach, because like I said, my father and my older brother were football coaches. So I think combining the education and the coach kind of led me to some degree where I took after my family because

Caroline 5:09

Absolutely. Yeah. That

Albert 5:09

what instilled that. But I think my mom encouraged me even like when I think my dad started to, when he realized that I wasn't gonna be an athlete or into sports, so they really encouraged me to thrive in school in which I did and the interesting thing about me was I really didn't awaken to my potential of like, what I can do academically until I was in my junior year in high school. So I was always kind of like the B C student. I never failed anything. But I was never, like the A's. Very rarely did I get A's in middle school and until I hit my junior year in high school, it was just interesting like a switch just flipped in me. That I became the B C student to like the A student overnight. And

Caroline 6:04

Oh wow.

Albert 6:05

Throughout the rest of that time I was just getting straight A's.

Caroline 6:07

Were you also involved in any kind of extracurricular activities throughout your school? What were your interests in that area too?

Albert 6:15

I was involved very much in anything and everything, especially even in college, but I was like, in high school, they had the Rotary Club, the Kiwanis Club. I was all involved in that. The drama club, debate club, future business leaders of America. I was in that organization in high school and then in college, I was in different charitable organizations, different community services, even the pledged a fraternity.

Caroline 6:43

Oh wow. Had you always envisioned college as part of your plan, and what did you choose to major? How did you do that? Because I think that you ended up adding on.

Albert 6:53

Of course. It was always instilled to me to go to college because I was kind of a pioneer in that aspect because my oldest brother didn't do well in college and then one of my other brother kind of dropped out of college initially. So I was the first in my family, immediate family to go to school and it was always instilled to go to college. I mean, that was the one thing my family really was on and I didn't necessarily feel like when I was first in high school, I probably didn't think I was going to thrive in college. It wasn't until, like I said, my junior year when I switched was flipped that I was like, really now looking forward to college and not only just college, I wanted to be a PhD. That was like junior and high school onwards. So I then went to college and I did well, I mean, I liked it. And one of the things about like with classes wise, even like the latter part of my high school year. The best teachers and professors that I've had were the most feared

Caroline 8:00

Yeah. They're really strong, stern, high expectations, teachers similarly. I wanted to do so well for them, you know?

Albert 8:09

When I look back to, especially there are two teachers in high school, junior year, english, and my senior chemistry teacher. People told me my senior year when I like, especially with chemistry, avoid this guy like the plague. That, was what was told to me. This guy's a nightmare. And then of course, you know, 'cause I wanted to go to college, the news came to me my junior year when my guidance counselor sat down and said, I need to break it to you, but you're gonna have to get into chemistry. Now most people take chemistry their junior year. I took it my senior year, so I was like, I gotta do this. I was terrified because everyone was telling me to avoid this guy and there was no way, 'cause he was really the only one that taught it that year. So when I got in there, it turned out to be the best class of my high school studies.

Caroline 9:01

Oh wow.

Albert 9:02

I got A's you know, was sometimes the only one and my entire class that received an A at the end of every marking period. I had so much fun in that class with chemistry and I almost went down that route for a major because I was like, this is a lot of fun. And I think it's the analytical part of my brain, and that's why I think I was, because I was so attracted and drawn to that field. So then when I was in college, I majored in psychology, minor in communications. Each one of those departments had the professor you didn't want to get. And in both situations I had no choice. Let me tell you, it was the best decision I've ever made.

Caroline 9:52

Oh wow. That's great.

Albert 9:52

They were amazing. They really taught me a lot. I channel a lot of them, even to this day. Yes, the classes weren't easy and by a long shot. However, it was so enriching, those are like my highlights of my college years was those professors and I took more classes with them towards the end too, when I was doing my end of my year.

Caroline 10:20

What do you think was different for others having, you know, maybe not so positive experiences and not enjoying it. What do you think was different from you versus them, your experience with these tough professors versus the others?

