Breaking Barriers: The Psychology of Performance with Dr. Albert Bramante

I sit down with hypnotist, author, and talent agent Dr. Albert Bramante to dig into the psychology behind performance, self-sabotage, and success. From rewiring limiting beliefs to the truth about hypnosis, we explore how mindset shapes everything—from booking roles to building businesses.

You can find his content on his website: albertbramante.com.

Transcript

Intro Song

Rob Valincius: And we are coming at you live with another episode of the Drink O'clock podcast. I am your host who's drinking tonight, which is, I haven't been drinking on my podcast, but it's a holiday, so I figure, fuck it. Might as well break out the old fashioned. So that's what I'll be drinking tonight. Uh, my name's Rob Valencia.

I am the host and I have Dr. Albert Ante. Did I say that correctly?

Albert Bramante: She did, and thank you for having me on. And yeah, I definitely say drink, drink up tonight. It's, it's a all day weekend and you deserve it.

Rob Valincius: Yeah. It's a beautiful thing. Now, uh, Albert, you are a talent agent. You're a hypnotist and you're also an author. Um, your book was the Rise Above the script, so, uh, we got a lot to talk about today, but as we always like to start, so I don't, are you drinking?

Albert Bramante: Uh, not at the moment. No,

Rob Valincius: Okay. Not a requirement for this show at all. Not a requirement, but I'm, I'm just gonna cheers you, uh,

Albert Bramante: all cheers. So, yeah.

Rob Valincius: Uh, God, uh, I stopped drinking on my show because, uh, got to a certain point where I'd get to the end of the interview and it was just a little sloppy. So,

Albert Bramante: so, well, I, I could imagine it could be.

Rob Valincius: I, I, I stick to, uh, I stick to just drinking water for most of the time. Now, sometimes I'll have a drink. It depends, um, but for the most part, try to keep it classy, you know?

Um, but I encourage everyone to alcohol loosens lips, right? At the end of the day, I'm doing an interview show and sometimes it helps people, uh, open up a little bit. 'cause it's not always the easiest thing to do. I.

Albert Bramante: I would imagine so.

Rob Valincius: Yeah. Um, so let's start the show today by talking about you growing up, you know, what eventually what led you to where you are now. Because I think a lot of times we don't know that from seeing your content, seeing what you do. I saw your website, which is great. Um, you know, talk to me a little bit about what got you into, you know, being a hypnotist and an author and a talent agent.

I mean, you got a lot of cool stuff going on that's, that's not unlike a normal person, so to say.

Albert Bramante: Well, I have a very interesting background, so. I was born as a different one in my family. When I say different, I went against the mold. I mean, my, I grew, I, I'm the youngest of five and all my older brothers and sisters were heavily into athletics and athletes, and my father was a coach and he was also into athletics and. Me, I had zero skill and zero interest in athletics. I've naturally tried to try to toughen me up. They tried to put, you know, a ball, uh, base, a bat, uh, a glove or a helmet on me to try to toughen me up. And for me, it, I just, I couldn't do it. I didn't wanna do it. It wasn't that. I'm sure I could have, I actually cried.

I just had no driver interest in it. I was more of the reader, I was more of the intellectual type. I was more of the, the, um, deep thinker of the family.

Rob Valincius: You can say it on this show, man. You were the nerd of the family. I, I feel it.

Albert Bramante: I sure was,

Rob Valincius: I'm there with you,

Albert Bramante: sure was a nerd. I was sure was. Yeah. And. I was a book and I kind of was the loner because I didn't really know how to fit in with the, you know, the athlete side of my family. And they really did not fit it with me 'cause they had no interest in books and, and here I was so. I was a nerd and, and I read a lot for, I was an avid reader when I was in high school.

I started reading books about the brain. I even read a book about hypnosis and self hypnosis, and this is back in the early nineties, and I became very, just very interested in the brain behavior and relationships and all that, you know, stuff. So I. Became, that's what, what really ignited my interest in psychology, my ignited my interest in really human beings in general.

And I was also in a drama club in high school, so I, I really didn't, I. I have no intention of being thespian or an actor, but I really like, you know, it was fun. It was, it was a great way to meet people and I was very involved in high school extracurricular activities as well as in college. She was a lot member of a lot of, member of a lot of student organizations in both high school and college.

And I went to college and I was al, I also took a couple of acting classes as electives. In college and, and theater classes, and I enjoyed it. And so when I received my master's degree, I went to a comedy show and they had an impetus there,

Rob Valincius: That, that's interesting. Okay.

Albert Bramante: and, and I said, let me go volunteer. You know, I, I was the type of person that I liked risks. I didn't know it in the audience, and this was, thank, thankfully this was before cameras were on cell phones, so there was no way of knowing, you know, no one could find any video of, of that. So I, I did it. I, I did it and it was, it blew me away in a sense where I became, I was really impressed. With, with hypnosis, and that's what just got me just naturally curious about it. That still put, I put it on the back burner for a while after that when a few years later I started working in like New York City area and I was working with actors and that reignited my interest in kind of like the drama aspect of like, so I pursued acting myself and I realized it wasn't for me.

I really didn't have the, the driver really the natural talent for it. They didn't have the persistence to go for training. So for me, I really didn't wanna be an actor, but I like being around actors. I like being around creative people, filmmakers, producers, directors. It was just a, a great place of people to be around.

And for me, that was like my sanctuary. And so that became an interest of mine, like I wanna work in show business now. I also have my master degree. I also started teaching part-time, you know, at the community college. And I loved teaching and I loved helping people. So I decided why not become. A support network for actors, and I didn't know what that looked like.

And then I became, one thing led to another, and then I opened up my first talent agency. I said, maybe this is what I really wanna do, represent and support actors. And so that was around 20, 21 years ago. And I also enrolled in a PhD program now because obviously I wanted to kind of. Still pleased my family.

I mean, they were not, I can't say they were entirely thrilled when they found that I was gonna be a talent agent or open up my talent agency business. That was, I don't think that was in the cards for them, for me.

Rob Valincius: dreams. They're not, especially if they're yours. They're not always everybody's right.

