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It was Albert Einstein who said, "The definition of insanity is performing the exact same thing over and over once more and expecting diverse final results." Each and every action you take produces a result. Your job is to take an objective look at the final results you produce and make the needed adjustments just before taking the next action. If you audition numerous times without producing a callback, it's time to adjust how you approach auditions. If your current headshots look superb, but don't create auditions, it's time to re-evaluate your pictures. If you've been with the identical manager or acting coach for years yet your career hasn't changed, it could possibly be time to shake up your team a small. If you can't appear to catch a break performing what you're doing, it is time to do it differently. It's not time to quit, but it is time to steer clear of insanity. In order to produce the career of your dreams, you have to be willing to take action, to attempt new issues, and to make some errors along the way.
Let me be crystal clear here. I am in no way suggesting that you jump around giving up on things before they have time to create. I am also not suggesting that you quit when the going gets rough. I am basically reminding you to remain alert and open to generating adjustments. Be flexible in your actions and willing to adjust the plan as points unfold. That is all.
Flexibility can support you to steer clear of failure. Please know then again, that failure itself is not in fact genuine. Dr. Wayne Dyer discusses failure in his book, Ten Secrets for Achievement and Inner Peace. He writes, "This could possibly come as a surprise to you, but failure is an illusion. No one ever fails at something. Every thing you do produces a result."
Failure is only a idea. It's just a judgment. Failure is a concept you make whenever you apply a specific value to an act or an event. It is impossible for you to fail at anything because everything you do merely produces a result. So then, what will you do with the results that you generate? Will you quit or beat your self up when an audition goes south? Will you tell your self that you aren't cut out for this enterprise immediately after your 1st rejection?
Martin Scorsese finally won an Oscar for his film, The Departed, in 2007. Does that make all his other films failures? Does it even mean that The Departed was his most beneficial piece of work? Michelle Kwan entered the 1998 Olympics as a Planet Champion Figure Skater and the gold medal favorite. But the gold slipped through her fingers and she won the silver rather. Does that make her a figure skating failure? Babe Ruth holds the Key League baseball record for most strike outs, however he is recognized as one of baseball's greatest legends rather than a failure. You see, failure is just an concept. It's only a judgment, and it does not have to exist in your acting journey.
A client named Grant was a full time commercial actor who had worked consistently over the course of about fifteen years. One day, Grant fell flat on his face during an audition. Not literally, but he could as properly have... it was that bad. Immediately after slinking out of the room, Grant hopped in his vehicle where his friend awaited him. Feeling like a failure, Grant complained to his buddy, "It is just not worth it. I'm not any good at this. I guess I'm not truly meant to be an actor."
Luckily, Grant's buddy was significantly less dramatic and easily knocked some sense into Grant. He stated, "Excuse me, but if I am not mistaken you've already won at this acting thing. How several alot more individuals do you think move to a city where an acting career is possible, but go home just after a short time? How lots of other persons live here and say they're doing this acting factor, but do not study or workshop or attempt to enhance their craft? You are already prosperous. You have already won. Every little thing from here is just part of that."
Thanks, Grant's friend. I couldn't have said it better myself!
Just like Grant, you, too, have already made it. You are here, you're performing this, and you're finding better. Most importantly, you're willing to move by way of setbacks and perceived failures along your journey toward acting achievement. Failure is a fake out. It is just a tricky form of resistance. Don't fall victim to it.
If failure is not basically real, then neither is perfection. They are each suggestions about wonderful and bad or about proper and wrong. Neither idea seriously serves you. Perfectionism can distract you from taking action and getting happy with your career. When you strive for perfection, knowing it is not genuine, you just set your self up for disappointment.
I worked with an actor named Emma who had hit a plateau in her career. Emma felt stuck and unmotivated. She knew what she required to do, but for some reason couldn't manage to ever get it carried out. You see, Emma suffered from a little factor called perfectionism and it paralyzed her.
Emma necessary new headshots, but wanted to lose ten pounds ahead of re-shooting. She wanted to discover the perfect agent, but didn't know who that person was yet. She wanted to complete a postcard mailing, but didn't know what message to write. She wanted to join a networking group, but couldn't choose which one would be most beneficial for her.
I asked Emma what stopped her from pursuing representation. She told me that she was afraid of signing with the wrong agent. I asked her what prevented her from testing out the networking waters. She replied that she felt overwhelmed by too lots of alternatives and didn't want to end up at the wrong spot.
Emma's desire for the excellent career, the fantastic agent, and the perfect networking group prevented her from taking any action. Her belief in perfection and failure wasn't working for her. She was so afraid that she may well make a mistake that she didn't do something.
I decided that Emma necessary to totally free herself from her need to have for perfection. Perfection, just like failure, isn't actual. It is just an idea about how items need to be or what they could appear like. But it does not truly exist. When you attempt to attain this factor that is totally unattainable, you guarantee disappointment and regularly, paralysis.
Perfectionism is shrewd. It's the ultimate form of resistance. It is just a fancy way to stay clear of being genuinely accountable. When you insist on fantastic results, you give your self with an out. Why take any action if it cannot be excellent, suitable?
In order to have the career you genuinely desire, you must be willing to practice imperfection. This is precisely what I encouraged Emma to do. So, for the next a lot of weeks, Emma began to practice imperfection.
Playing with imperfection opened Emma up to new possibilities. It also transformed her career. She began networking. Yes, she found a few networking groups that weren't her style, but soon enough she found the "fantastic" group for her. She discovered it only simply because she was willing to locate some wrong groups very first.
Emma decided to mail her imperfect headshots out to fifty agents whose names she literally drew from a hat. Two days soon after the mailing went out, she received a call from a best commercial agency and had a meeting set up for the following week.
Emma busted out of her rut when she practiced imperfection. She learned that the additional willing she was to make errors, the extra easily she located what was suitable for her. She understood that the path to a "ideal" career included some rather imperfect methods. She realized that perfectionism only kept her stuck.
You can remove failure by practicing imperfection. In order to take your career to the heights you are capable of, you ought to release any have to have for perfection and get applied to creating mistakes. The only way to definitely succeed at some thing is to be willing to be poor at it initial. That is how you find out. That is how you get far better.
The next time you are paralyzed by suggestions of failure or perfection, ask yourself, "What do I want to do to come across out if I'm right?" Then be open to obtaining out. If you fear your postcards will not work, what do you want to do to obtain out if that is true? You must mail your postcards. If you fear that your headshots are bad, what do you will need to do in order to find out just how poor they are? Show them to men and women and get some feedback. If you fear that you are horrible at improv, what do you want to do in order to locate out? Properly, try some improv. The cure to perfectionism and to a fear of failure is to do it anyway. Take action, practice imperfection, and grow from there.