Albert 10:34

I think because I had high standards for myself towards the end, that I was like, okay, this is what's, and I wasn't looking for the easy A because consequently, I also took classes where people were telling me. This is the best professor you're gonna have. And I thought I really wasn't impressed either.

Caroline 10:51

Okay. Okay.

Albert 10:52

I then started to get, well, maybe I should do the opposite or what people tell me what to do. And I think that's what really stood out for me. Plus, I learned so much in those classes. I cannot tell you how

Caroline 11:05

Yes.

Albert 11:05

much information I learned when I was challenged. And of course, you know, all of their research will tell you about learning is when you're. You learn the most when you're challenged. I thrive, but I just always have the mentality where it's like, was I scared a little bit, but I kind of looked at mentality where look, I'm here and this is

Caroline 11:28

Yeah.

Albert 11:29

the best. So, even now that I teach, I even encourage my students to run to those classes that people are telling you to avoid? 'Cause I work a lot with nursing majors and one of the classes that they're told to avoid like a plague is anatomy and physiology, you know.

Caroline 11:49

I think I'd want nurses that do well in that.

Albert 11:52

I would too, but I think the reason why are running away from that is because the professor is very, very tough supposedly

Caroline 11:59

Okay.

Albert 11:59

And very, you know, has a high kind of like failure rate and I kind of say, well, here's an alternative explanation to it. If I'm gonna go to a nurse, I would want them to be working really hard. I'd want them to be in that hard anatomy class.

Caroline 12:14

If they can get past that, they can take care of me.

Albert 12:17

Of course. And so that's like if I were to go back, I probably would be running to that class myself and I'm gonna take it just because I know I'm gonna learn. So I think this is where a lot of that comes in. I think just the hard work and perseverance comes in because not only did I learn a lot, but I got along so great with these professors

Caroline 12:38

Now you mentioned you knew you wanted to get a PhD. Did you know anybody that had a PhD, or how did you even think that was possible?

Albert 12:48

Well I mean, just from the learning stuff, obviously, when I was in high school, with the exception of maybe like a, a supervisor of a department. Very rarely was anybody a doc, at least in a high school or secondary school. but I think just the idea of having a doctor by my name, would be excellent.

Caroline 13:06

Yeah.

Albert 13:06

and I did as, as a kid, uh, flirt with the idea of being a doctor. And even my, when my grandmother was alive, she was like I wish, You know, and she told me she was nothing in the world for me, but to become a doctor. Now.

Caroline 13:20

But you achieved that. Just maybe not

Albert 13:22

in

Caroline 13:23

what she thought,

Albert 13:23

in

Caroline 13:24

you know?

Albert 13:24

I,

Caroline 13:24

Yeah.

Albert 13:25

I think she would still be proud. I know that to this day, 'cause I still have Dr, know, name, surname, but

Caroline 13:32

Yeah.

Albert 13:33

the thing that I, I think it was just about achievement and, and I was really trying to improve a lot. So, one thing I want to kind of go back to, I was born with a lot of health challenges and initially because I was a premature baby. I had a lot breathing problems

Caroline 13:47

Oh.

Albert 13:47

as an infant, a newborn. So one of my pediatricians had pulled my parents aside and said, we need to have a hard conversation with you. your son is not rarely gonna pass the mentality of a 10-year-old,

Caroline 14:03

Oh wow.

Albert 14:04

so you need to be prepared for that. Yeah. And of course thankfully my parents didn't listen. I'm glad

Caroline 14:11

Yeah.

Albert 14:12

they didn't, and I thanked them to this day for not listening, and I even had, teachers would sometimes tell my parents look like don't expect much from Albert. Wow. And again,

Caroline 14:23

And they refused to believe it, and you refused to believe it. And did you use that, uh, disbelief of, of others in your capabilities? Did you use that as like, fuel and fire or, or just ignored it?

Albert 14:36

Um, I kind of both. I,

Caroline 14:40

Okay.

Albert 14:40

I, I, I somewhat ignored it. Um, not necessarily think about applying it towards the end. Now, of course, I'm just like, yes. definitely. Now here I am. and,

Caroline 14:55

Yeah. You can do anything.