Albert Bramante: Well, and and that's that's very true. They, they're, they're, they're not for everybody and. So I kind of, I, at that time, I was like, I, I wanna go back for m PhD because I was halfway there and I always wanted to be a doctor, you know, in a sense. So I was like, I might as well just complete it and get a, and, and, and do it.

So I enrolled in a PhD program and my first year into the PhD program I. My agency was starting to take off, but the one issue I kept bringing up with actors were were self-sabotage and self-doubt amongst actors. And it was a number of times I was seeing this and hearing stories not from others too, that were in the business. And I couldn't figure it out because on one hand you had a lot of actors that were like saying, I wanna work. Please get me work. And then yet their actions were telling in those stories, their actions were, they were, you know, self-defeating. They were, in a sense, like what I mean by self-sabotage, like being late for appointments, not showing up for appointments.

Because if you think about it, those two behaviors are gonna guarantee you're not gonna get the job as an actor or even probably even be auditioning for that same person again. So I couldn't figure out what was really happening here. You know, like why, like what's, what's the, what's the thing here? So I then made, I asked my advisor when I was going for my PhD to look at my dissertation and possibly can I integrate that?

And so they loved it. 'cause there's not a lot was written about actors. So I said, you know what? I'm gonna do my dissertation topic on self-defeating behavior and performing arts. Which then became the, the groundwork for my book years later and rise up of the script. So that's how the book was worn. And now while I was in the PhD program, I became, started to become disillusioned with psychology a little bit.

Still love it and it's even to this day. But I was initially going to school, clinical psychologist. That was

Rob Valincius: go. I wanted to be a psychologist in college as well.

Albert Bramante: yeah, that was,

Rob Valincius: My favorite course I've, I've taken eight to 10 psychology courses in college. It was by far, I was the most fascinated with the brain.

Albert Bramante: Yeah. And I love, I loved it too, and I thought, oh, well, I'm gonna be a clinical psychologist. But there were a couple of things that started to not add up for me. One was the. Preoccupation and fascination of labeling people as pathology, as sick, as mentally ill. And it was kind of like a stigma. The other thing that really wasn't adding up and this kind of, I don't think they really appreciated when I asked this question 'cause I really kind of challenge 'em.

I'm like, if you have a pa, you're telling me that you have a client that you're seeing for eight or nine years and they're not getting better. You think maybe the therapy approach is not working?

Rob Valincius: You're not good at your job Maybe.

Albert Bramante: Yeah, I didn't wanna say it like that. I was thinking that, but I wouldn't say that. But I was just thinking, okay, you know, 'cause most people are not gonna be able to afford eight or nine years of therapy, especially if they're have insurance covering it. That's not, they're not gonna happen.

Rob Valincius: Yeah.

Albert Bramante: And if there's nothing happening, no breakthroughs, what's the point?

And then while this was happening, I read, uh, a flyer in the magazine, psychology Today was Lauren Hypnosis. And I remember back to my experience that this was amazing. So I did, you know, the the first intro video course, and I liked it. I was like, okay, you know, and then I looked for a local. School in New York, um, New Jersey, but I also was very close to New York, so it was a program in New York and they were offering a three month program certification, you know, in person.

And it was like 150 hour certification. Um, uh, I went all in and received my first, you know, certification, immunotherapy, and then I took some other certification classes over the years. So why I like hypnosis is because it's really fascinating. It goes deep, but, and, and, and it does compliment psychology very well, traditional psychology, but I feel it's much more rapid and much more faster than traditional technology.

Rob Valincius: You are like tapping into like the I ego, super ego type shit. Right? It's, it's like you're,

Albert Bramante: we're going deep.

Rob Valincius: Yeah. You're tapping into the stuff that you know well under the iceberg that people don't even know exist. I,

Albert Bramante: Yeah. And, and, and that's the purpose of it because, because like the purpose of, of like a, well, if you really wanna lose it through therapy, we want to get in and get out and fast and not spend years of tipping to now traditional psychology. You can maybe get to the in ego and superal, but it's gonna take a long time and talk therapy. Traditional because people had defenses and that's so, and, and so I started to find how much more rapid hyp hypnotherapy can be to get the he to, you know, to get with fixing the problem. So it's gonna be on just talking about it. So that's where I became really interested more in hypnosis and started distancing myself from counseling and. So I was like, you know what, I'm just gonna finish from PhD and go more on the educational track and research track, and then just so I can complete my degree and, and end it. So I am a psychologist, not a licensed one. I'm more by education and training. So, but I consider myself more of a performance psychologist because I, I, you know, it was my research from my dissertation and just overall experience working with actors. My area focuses more, again, on peak performance and working with limiting beliefs.

Rob Valincius: Have you, um, have you ever read anything from, I was just looking at it here, uh, from Brian L. Weiss, md, um,

Albert Bramante: Yes. Um, that's more a, and that's an interest of mine. You know, I don't really advertise that, but I am very esoteric as well.

Rob Valincius: yeah,

Albert Bramante: And the many. I I and, and that was actually, which I don't talk, uh, I'll be honest with you. Yeah. I don't talk about it that much. But that was my first, that before I got certified immunotherapy, I did a past life certification.

Um, and now that if I went to my psychology faculty and said, Hey, I got certified past life regression therapy, I probably would get, be certified myself in, in not that same way.

Rob Valincius: yeah,

Albert Bramante: It would just be like, okay, this you, you're, you're crazy.

Rob Valincius: that book fucked me up, man. Uh, many lives, many masters. Uh. It was, was a book, and I think it's like a, I do a lot of audio books because I drive a lot, so I hate the radio. There's just too much, the dumb bullshit on there. Um, and, uh, I guess I'm at the age I'll be 39 this month I'm push pushing 40. Uh, so I've gotten to the point where I do boring shit when I'm driving.

Like, I don't pump the, the fucking radio in my car like I was when I was a kid, you know? Um, so I listen to audiobooks and I stopped listening to a lot of, uh, fiction. I, I'll do a lot of non-fiction. So, um, I just finished a book on, um, I love World War ii, so just finished a book called Tripped about, um.

