Episode 303: Staying Tenacious as an Actor

Kick Your Acting Career in Gear Okay, so let's talk about being tenacious.  The number one thing about being tenacious is actually embracing it.  And I talk about this in terms of my own experience, which is that my biggest mistakes have been my best teachers.  My biggest mistakes have been my best teachers.  And really understanding, when you make a mistake or you have a roadblock, you don't get a role that you really thought you were going to, is looking at the situation and asking yourself, what can I learn from this? And if what you can learn from it is what my mom always told me when I was a little kid, which is you pick yourself up, you dust yourself off, and you start all over again.  And sometimes the hardest parts of this business, I was going to get emotional about this, has really shown me how incredibly strong I am. How incredibly strong and resilient I am.  And what that teaches me is self confidence, and self esteem.  Persistence comes from resistance.  Diamonds are made under pressure.  The other thing I want to talk about in terms of tenacity is maintaining focus.  I think that is another huge lesson, one of the things I find when I start to get scattered is I tell myself to double down on my focus, double down on what it is I want to do to achieve.  And just like I can look at my setbacks and write down what I've learned from that.  What I can ask myself in maintaining focus is what do I need to do to double down?  What do I need to bet stronger on me and on this goal that I have, keeping in mind my long term vision and not letting distractions or setbacks derail me from making progress towards my dream. The other slogan I love in this is progress, not perfection.  Because remember, perfectionism is something that derails me and it derails me because with perfectionism, I get procrastination. And with procrastination I get paralysis.  And that is the absolute opposite of what I need in staying tenacious in my acting career.  The third thing I want to talk about is breaking it down.  Now if you know anything about me, I am a big one on baby stepping.  Because sometimes I'm either too frightened, or too intimidated, or too tired, or too scattered to focus on something big. I need to break it down into bite sized pieces.  Now, not that I advocate eating elephants, but anyone can eat an elephant one bite at a time.  Setting small, achievable milestones to make the pursuit of my goal less overwhelming and more manageable is key.  And also I think what's important is what am I going to do to celebrate? What am I going to do to celebrate my win for today?  I'm watching a television show that I'm really enjoying.  Because I say to myself at the end of the day, I'm going to make dinner and I'm going to organize myself for the next day. And then I'm just going to, I'm really going to enjoy watching this show because I've put in a good day's work.  The other thing about that is something that a friend of mine told me at the very beginning of doing this work, which is I'm only responsible for today.  I'm only responsible for putting my head forward. I'm going to be talking about the importance of being on the pillow tonight.  That's all I'm responsible for from now until then.  And this one, this next one is huge. Cultivating self discipline.  Consistently pushing myself to work hard even when motivation is low or progress feels slow. Now, one of the biggest self-disciplines that I have is my physical fitness. It was something that I started at the end of the pandemic. And it was something that I applied using one of the tools that I talked about before, which is I doubled down.  I decided I was really going to push myself. Because how I do one thing is how I do all things.  So if you can get disciplined in one area of your life, it's going to help you to get disciplined in other areas of your life.  Remember how you do one thing, that is how you do all things.  The other thing, and this is my last little tip, is surrounding yourself with positivity. Now sometimes that's difficult because either the people you live with or your family or maybe even some of your closest friends may not be able to support you.  But you can support you.  You can listen to me. This podcast, have it going on in your ears as you walk down the street, as you drive in your car, as you do your dishes, as you do your laundry, as you do the mundane. Have positive messages like these core work sessions or maybe one of the interviews from the past.  We have over 200 podcasts here. Let me be your positive mentor.  Let me help you.  Let me be there for you.  Because we want to be seeking out those positive messages, those positive mentors, peers, and environments that encourage your ambition and your growth. And that's why I always say, I also think watching shows or movies that get you, and that can even be a silly action film that gets you going, that get you psyched. Another thing that I use is music to get me going, to make me realize that even though things may not look good, they really are. So let's go over those little tips again. So I talked about embracing your setbacks. I talked about maintaining focus. I talked about breaking it down.  Remember, anyone can eat an elephant one bite at a time. I talked about cultivating self discipline. How you do one thing is how you do all things. all things. And I talked about surrounding yourself with positivity. We have a wonderfully positive community here at Acting Business Boot Camp.