Albert 14:56

Prove these people wrong, not from an anger standpoint, because I look at it like in hindsight, and now as a professional myself, this was again, the early eighties, so that we didn't know too much about neuroplasticity and the brain and the

Caroline 15:13

Yes,

Albert 15:14

yes. So I could have been quite showing signs of delayed development or developmental challenges that might have looked irreversible at the time. So I think that's where, like I don't hold any malice or any ill will towards the pediatricians told my parents that. I could have easily been shown signs of that, and even with my teachers I was a little slow, you know, developmentally, compared to my peers at least physically. So on the surface it could have shown that my results weren't so good. But one of my significant turning points and really didn't hit me till a couple years later. The first week of my seventh grade studies, my English teacher had called my parents and all my teachers in for a meeting.

Caroline 16:04

Oh.

Albert 16:04

And of course they didn't, the teacher didn't tell me what the meeting was for, so I found this out later and that was because they didn't think that I was gonna be equipped to handle a regular classroom, that I should be in a self-contained classroom. And my parents really had to restrain themselves from like cursing this teacher out and walking out on her. And so of course they pulled me out of her English class. They put me in the other English class and, that same year when we took the placement test for the next grade, I placed it to the honors section the next year.

Caroline 16:42

Hmm.

Albert 16:43

So that was kind of like my way of proving this teacher wrong.

Caroline 16:47

And your parents knew you. They saw greatness in you. They believed in the best possibilities. And yeah. Interesting. 'cause maybe she was trying to help or maybe she was just, it's, because now I feel like yeah, some of that, helping children to get the educational needs that meet them, to help them overcome. I, I get that. But for her to just be like, we gotta, back when you grew up and I grew up, it wasn't as helpful as now with like 504 plans and individual education plans and actually supporting students. Then it was like, yeah, there was this whole other classroom of kids that I didn't understand why they weren't sitting with us, you know?

Albert 17:25

and nowadays

Caroline 17:26

Yeah.

Albert 17:27

I mean, we did have IEPs. I did have the IEP for a couple number of years in school. Now of course, that teacher was fired a couple years later.

Caroline 17:38

Maybe she just didn't wanna work, Who knows? Yeah.

Albert 17:40

know, that's not, but I look at that now, now that was motivation for me, I kind of use that as a motivation. I go, yeah, I'm gonna prove you wrong.

Caroline 17:49

Hmm.

Albert 17:49

that's what I did. And At the time I didn't consciously I was only 12, 13, so I really didn't have that insight yet. And then when I was in high school, I think just again, something just flipped a switch where I was like, okay, you know what? I can do this. And then, my senior year I took AP honors classes and you know, received A's in those. So that's when I knew like, I can do college.

Caroline 18:10

And when did this? Did was your junior year when you were introduced to the psychology class, or which year did that fall in?

Albert 18:18

Now, I didn't take any psychology classes in col in high school. They didn't offer them,

Caroline 18:22

Oh wow.

Albert 18:23

I,

Caroline 18:23

Oh, but but how did you know you wanted it to? You were interested.

Albert 18:27

I was reading and I read the book David Burns, you know, so it was like

Caroline 18:31

yes.

Albert 18:32

And then of course I was reading other psych books

Caroline 18:35

in,

Albert 18:35

in the library. This has became something very interesting to me. Plus I was also in like a peer mentoring group after school, like confidential and that

Caroline 18:45

Very cool.

Albert 18:46

Really got me into it, into, um, Oh wow. working with other people and, I have been doing ever since, and I think because my idols in high school were other academics, I was not like other kids, so I was like very much into the academic. and so that's why I think really I was so bent on becoming getting a PhD and, and I'm glad I did it. One of my proudest moments in my life was walking on that stage in my robe getting,

Caroline 19:17

Yeah,

Albert 19:18

you know, getting an honor. absolutely. And what did you study? What was your dissertation focus. So my dissertation, because I also work with actors, was on self-defeating behavior in performing artists.