You know, drugs and, and shit like that after World War II and post Germany and things like that, and LSD, it was really good. Um, but that book, you know, he, and I think he, he, it's all about hypnotism, it's psychology. But, you know, he hypnotizes, uh, I forget what the, the girl's name is that he hypnotizes and he taps into all of these other lives that she's lived as a soul.

And then eventually he gets to the masters, which are, um, you know, according to him, right, with his research and the things he's done, you know, the way the afterlife is, is it's almost like a hierarchical thing, right? You start at level one and you, you, you have quests almost, and you build yourself up to a certain point.

And then there's masters, which is like the, the people that guide other souls into, you know, getting those next levels. Um, and it's, it, it, it fucked me up a little bit. It made me question a lot of things, and I, I'm.

Albert Bramante: It, it certainly will. It certainly will because it, uh, you know, on one hand, and, and, and like for me, to be quite honest with you, I'm skep, I'm a healthy skeptic when it comes to that.

Rob Valincius: Me too.

Albert Bramante: I don't do, I don't discount it, but I don't walk around saying to everybody, this is, you know, because you have a bad life. I would just, no, no. Um,

Rob Valincius: Yeah.

Albert Bramante: because I also know the way the in ego work in a fud sense from dream psychology, your mind comes up with metaphors for current situations that you're going through. So there's that argument that also that theory with past life regression that literally wasn't a bad life. Your subconscious is telling you a story about whatever issue going through now.

Rob Valincius: Plus I, I do feel as, as mammals. And I feel like we also, um, almost absorb past lives from our species. So it's, it's not something you might have lived through, but it might

Albert Bramante: Yeah, our, our ancestors

Rob Valincius: ancestors like, I'm here. 

Uh, let me see. We're still recording, so you're good, man. 

Albert Bramante: Okay, so what I was about to say was, 

um, when you were talking about the how we absorb, I. You know, different energy or different memories from our species. There's an also concept, uh, of, one of the, another person I've, uh, studied a lot is young girl, young who believed about the collective unconscious, which kind of talks about that in the sense that we kind of have a universal me, you know, on vast memory pool 

from all, all species and all.

Human beings, including our ancestors. So like the spirits of dejavu, like, like sometimes the feeling that you've been somewhere, even though you know you've been, you've never were there. You, it feels like you familiar place 

because it could be that you are 

picking up a memory of somebody else 

that was there. 

Rob Valincius: Which 

just fucks you up even more, you know? 

Albert Bramante: I, mean, we 

can really go deep, you know, 

like, 

Rob Valincius: It's why I love psychology, because there's just so many different. Um, views, and I feel like none of them, although some may counter each other, a lot of 

them play off of each other very well, you know? And, 

uh, whether you're clinical, whether you are, 

um, um, what's the other one? Um, 

fuck, I'm having a brain for it. Um, there's like, how many 

different types of psychologies are, you know, there's, 

Albert Bramante: Hot 

Rob Valincius: there's, 

a, there's, 

there's a, there's a million of 'em now. So I do like, and also that's another thing about psychology too, is, 

is in today's day and age, uh, they're not like they were in the fifties, right? Where it was like, all right, 

there, you know, there's three different things, right?

You're either crazy or you're retarded, or you're this, right? There's, there was no like jurisdiction, 

I.

Albert Bramante: was it. 

You were just one or the other and that 

was 

Rob Valincius: Yeah. 

Um, and now there's just so many, um, different things 

that they can classify, but they constantly evolve the classifications. So they they do, um, they're not very, um, archaic like a 

lot of other practices. Right. They are constantly updating their 

book. What's it, is it 

the, the DSM. 

Albert Bramante: Yeah, we're now on edition. 

Rob Valincius: Okay. 

Albert Bramante: And it and it was only really came out in the si uh, early seventies that the first DSM really came out. And then now, now we're in the fifth edition. 

And a lot of stuff that was normally considered mentally ill now is not considered 

anymore. 

Rob Valincius: I mean, I, 

I think that's fair, right? I mean, um, 

society's changed. I think we're in a a unique societal, uh, orbit 

right now. Uh,

Albert Bramante: Especially, I would say the 

past five years 

we've been, yeah. 

Rob Valincius: Yeah, 

there's, there's a lot of stuff, uh, that is, that is,

interesting and weird 

and, uh, and cool. Um, and, and look, I grew up with, uh, my stepdad was bipolar and well is bipolar.

He doesn't, he didn't grow out of it. Uh, a good friend of mine that I work with is bipolar, um, and, uh, also suffers from Tourettes. And then, um, you know, my late stepmom had bipolar, so I grew up 

with a lot of some of that craziness. Um, and, 

bipolar's a it's 

fucked man. It's, it is, uh, it's a 

tough thing to 

suffer from.

I don't envy anyone that 

does suffer from

Albert Bramante: Uh, 

Rob Valincius: is a very real mental 

Albert Bramante: definitely a, a, a, a, you know, debilitating condition, and there's 

varying degrees of it too, and But for if you have a severe case, It's definitely 

challenging for the person as well as the ones you know, surrounding that in. 

Rob Valincius: Yeah. And, and there's nothing you can do about it. You know? You just have to take your meds 

and, and hope, hope for the best. Right? Because I think even with the meds, it does, it doesn't 

always do what it needs 

Albert Bramante: It, it doesn't always do what It, does because there's, so, there's many different 

medications out there and some, some work better than others, and it depends on the person too. And also a lot of psychiatric medication has very unpleasant side effects, so to stick onto them. And so it's hard for a 

lot of people to stay. Adhere to it and adherence because the side 

effects aren't pleasant, unfortunately. The 

moment you go seizures, um, nausea, vomiting, 

you know, 

gall. 

Rob Valincius: I, I've witnessed, I've witnessed my stepdad have

multiple 

seizures. Um, and the one my mom thought 

he was dying. She thought he was choking because he was eating my, my stepdad was weird. He would like, he would eat like, like, uh, hungry man dinners at like 6:00 AM Like he would do just weird shit. And he was eating like a gravy and mashed potatoes and steak, Las Salisbury steak or something.

