Dr. Albert Bramante (he/him)

Dr. Bramante joined Momma on October 6, 2025 for a live Q&A via Twitch and YouTube to talk about Addressing Self-sabotage & Anxiety in Creative & Educational Spaces

About Albert

Dr. Albert Bramante (he/him) is a talent agent, performance psychologist, and mindset expert who has spent over 20 years helping high performers—both in the entertainment industry and beyond—conquer their mental roadblocks. With a Ph.D. in Psychology and certifications in hypnosis and NLP, he bridges the gap between talent, business success, and the psychology of peak performance.

Socials / Links for Guest Connection

• Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/dralbramante

• Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/albertbramante

• Website - http://www.albertbramante.com/

• LinkedIn - http://www.linkedin.com/in/albertbramante

References / Things Mentioned During the Stream

• Book Recommendations:

  • Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy by David D. Burns 

  • The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change by Stephen R. Covey 

  • How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie 

• Show Recommendations:

  • Monster 

• OneTab Chrome Extension

• Favorite Poem: Roses for Rose (I am having trouble finding a link to this poem, but I will keep looking!)

• NLP - Neuro-linguistic programming

Episode Summary

If you've ever found yourself with 82 browser tabs (mental or literal!) open while simultaneously achieving nothing, this conversation is for you.

Dr. Albert Bramante joined me to talk about why performers and educators are especially vulnerable to self-sabotage and what we can actually do about it. As a performance psychologist and talent agent who's spent over 20 years working with actors and teachers, Albert has seen the patterns that keep talented people stuck.

The conversation got real pretty quickly when Albert pointed out something most of us don't want to admit: that nervous feeling before you perform or teach is physiologically identical to excitement. Your body can't tell the difference between stage fright and anticipation. The only thing that changes is the story you tell yourself about those butterflies.

Albert explained that chronic procrastination and perfectionism are just two sides of the same coin. When you want something to be perfect and you know it never will be, you just never start. Or you start so late that failure becomes inevitable. It's a beautiful self-fulfilling prophecy that keeps you safe from ever really trying.

Teachers and performers face unique pressure because there's rarely immediate feedback. You might impact someone's life and never know it. A student might not realize what you taught them until years later. An audience member might be deeply moved but never say a word. That absence of validation feeds impostor syndrome like nothing else.

We also dug into the myth of multitasking. Spoiler: it doesn't exist. What we call multitasking is actually just rapid task-switching, and it's killing our productivity. Albert recommended the three to five tab rule (yes, I felt personally attacked), and pointed out that when you have too many choices or too many things open, you get paralyzed and accomplish nothing.

One of the most powerful moments came when we talked about trauma and grief. Albert made it clear that if you can't talk about a traumatic event the way you'd describe what you had for breakfast last week, you still have work to do. And that's okay! Healing isn't linear! You can get all the way to acceptance and wake up the next day right back in anger.

His advice for anyone caught in the self-sabotage cycle is to remember that you are enough. Most people walk around thinking they're not worthy of success or happiness, and that belief becomes the script they follow.

The practical takeaway that hit hardest: if opening your email makes you feel like you're drowning, if you're always tired but never resting, if every year feels the same as the last one, you're probably holding yourself back. And the first step to changing it is just noticing that it's happening.

Because self-sabotage isn't usually conscious. Nobody wakes up and decides to ruin their own day. But once you see the pattern, you can start to change it.

This conversation was a reminder that getting in your own way isn't a character flaw. But it IS a protection mechanism that's outlived its usefulness. Your brain thinks it's keeping you safe by convincing you to wait for the perfect moment or do more research or tell yourself you're too tired. Safe and stuck look pretty similar from the outside. If you're a teacher wondering if you're making any difference, or a creative person tired of your own excuses, or just someone who's spent too many years in the same place wondering why nothing ever changes, this episode might be the wake-up call you didn't know you needed.