Caroline 19:31

Okay. How did you choose that?

Albert 19:33

So I chose that because after I received my master's degree, I kind of got back in touch with the creative side of me, you know? Did take some acting classes in college and I was in a drama club, and

Caroline 19:45

Nice.

Albert 19:46

I kind of pursued a little bit of acting myself, but I realized I loved working with creatives more so than other academics. It was like, I feel more aligned with actors.

Caroline 19:59

Okay, and then help me understand the influence of, around the time you're getting your master's degree and, maybe doing some of your PhD work, but 9/11 happened, so what was the influence on being in that area

Albert 20:16

I, I,

Caroline 20:17

9/11 and this psychology interest? Yeah.

Albert 20:21

I, I, I. You know, first of all, my heart goes out. That should never have happened. But at the same time, it also launched where everything that I started doing, I still think I would've been in the same place, but, that kind of catapulted everything, because after 9/11 I got recruited to help do some crisis intervention counseling for people I knew. so I started doing that and then I started meeting other actors. And then I landed my first job for like, American Red Cross, which I worked in social services for for a little while. Then I moved on to the Mental Health Association in New York City. I did that for a year. It was a grant funded 9/11 position doing crisis intervention. And then I, you know, was laid off 'cause the grant ended on that one. So I, I had to look for another job. I consequently got hired to be adjunct professor at the time, at a community college 'cause they were so impressed with my work around 9/11 that they hired me to teach you know, some introductory classes at this community college. I wound up staying there for 10 years and it had a huge impact on my life.

Caroline 21:35

how did you handle regaining your energy while spending your days or a significant part of your day trying to help others cope with 9/11 and the after effects? How did you recover so that it didn't take a toll on your mental health?

Albert 21:56

I did a little bit. Uh, not, not gonna lie. I mean, when I worked for the Mental Health Association of New York City, they really took good care of us. they gave us like a generous vacation like four weeks out of the year, which is considered rare, you know, in most cases. And they also had at least, once a week. it was mandatory that we go and do some group, counseling, which I thought was brilliant

Caroline 22:18

Oh wow.

Albert 22:19

you know, now looking back.

Caroline 22:20

Yeah.

Albert 22:21

it was

Caroline 22:22

Yes,

Albert 22:23

you know, just doing self care plus, you know, now I also had my interest in acting. So I think that kind of balanced

Caroline 22:28

yes.

Albert 22:29

it out to where I could focus on so many other things when I wasn't at the job.

Caroline 22:36

you.

Albert 22:37

because there were times were some certain things that would tug at my, the heartstrings, you know, mean you're dealing with people in such immense throws of grief and trauma. So but what kept me grounded was the self care, the acting. And I realized after about a year or two that I really don't have the interest or the passion for being a performer, or the discipline that was really required. Looking back in hindsight, But I didn't wanna leave completely because I love actors. So that's where I kind of transitioned to supporting them. and then that went to representing them. So 2004, I started my first company. in 2005, I was like, I want to go back for a PhD. I'm halfway there. Now in 2001 before 9/11 that's when I graduated with my master's. I had applied to four PhD programs locally. I underestimated how, competitive PhD programs are. So even though I had a very high GPA, and letters of recommendation. I had research experience. I didn't get into those four programs. So now I was kind of facing my own little identity crisis, because this is my first time in 24 years that September was gonna roll around and I wasn't gonna be in school. I was 24 at the time.

Caroline 24:04

Oh, interesting. That's so interesting because what you wanted, and your plan would've been starting your PhD in September, however you didn't, so you were working, but then that made you available to be supporting these people through 9/11.

Albert 24:23

Yes.

Caroline 24:24

Wow. It's like, it's like, you know, God's plan or universe's plan, whatever somebody wants to say, but like.

Albert 24:30

totally,

Caroline 24:31

That p plan is, is different and better. Like, you know, even when we have a challenge or something, it ends up being in hindsight, oh, I'm so glad that happened. And, you know, not that anybody could say, I'm glad 9/11 happened, but I'm glad 9/11 happened because it helped your ability to fuel this passion and and get this, this work. Wow, that's interesting.