And she thought he was choking and in reality he was having a seizure and he dropped the fucking plate. It fell on my dog who's, who's a poodle, he was

white. So he runs out, he is got gravy all over

his body. Uh, he doesn't know what's going on. And I'm trying to give my stepdad the Heimlich. 'cause I thought he was dying 'cause he was choking.

In reality. He just had a seizure. And at some point I'm trying to give him the Heimlich

and he starts snoring and I'm like, mom. He's fucking snoring. He's not choking. He, he just had a 

seizure and, you know, she had no idea. But a lot of that side effects was from his bipolar meds, which he had to

take nine or 10 different pills.

J and it, it, and the cocktail always changed, right? Because your brain chemistry

changes. So like, you know, what worked well two years ago,

your body builds an immunity or things change. It doesn't 

help you in two years.

Albert Bramante: Yeah, now you gotta go and get used to another drug. Now, 

another cocktail 

and 

Rob Valincius: But that's the other thing too. And, and I appreciate psychology more than I do psychiatry. So, and I think that there's a noticeable difference because a lot

of

the times, and you know what, you're, you're gonna find

good people right? But I feel like 95% of

psychiatry is, alright, well what pills can I give 

you to alleviate your issues? Whereas psychology is more of a, let's

talk through this? 

Why do you think you need this? Why do you think you are the way you are? And then you can decide, right? 

If you need medication.

Albert Bramante: And also just coping with the, the, the thought, the ruminating thoughts 

and the, and the urges, the behavior urges and, and drive and drives in a sense. So. You learn to, you know. Now, maybe you might need a medication to control, you may to stabilize it a little bit, but then you also have to learn to control your moods and your state,

And that's, where therapy comes in.

Medication's not gonna do that. It's just here. Here's a bandaid.

Rob Valincius: Uh, yeah. And that's, that's the one thing that I think I've always not liked. Uh, when you're looking at those two, you know, one's a very, you know, talk approach, right? And it's figuring out through, you know, experiences, what's going on, what your mindset is. 'cause I think mindset plays a, a big part in a lot of that, right?

It's like, yes, you, you suffer from, from bipolar, which causes manic shifts and, and depression shifts and all that other stuff. Um. But let's get to the nitty gritty and figure out, all right, well, what brings the, some of those things on? Because I think, like my stepdad, he had a horrible ac his, uh, his dad and his brother, his older brother died in a horrible car accident around Christmas.

And, you know, when, when they were younger and anytime around Christmas, he would stop taking his, it was like, it was like clockwork. He stopped taking his medication and he'd take 50 Xanax or abuse some dumb shit. Like, uh, what's the drowsy fucking medication you get in, in case you have, uh, Benadryl, Benadryl.

Benadryl, he would go to the doc. They, he would have fucking cheap Benadryl. He'd take a whole pack at one time. Um, and he would just be fucking loopy. 'cause he is off his meds, he's on, he's bipolar and he's on whatever medication or drugs he could find or, or booze. Uh, and 'cause it was a way to cope, you know?

And, uh, as a kid it's harder to understand. As an adult it's way easier to understand. Like, that's a fucked up situation on top of one of the worst type of mental illnesses. 

Maybe not the worst 'cause you got schizophrenia and multiple, multiple personality disorder. But bipolar's up there, it's, it's 

definitely 

Albert Bramante: It, it sure is it. It really is 

Rob Valincius: definitely not one to be like, all right, well if I had to choose, I wouldn't want any of it, you

know? Um, but listen, let's talk a little bit about hypnosis. 'cause I think for me, um, you know, I, I think that's very unique. Um, and you don't find too many people, um, that do that. Um, obviously you're certified, so can you tell me something 

that maybe is, um, is misunderstood 

about

Albert Bramante: So a lot of people think when, when they see hypnosis or people in 

hypnosis. They're watching a show maybe or seeing something on TV where people look like they're zonked out. And then next thing you know, they're,

you know, cooking like a chicken or doing some really foolish stuff on stage. 

Rob Valincius: guilty.

That's, that's what I would think. 

Albert Bramante: Yeah, the uh, the real reality of it is you are never gonna be

contact. You're completely aware of everything. So it's not, even though you may hear his hypnotist say the word sleep, you know, go sleep now, it is not the sleep sense when we go to bed at night. It's a completely, just a more state of tranquility and focus. So the one thing I think what surprises a lot of people when they first experience hypnosis is that they're aware of everything around them. And I think a lot of times people get confused. They're like, well, I didn't, I think I was hypnotized. And I, you would ask, well, why do

you think that Well, 'cause I heard everything great. That's what we want.

You know? and and, and even the people, if you ever ask people who've been on 

stage who, who really went, you 

know, deep into the stage and you'll hear them say, I know everything that was going wrong. I heard everything. 

I knew everything. Because your awareness is 

even heightened. You're just. Tuning out the outside 

noise. It's like a flow state. It's like being in a, a being in the 

zone. So if you've ever like watched a movie 

or like, you know, in your case or even read, uh, consume an auto book, you just get 

lost into it.

Rob Valincius: Yeah. 

Albert Bramante: That's, that's, uh, a trance. That's what we call hypno, you know, 

hypnotic. 

Rob Valincius: Sports people talk a lot about that, like LeBron 

James and like high-end people. They, they 

Albert Bramante: Yeah. And, and, and, and 

Rob Valincius: and, they're making everything. 

Albert Bramante: go, right. They your focus. Right. You know, most athletes when they're on that corridor, 

uh, their focus is so much on the next play that they're not worried about when anybody's staying around 

'em. They might even hear the coach talking to them because they're hyperfocused.

That's what a 

that's what a state of hypnosis is 

So we're just doing that by

design. We're getting into that state 

just by design. 