Albert 24:54

100% and I think it just kind of like was a domino effect.

Caroline 24:59

Yeah. Yeah. Really setting things in motion for who you became and who you are, now. Okay, so then you reapplied then in this like before 2005 and then got in, and then, but now you had been working, did you stay working while also getting your PhD or did you,

Albert 25:18

I sure did.

Caroline 25:19

that work? Oh wow. Yeah.

Albert 25:22

Uh, like full transparency, the PhD program that I was in was online, so

Caroline 25:28

Okay. Okay.

Albert 25:29

that made things tremendously easier.

Caroline 25:31

But still a lot of work.

Albert 25:33

no doubt. and I'll be the first to tell you that if anybody thinks that online education is easier, you're gonna be mistaken on that one. I think it was even sometimes even more challenging than. like a brick and mortar face-to-face program would've been

Caroline 25:48

Absolutely. Even in 2005, because it wasn't like the world wasn't necessarily as set up for these virtual interactions as now, and so,

Albert 25:57

yeah. I mean, looking back in hindsight, we had no virtual direction. Everything was on your own time. You, you know, it was all dis,

Caroline 26:06

Oh, wow. Isolated

Albert 26:08

very

Caroline 26:08

a little.

Albert 26:09

discussion boards, papers. And very little. interaction with professors. Very little.

Caroline 26:15

Oh, and even the support of other students. So that was a,

Albert 26:19

just email

Caroline 26:20

really had to want it. Yeah. Wow. It took a lot

Albert 26:23

of discipline and I had to struggle with that in the beginning. and I'm very disciplined

Caroline 26:27

Hmm.

Albert 26:27

but at that time was like really a struggle because you have to keep your own schedule. There's nobody there over your shoulder reminding you

Caroline 26:36

Yeah.

Albert 26:36

at least when you're in class, you're, you're going, no. So I had those challenging issues. Now the interesting thing with that, um, with learning to balance both was a challenge 'cause I was teaching, starting my company and working with actors. So one thing I noticed when I started working with actors and even when I was teaching, there was a lot of self-sabotage happening.

Caroline 27:06

Okay,

Albert 27:07

and that's what led me

Caroline 27:08

but you recognized it or, or now looking back, you realize it,

Albert 27:13

I, I may not have

Caroline 27:14

okay.

Albert 27:14

you know exactly what I would refer

Caroline 27:16

Yeah.

Albert 27:16

now, but I was noticing things were just like confusing the heck outta me. Like, why are, are so many actors telling me that they wanna work? And yet their actions were telling me so many things and why were so many students just giving up without even putting a fight into their education. So I was like, this is something, A good idea to study for my PhD,

Caroline 27:38

Yes.

Albert 27:39

dissertation. Now, I was initially going in for clinical psychology there were a couple of challenges there. Now this is back in early to mid two thousands. So online education wasn't exactly viewed as it is today, and part of to get a clinical PhD, what we have to do is a 750 hour practicum followed by a 2000 hour internship. there was

Caroline 28:06

no way I

Albert 28:07

had time for any of that. I would have to give up Yeah. Yeah.

Caroline 28:12

my job and

Albert 28:13

my business if I was gonna do that. So that was obstacle number one and obstacle number two, because it wasn't taken seriously. I was kind of almost getting laughed at when I was going to the in internship interviews. Maybe not explicitly but I could tell implicitly like, you're an online.

Caroline 28:31

Like they didn't respect the online part of it. They maybe thought it was a joke and in reality it was a lot of hard work

Albert 28:37

and I was literally told like several times, you know, we are giving preference to people in, uh, a traditional PhD program. And I'm, I'm wow. So what am I supposed to do? And then right around this time, I, I, there's an opening at my college. I was an adjunct for several years at this. previous college I taught at, There was now an opening for a full-timer,

Caroline 29:03

Oh wow. Yeah.