Rob Valincius: Interesting. So how do you use NLP, which is 

neurolinguistic programming 

in your coaching, 

Albert Bramante: use it more in a con. I use it more in a conversational sense. So a lot of times it works well with limiting 

beliefs. So especially with creative people like 

like, if we look at the linguistic with neurolinguistic, we're talking about language and the power of language is extremely, 

again, probably the 

best hypnotist that we can have is a, is a words we use. So if your creative person is walking around saying, 

I'm a starving artist, or I'm a struggling artist, I'm a broke, I'm broke. Or I'm this and I'm that, what you're doing is you're creating a reality. You're creating your identity, you're creating that broke state by using the power of word. So in a sense, even if you want to use like hypno, you're hypnotizing yourself to be a broke artist

and your mind, your deeper mind that the, again, the whole it and ego is saying, okay, I, I hear your command broke loud and clear.

And so. Therefore it may 

hold you back and what you need to do to, to move forward. 

Rob Valincius: So that's like the, um, what's the saying? You're, you know, you're, you're your biggest enemy, right? In, in terms of, you know, you're constantly saying, oh, I suck, then you're just gonna suck. Um, what, what's your thoughts on words of 

affirmation? Because, you know, you see a lot of that now on social media and TikTok 

and all that 

stuff. 

Albert Bramante: On the surface, they're, they're good, but you have to fully believe it. That's the first thing. If you're gonna say this affirmation, just to say it, it's like, okay, you know, I know may, this may offend people, but you know how, like you go to confession, like, okay, you know, say these, you know, three Hail Marys and now you're free. and 

usually what you, you go right back out to doing what you, you know, confess 

to do anyway. 

Rob Valincius: Yeah. You're like, father, I'm sorry. I, I, I banged a 

hooker. I know that's not right. And he's like, 

all right, you're, you know, say 10 Hail Mary's, and you're like, as soon as you walk out the church, 

you're going right back to get a hooker, you know? 

Albert Bramante: Because all, so the, the words themselves, affirmations themselves are not necessarily powerful. At least you fully believe it. You have to fully believe the action and. In order for them to be effective, you have to take action. And that leads me to another topic that something that came out very big, maybe, you know, 15, 16 years ago was the, the secret, the law of attraction. And almost everybody was on this train of like manifestation and, 

you know, abundance and, and all that. And, and that's great that that's the first step. But if I'm gonna 

sit here and tell you.

I wanna manifest a million dollars, that's great,

but

if I don't do anything 

to get that million dollars, or at least set the process going, it's pointless. And that's where I feel like the limitation, the law of attraction is they're missing, they're missing a piece there. Now, I'm not saying that that's not helpful and important to, to have the mindset and positive mindset, but they're, you're missing the step of action. What actions are you gonna take? So like, okay, you wanna earn six figures next year?

What actions are

you gonna take to get 

there? Because just me talking about I'm gonna earn six figures 

is meaningless. 

Rob Valincius: Yeah. Not gonna do 

shit for you at the end of the day.

Albert Bramante: Yeah, if I'm gonna sit here and make six figures, that that's not gonna happen unless I happen to meet the 

benefactor, who just that, and that's rarely gonna happen. So the point is, where's the actions that can take from that? So if you wanna do the affirmations, great, but what actions are you gonna take for that?

You know, if you're gonna say you're, you, you're living 

in abundance, what are you doing 

to, to help get you in that direction? What actions 

are you taking?

Rob Valincius: And that's a mindset thing 

too,

Albert Bramante: Yeah,

Rob Valincius: mean, um, 

Albert Bramante: And the affirmations can help, but there 

has to be the action 

component. cause if you don't have the action, 

again, it's just

affirmations. I'm just saying words, the right words, but they don't 

mean anything.

Rob Valincius: Yeah. Um, can you walk us through a time when, 

um, you used hypnosis to help a client make a, make a big breakthrough? Obviously, you don't have to tell us a 

ton of stuff, but 

Albert Bramante: um, I've seen people heal trauma, you know, 

whether, whether it's 

doing myself or observing other people. I've seen people heal, heal, trauma, 

um,

Rob Valincius: We all have trauma. Right. 

Albert Bramante: every one of us. Every now when I talk about trauma, I. I think I, it 

doesn't necessarily have 

to be like, uh, you know, someone that's sexually abusing us or beating us

up.

It could just be the

daily life of a

trauma. You know, your parents maybe weren't there. 

It was a lot of fight. You grew up in ar, you know watching an argument between your, your mother And father, that's a trauma. Or you competing hard for your 

parents' affection. Or maybe your parents showed affection towards one sibling over, you know, over you. That's trauma. Even though it may not seem that way, it's not sensational, but it's still trauma. So all of us have 

trauma, every one of us walking the planet. I think that's what makes us even 

being, 

Rob Valincius: Yeah. I, I agree, man. Um, now look, 

you're, oh, go ahead. Sorry. 

Albert Bramante: and, the one thing that I can tell you 

from a, from, you know, an innate, 

a creative standpoint, if you can help someone get the noise

out of their head.

The inner critic And the self-doubt or the overthinking,

a person can be much, can become a much more powerful performer, whether it's an actor, a speaker, a salesperson, because they that they become what we call unstoppable. And so I've seen it work where a person can actually. 

As an actor booked more roles because of their, of changing their 

mindset.

Rob Valincius: Yeah, listen, I, I've talked about this on my podcast before. Um, and you know, hopefully I, I have some young guys that listen to this, so I always tell people my mindset.

for a long time was. you know, uh, I, I could have done better. I look a lot at the past about situations I was in that I could have done better and sometimes I would just wake up miserable.

And it got to a point where I was like, I gotta stop that. I have a, I have a great life. I have a beautiful fiance. I have my dogs And I love, I live in a good house. I have a good job. Life could be way worse, you know.

Um, and ever since I made that change, and look, I'm not perfect. I, I still sometimes get up in a in a pissy mood.

'cause that's just, we're human right. But I do appreciate life and what I have a, lot more. And I think it just takes, it takes part of a your brain to just say, all right, you need to stop. 

You can't. And, and, and, and I'll bring this up, I don't typically talk politics, right? You had the big beautiful bill passed today, right?

And everyone's freaking out.

And for me, right? We're all impacted to a certain degree, but I.

always tell people I. That's something We can't change. That was gonna pass probably no matter what, right? You have a Republican president, you have a Republican house. Republican senate, everyone's Republican, Right. So it was probably gonna pass no matter what. There was some some changes, right? Uh, we weren't gonna be able to stop it. So you can't control that.

There was nothing you could do to stop it, right? The regular man isn't gonna be able to stop it. You just have to take, you know, things are gonna change over the next couple years.

You just have to take what happens and, and try to run with it, Right. You could, you can't control it. There's other things you can control. Um, and you, you can't let those things dictate 

your mindset because there's, what are you gonna do about it? Unless you're the president, 

you can't do shit about it.

You know? 

Like we could freak out, but what's that gonna 

do?

Albert Bramante: exactly. And, and, and I've See, you know, and again, um, it doesn't matter what side you're on, but I See, people who are constantly posting every day about something going wrong in politics and I almost want to message 'em and say, look, I get it. Your opinion, you're a right to that. But why don't you start doing something

productive and you 

know, rather than worrying 

about something of no control over. 

Rob Valincius: Yeah. Yeah. And there's just, there's nothing you can do. So at the end of the day. Right. And, um, 

the, the two things I, I hate chatting about is, is religion and politics. 'cause I think there's always a loser and that's never a 

good conversation. But 

Albert Bramante: Yeah. And, and everybody has their own belief. That's why, like, I usually stay, stay away from those 

kind of topics because it, it, for me, it's not worth 

getting into a debate. 

You know? I'd 

Rob Valincius: yeah. 

yeah. 

I, I couldn't agree more, but I think in, in our world today, 

you do have to just kind 

of, we gotta get out of this box of thinking, oh, the world's over. Yeah. 

it sucks. Look, we all get it. You know, there's, there's the rich get richer. The poor get poor. That's the way the world has been for eternity.

But, Um, you know, 

you know, to go back to the mindset thing, it's just trying to think positive, trying to stay positive, 

and not letting something you can't control affect 

that mindset.

Albert Bramante: Of course, of course. And, and we go on cycles things. One of the things like, it's like the whole mindset of this too shall pass. 

You know, let it go. It it'll pass, you know, whatever you go by it and. 

We have an election 

in another four years 

and who knows what after that. 

Rob Valincius: that's when you have a say. 

Albert Bramante: Exactly.

Rob Valincius: when you have a say.

Uh, now your book Rise Above the Script that. was written for actors, right. But it also resonates 

with entrepreneurs. 

Albert Bramante: course, entrepreneurs, 

um, coaches, sales people, it, it really,

we, I. Everybody deals with 

self-doubt and self-sabotage, and even peak performers too, because those that are

like

more successful. I think another myth that a lot of people don't 

realize is that even the more successful, like CEOs

and

maybe even like, you know, 

multimillion dollar companies might also are gonna have their moments too,

where they're gonna be self-doubting and beating themselves 

up and waking up feeling sometimes in, in, in their shitty mood.

And feeling self-doubt 

in a sense 

Rob Valincius: why do you think psychology 

is so universal?

Albert Bramante: because we, one thing I think as human beings, as much as we may 

be different from one

another, but there's a lot of 

similarities. I think we're more similar than we're different.

And 

as far as like the struggles that we go

through,

and I think just as a species, because even our. Ancestors went through a, now maybe the context may have been

different. The situations may be different, but I think they, they share the same thing. The our brain really hasn't evolved, you know, as far as when it was

under thousands of years 

ago. Still the same brain, same structure.

We're just in a 

different surrounding. 

Rob Valincius: Yeah. 

we have, we have light switches, not candles, you know, uh, a little bit of a different 

struggle there. Um, what are some common 

self-sabotaging patterns that you see and how can 

someone break through some of that? 

Albert Bramante: So the first step

is realization. Now the thing with self-sabotage

is it's not conscious. Like you don't walk up, wake up and say, you know, today, uh, I've just been self-sabotaging all day today. You really don't 

do that because you don't realize it's happening. So one thing that you could say is like, do you constantly find that things are not going in 

your, in your favor?

Do you feel that everything, everyone's against 

you or the world's against you? What I often 

say is sometimes take a step back. Now, yeah, there are situations that'll never work, that may not work out to

the way you want it 

to, but if you constantly find yourself in

these situations where.

Things are just not going right.

Then maybe consider how you are adding to that equation a bit. Is it something you're doing too much of or not enough? And

also, one of the things that self-sabotaging behavior is it's all protect all behavior is protective.

Whether it's protection from danger or

just even 

from fear. 

Rob Valincius: Yeah, 

Albert Bramante: And so a lot of times, what if we have a lot 

of anxiety?

Again, maybe we grew up in a family where that environment that gave us

a lot of anxiety, our brain is there to

protect us. Our ego is there to protect our ourselves from this anxiety. So

sometimes it can go into overdrive that protection. Too much so that it'll start holding you back and kind of keeping you from achieving what you need to achieve.

So do you find yourself always being late to appointments, missing appointments, missing deadlines, forgetting things? Um,

not

doing what you can

be doing in a sense like so. That would be the first

step to just take a, take a 

step back and say, how 

am I 

contributing to this?

Rob Valincius: So can you explain how you know fear of success plays out 

psychologically and why so many high potential 

people struggle with that? 

Albert Bramante: So success now on a conscious 

level, who, who doesn't want 

success?

Rob Valincius: Yeah, we all do, 

right? I, I want a million people 

to download this. 

Albert Bramante: But if you think about it, sometimes that 

means change. So, so let's say I am just using this example of the podcast. You get a

million downloads, great. Now your 

identity's gonna change. So now you're gonna have a lot more 

eyeballs on you and eyeballs on your 

podcast, which might mean. 

Depending on how you approach it, maybe more pressure for you now, okay, now you need to perform. Now you need to always be on top, you know, get, make sure you get good quality guests, so your life may change and now you're gonna be more devoted to your podcast As an actor, let's say you land a a Broadway production or leading a TV series, your life is gonna change, or CEO gets a major promotion. Now his or her life is gonna change. They may have to relocate, they

may now have, to, um, may lose their

friends too, because even relationships too.