Albert 29:05

three openings actually. So, three people in my department had retired. So I put my application in and I got the job. So now I'm at a crossroads where. Okay, how am I gonna do a full-time job and a full-time internship? First of all, I can't even find a

Caroline 29:21

Yeah.

Albert 29:22

So I came to the kind of decision, which is thankfully did it now, where it's like, I'm gonna switch out of clinical Okay. I'm now gonna just get the education and research, you know, component. 'cause I wasn't, I was an educator, so all I needed to do was like take three other extra classes and just put in my dissertation. I said, I'm gonna just do that.

Caroline 29:43

Yeah, it's a win.

Albert 29:44

It's win. major win and I'm done. So that's what I did. So I'm a clinical, I consider myself a clinical psychologist by training, not by practice. Um,

Caroline 29:54

Got you.

Albert 29:55

so, and it's the best thing I've ever done. Like I said, everything works out for a reason. I mean, that's a, I am a, I will speak that from the rooftops now. Yeah, in hindsight, right, it's like, it's like I know looking back everything that happened, I'm so glad it happened that way. But looking forward, I still struggle with trusting that it's gonna be okay when I look back later, right? Because I'm just like, how does it make sense? Like I know, thank you for setting this up and that up and that up and that, and I'm glad I got laid off because of this, and I'm glad I did this because of that. And yet. I wanna get to the point where I have that same forward thinking trust like. I know it's gonna be awesome. So God is in control of everything and everything is good sometimes working on it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely. Okay, so you get your PhD and you have learned how to be disciplined enough to have a full-time job and had gotten the PhD and you have your own businesses also. So I guess that,

Caroline 30:57

uh,

Albert 30:57

discipline was great for entrepreneurship as well, and you. Help actors. And so how does that bring us to what, I guess, when did the whole,

Caroline 31:07

um,

Albert 31:08

neurolinguistic programming, NOP kind of interest and hypnosis, where did that fit in to your timeline? I think a lot of it, I. um, started to transpired when I. knew that clinical psych wasn't gonna be really in the cards for me anymore. Okay, I was, I

Caroline 31:32

and explain what, what NLP is for those that that don't know.

Albert 31:36

It's neurolinguistic programming. It's more of a system of the use of, of like optimizing your yourself by using language and using other tools, like other psychological tools to. You know, rewire your nervous system. You know, like coming from a computer standpoint, like reprogramming your brain, reprograming your mind. And it, and what's the interesting thing about NLP is it does utilize, it started out of like, you know. Virginia Satir, Milton Erickson, um, you know, Fritz Pearls who are icons in the psychology movement. And so there's an application Yeah. of, you know, psychology there. And I think what, what really I liked about, I, I became, I didn't really notice I was interested in NLP. I didn't realize until, like looking back in hindsight, 'cause high sch in, well not in high school when I was going for my master's degree, I took some classes in marriage and family therapy. And the models that we were taught were solution-focused counseling, which a very quick, brief And unconventional therapies, which was Virginia Satir or work of Virginia Satir Milton Erickson, who even though they may, they may not consider themselves NLP practitioners, they started, they, their work led to the discovery of NLP. And so I think I knew that I wanted to this type of work beforehand because it's very quick, it's very solution focused rather than years of therapy.

Caroline 33:23

And so how do you incorporate that now as you work with actors? Find talent and support them?

Albert 33:31

I think just re helping rewire the mindset, so like. know, coming from the place of self-doubt and self-sabotage, which often comes in there, um, Changing your identity as an actor, you know what, um, rather than, you know, referring to yourself as a struggling or starving artist it's all about, about as a thriving artist, and, and, the language that we use and, and the identity that we use. And refer to ourselves as it makes a huge deal. and I think even going back in college, if I looked at myself as just the average C student, I don't know if I would've achieved what I did. certainly wouldn't have made me an honor student, you know, if I didn't believe that and didn't take that identity into, into play. So I think that's sort of like where I, that comes into. So. It's more rapid and it's more, um, again, uh, solution focused. So,

Caroline 34:37

I see.