Now our, we like to think our social circle now really wants the best for us, and, and I would say most of the time they do, but they can also be threatened by successes. I hear this a lot from like famous people that they don't really get enough support from their family and sometimes the reality is maybe the last place of support you're gonna get is from your family, immediate family. So there's that threat of losing relationships. 'cause I was reading an article once about this article, CEO, she was promoted in New York.

She was promoted to a Fortune 500 company. She went through the ranks and she really became. Like the top CEO of the company and huge pay rate, you know, uh, her own office, like on the top floor. But what she lost was almost all of her coworking friends that she had, wouldn't even wanna be around her anymore. That can be a bit of a, of a end con fear of losing people. 'cause relationships are so important to social animals. So for your relationships could be different. Just fear change in general. Because success means more responsibility, more change, and also our identity too. Your identity's gonna change and 

we like to stick to our identity as human beings.

We fear change 'cause it's keeps us 

comfortable. 

Rob Valincius: Yeah. 

Albert Bramante: Without change, staying in the same level. It 

keeps us comfortable. But the one thing that we can guarantee it's guaranteed about life, it's gonna change. We're gonna change, everything's gonna 

change. So 

a 

Rob Valincius: of habit. 

Albert Bramante: yeah, we're a creature of habit and change is scary.

I mean, look at what we went through 

in, in 2020, for instance, COVID,

how the whole world changed. And people were not coping with that at all very 

well. So because they were 

still hoping.

Rob Valincius: it. I loved 

it. I'm not 

Albert Bramante: lot of people did. Yeah. Because they liked to be, it was time to be 

alone. It 

Rob Valincius: to spend a lot more time with my 

family that you know, 'cause you don't realize, you know, I work a nine to five, well, 

8 35 Now, because that's just how it. works. But you. know, I worked at nine to five, 

and you just don't realize how little time I. You get to spend with your family and, you

know, we have dogs. Those are our kids. So like, and with my dogs and, um, you know, for that three or four months that I was able to work from home, it was, I loved it. I didn't have, I didn't start the day driving to work and getting irritated and people cutting me off and, you know, I didn't have to, you know, that I, I got back two hours every day of my life, you know, so, um, it was, it was a unique time in, in society and I know a lot of people dealt with it differently.

And especially, you know, we're talking a lot about psychology, right? I mean, I'm sure you had people that abused alcohol a lot more because they're at home, or you had people that lost their jobs. You know, you had a lot of those, um, you know, if you were a hairdresser or a massage therapist or whatever, you lost your job because you 

couldn't practice. So you had a lot of, a lot of change everywhere. Um, and I, you know, I, I, like I said, I'll be 40 soon, right? I, I don't think of any other period in, in our timeline. That would ever coincide with that. I mean, you had nine 11, 

but that didn't shut the world down. It, it made drastic changes, especially to fucking airport security, which is the worst.

Um, but it, it didn't, um, it didn't fundamentally change. And I think people came out of that, um, a lot different than, than you would think,

uh, with the isolation and things like that. Um, now, do you believe success 

can be rewired into our brains? And, and if you think 

that, how? 

Albert Bramante: So the one thing is to rewire limiting beliefs. So, um, one thing is to what, what's ever holding you back? So a lot of times people are scared of taking action, so. I'll do it tomorrow or I'll procrast And, it needs to be perfect. So the idea is to just take action and when you start taking little steps, whether it's whatever it is you're,

setting to do, whether it's write a book, you know, writing the first couple of pages and do it without thinking about it.

So do stepping outside your comfort zone. So success can be rewired. Now, it may mean changing your habits, it might also mean. Hanging out with more, much more successful people because our social circle makes a huge difference. like, if you hang out with all people, that are unsuccessful and negative, well you're gonna be, That's where the whole expression, misery loves company. 

Rob Valincius: That's true. 

Albert Bramante: So, but if you hang out with other positive people that are really hardworking, determined, that's gonna rub off on you. So that's gonna start rewired success. So the one thing I would say is start consuming. To join Facebook groups, join masterminds, join other groups of entrepreneurs, join 

other, you know, uh, successful business people, study their content, learn their systems. 

Rob Valincius: Yeah, I mean, look, I'll tell you, I, uh, I'm an entrepreneur at heart, um, and I'm also a 

nerd. Um, so I actually, uh, created a collectibles business, uh, because I got back into 

collecting Pokemon cards. 'cause, you know, as a, as a grown man, uh, I 

remember, you know, collecting Pokemon cards and it was, it was fun.

and uh, me and the wifey, we have like a fun time opening cards together 

and stuff like that. But, um, I started, uh, selling those things and, uh. You know, I connected with 

a lot of people that were doing it and I and, uh, I took bits and pieces of what made them 

successful. You know, I just, when I get into something, and I don't know, 

if you're the 

same way, I like, And it sounded like you did, 

the way you were talking earlier about psychology and stuff, I go all in.

So 

like I learned everything there is about it. I learn, I I try to pick up whatever I can from the, people 

that are successful on YouTube and on, on socials and, um, I took a lot of

the things that they did and I started implementing that And, what I do and I've, 

I've been having some pretty good success, which is cool.

You know, you, you kind of absorb,

but like, um, I think, um, if you're a true 

entrepreneur. Not everybody 

is against you. I think a lot of the people, um, you 

know, was it, uh, what's it saying? Um, high tides raise all boats just, because I'm 

successful in 

doing well, selling collectibles. you can also, there's a million fucking people, you know, there's, there's So many people 

that you 

Albert Bramante: Of course. Yeah. 

Rob Valincius: and I think that's the mindset a lot of people need to have is that we're not in 

competition, right? We are, but we're not. Right? There's, there's so many, 

there's So much business out there that you can, you can teach each other things and build each other up and 

still be successful in that. And I think for me, as an entrepreneur, 

as, as I've been doing this for a long

time in terms of doing different things, that, that's one thing I always wanna make sure I, uh, bestow upon people.

That you don't, 

you have competition, but that competition can also be a great learning source for you. And you can build off of 

that together. You can learn from each other. 

Albert Bramante: Yeah. And, and that's also what they, another miss too. Like sometimes you're you're, 

you're the most, the strongest learn from are people that. 

Rob Valincius: Yeah. 

Albert Bramante: And you can really

develop strong alliances. 'cause it's like, okay, we can healthy people, we can also support each

other too.

Rob Valincius: Yeah. I mean, look at, look at, um, you know, Google and Apple, you know, I mean, they, they're, they're fierce competitors, but guess what? 

Apple TV is pretty 

big and you can download that on the Google app, the Google Play app. 

So, and it vice versa. 

Albert Bramante: if they ever down the

line, make 

a mergers and you can figure out anything else. 'cause then it'll be a powerhouse.

Rob Valincius: Ah. Absolutely. And you never know what the world's

gonna hold. And I work in the

insurance field, so I mean, that happens all the time. I mean, companies buy, other companies absorb companies and you know, before you know it, yeah. They're one big health insurance carrier. Um, now let's, let's jump to your book.

You know, you wrote Rise Above the Script. 

Um, what inspired you to write it and what surprised you the 

most, um, 

throughout that writing process? 

Albert Bramante: so what surprised me the most was. How easy it was once I got started and gotten to the flow. And I, I think when I finally completed the book, what also surprised me is how well it resonated with people. Because I think my, I was going through my own self doubt was like, oh, don't, no, are people are gonna actually wanna read this that I wrote?

Are people gonna really wanna follow through, you know, is what I wrote. And um, so that was something

that I. I kind of was running, running through, you know, my, in my head in a sense.

Rob Valincius: Um, you know, what was your own script? You had to rise 

above in your, in your own 

life and career? 

Albert Bramante: I think it was the, I can't do this. Um, 

you know, or just even though like, no one's gonna wanna believe what I can write. Um, so, and that's where I kind of wrote. It already came up with the title Rise above the script because I wanted to use a metaphor for actors, you know, in a sense

script, but I mean, the script that we have in our minds 

and 

Rob Valincius: the end of the day, we're like computers, 

right? 

Albert Bramante: we're all

Rob Valincius: you gotta rewrite it? 

Albert Bramante: a lot of times our subconscious in our brain 

really accepts commands as is. 

So if you turn around and say, I

can't do this. Your brain says, okay, understood. 

So that's why there's, 

Rob Valincius: weren't doing it

today.

Albert Bramante: you're not gonna do it. And, and another thing 

that I can say, you know, is even get

rid of the word try of a

vocabulary. 

you know, Um, 

because if you say like, uh, are you gonna come out? We can yell, try. You might as well just say

no. 

Rob Valincius: That's someone asking me to come out on a 

Friday night when I'm Yeah. Yeah. I'll try to do it. No, I'm not doing, I'm 

not doing it.

Albert Bramante: No, because you know, and when somebody says, well try to do this. No, you will do it or you

won't do it. 

Simple as that now.

And that's why I like when people say, well, I tried my best. I'm like, no, you did your, you

should. you changed it. You did your 

best,

or you will. do your 

best that You will Try your

best.

You

will do your best.

Rob Valincius: I like that. I like that. Now, let's, let's end on this. Um, what's a daily mindset practice 

you swear by or you, you. 

would, um, encourage people to 

try 

Albert Bramante: I would say 

Rob Valincius: try right? 

Albert Bramante: well definitely do, I wouldn't say try to implement, um, I would say plan, plan your day a little bit. You know, the night 

before and the next day, 

and even just say to yourself, 

you know, in every day, in every 

way, I'm getting better and better. And you're not perfect, but you're getting better and better and just take action

would be the biggest thing too.

So someday it was not on the

calendar. So, if you have this plan or you wanna do this project, start now. 

Start it. Because once you're in accident, it, it builds 

momentum. You keep going. 

Rob Valincius: Yeah. And before you know it, you're gonna 

be 60. You know what I mean? And time 

Albert Bramante: E exactly. I I, and, and that was like,

for me, writing the book, I was

like, um, I could sit here over a 

year telling you I'm gonna write a book, but if I don't 

do it, I'm gonna turn 50, 60, 70 and 

be like, yeah, I'm gonna write a book.

someday. 

Rob Valincius: I mean, it's a cool, and I would say, you know, from this side of it, it's a cool accomplishment to say, you know, Hey, I wrote a book, I, I'm an author and, uh. I love interviewing authors because I feel like, uh, you know, it doesn't matter what type of author you are, you always 

have a, every interview I've done with an 

author, they have a different type of mindset in 

how they get things done, 

Albert Bramante: It, it definitely the game changer, you know, and that's why like anybody's listening, right? Don't worry about, it just 

right. 

Rob Valincius: Gives you credibility too, right? Because you're talking about, 

you know, uh, hypnotizing things, right? And, and that's something that I think is a, it's a taboo topic. So when you can go out and say, Hey, I'm an author. I wrote a book, and, you know, yeah. Okay. Uh, I think you should try this. I think it gives you more credence to what you're doing.

So, uh, look, man, it was, it was a pleasure 

having you on. Um, can you plug yourself, tell us where we can find your book 

and, uh, where we can find all your stuff. 

Albert Bramante: Sure, well, you can find it at Amazon and it's, uh, I have available on different formats. I have Kindle, uh, hard paperback and audiobook, so, and you can find me on albert pro.com. You can also find me on all the channels. I'm on LinkedIn, 

uh, Facebook, as well as Instagram. 

Rob Valincius: That is awesome. And I'm telling you right now while we're on the show, so I'm not bullshitting you, I just bought your audiobook 

Albert Bramante: Thank you. 

Rob Valincius: because I always like to support the creators that are on the show, man, because uh, yeah, we gotta keep us going. There's no way else to 

do it. 

Uh, but look, my podcast is the Drink o'clock pod on all socials.

Um, drink a Clock podcast wherever you listen to podcasts. It's on 

fucking everything you can think of. And, um, like I said, uh, doctor, it 

was a pleasure having you on the show, man. 

Albert Bramante: Thank you. Well, thank you again for having me. 

Rob Valincius: You have a great night.

Albert Bramante: You too. 

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