Albert 34:39

And that's what kind of led me down that route in a sense.

Caroline 34:44

And you've written a book. Uh, I think it's rise above the script. Is that what, so does that give more insight or tell us what rise above the script is about?

Albert 34:55

So it. Kind of is based, loosely based out of my, um, doctoral dissertation work. Oh. And, and so I did, you know, again, like I said, I did the doctoral dissertation, um, on Rise above the script and, you know, which was again dealing with self, uh, self-sabotage. And so what book kind of deals, first of all, it's kind of like my way of making the. Work that I did for my PhD into a more relatable format, you that, you know, can, again, can make people, uh, really, you know, identify with it rather than just looking at the PhD as being very technical. So I wanted to take Yeah. results that I found and kind of put it in a readable format and kind of, so I, I utilize both research and my own experiences In the book, uh, like even performance, I looked at, you know, I, I discussed personality factors, how, you know, conscientiousness is extremely important. You know, how, know, the company we keep is very important. Yeah. So how do you work with people now, aside from still being a professor and teaching? How do you. Serve people or

Caroline 36:25

how do people find you and what would they find you to get help with?

Albert 36:28

a lot of it is just re rewiring the mindset coming from, you know, surviving, to thriving and Unlocking any, you know, blocks or recovery wounds or any blocks that are holding you back. So like, kind of like the thesis of my book and my dissertation or my main point behind it is that we can sometimes get in our own way and be our own worst enemy. And sometimes we are harsh Yeah, definitely. on ourselves, you know, rather than, than what's needed, you know, rather than other people. Sometimes we're the ones that are hard on ourselves.

Caroline 37:05

Absolutely. Absolutely. Um, I'm big on authentic success and to me, I say authentic success is however you define it. So I. Albert, how do you define authentic success for you in this moment?

Albert 37:22

Authentic success means living in the moment and doing you know, your own thing. Now, success could be looked differently from everybody else. And I, don't, you know, a lot of times people look at success as conventional things, having a job, having income, but I look at it like, are you living your dream? Are you happy? I. Are you doing what you love? Are you doing what you're passionate about? That is what we mean by authenticity. It's about doing what you want to do, not because somebody else wants you to do something or not because you think it's the right thing to do. What do you want to do and what makes you passionate? every morning,

Caroline 38:12

Absolutely. I wholeheartedly, I wholeheartedly agree. What advice would you have for someone who is struggling right now or unsure of if what they're doing is what they really love to do? I.

Albert 38:27

the, the main thing is. Um, first, you know, I, we would explore what do you want to do, what do you love? What, what, what gets you up in the morning? Um, and, and what can, how can you do that? More of that. So the first thing would Be really discovering what you want. And again, I, I'm not talking about what other people want you to do, what do you want to do? And then we would kind of look at what are your past achievements? 'cause a lot of times. When we're in the midst of struggling, we delete or we downplay our achievements. So it's, it's okay to brag. It's okay to, you know, I call it like the humble brag. You can brag about yourself

Caroline 39:12

Be proud of, of who you are and what you've become. Yes. Yes. Well, definitely. Well, it has been such a joy to have had this conversation with you. I am so genuinely appreciative of you sharing this part of your, your story. And we'll put some links in the show notes for anybody that wants to connect with Albert and be in touch. And, uh, really, if you're an actor, you're struggling, you need to find something great to do, you need to work on your mindset. Al is your guy. So thank you so much Al, for being part of your next success.

Albert 39:48

Thank you so much for having me,

Caroline 39:50

Al reminds us that the stories we repeat become the scripts we live. When we change the language, we change the identity and the outcomes follow. Think better, choose better and create your next success.

40:08

Al, thank you for sharing your story and tools with us. To connect with Al or grab his hypnosis recordings, visit albertbramonte.com and follow dralbertbramante on Instagram. And if you enjoyed this episode, make sure to follow rate. Review the podcast and share it with someone who needs a boost today. Here's to your next success.