Tag Archive for: Act Outside the Box

Attitude Check

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You‘ll be faced with a thousand obstacles in this career, many over which you have absolutely no control. Didn't get the agent you submitted to? Can’t seem to get a call back or haven’t gotten any auditions from your online submissions lately?  None of those are under your control.

Researching and attending an open call audition, submitting to 6 agents, doing your best work at the call back…those things are under your control.

But you have to know the difference…and when you figure that out you’ll be able to see there is always and really only one thing that you are in complete and absolute control of – your attitude.

Attitude is a choice. When you surrender control of your attitude to what seems to be a negative situation, you will react to that situation. More often than not, the reaction is a not so cool over-reaction. On the other hand, if you could keep your cool, you’d respond to the situation appropriately, creating a winning situation. What do I mean by this?

Attitude is such an important word and very few people truly understand it.

To be honest, it wasn't until I was in my late 20's when I finally understood its full impact. All through my teens and into my early adult life, I can't tell you the number of times that I heard, “Lisa, if you'd just change your attitude, you would be a lot better off.” In retrospect I can easily see the cause of my problem. I didn't know what attitude really was, let alone know how to change it! Looking back I’m fairly certain my search to find working solutions to my problems is what began my life-long obsession with learning.

Attitude is the composite of your thoughts, feelings and actions. Your conscious mind controls feeling and ultimately dictates whether your feelings will be positive or negative by your choice of thoughts, then your body displays those choices through action and behavior.

Thoughts = Feelings = Actions = Results

I've said it over and over and over in my seminars, workshops, coaching programs and will continue to in these posts.

I hope taking control of your attitude begins a magnificent journey in pursuit of you having everything you want.  But you’ll have to wisely choose your attitude to gain some altitude!

Now tell me some of your favorite stories where attitude has come into play with regard to your career.  Good and bad, there are lessons to be shared!

The Golden Rule of Your Career

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Having confidence in yourself and that the path you've chosen is the Golden Rule in your career.  If you don’t have it, how can you expect your talent agent, a casting director or other industry players to have the confidence to hire and work with you?

We all have moments of doubt about whether we can truly achieve our dreams, hopes and goals, and that’s OK, but only for a moment! This can, and most likely does, happen in other areas besides your show biz career…your physical body and attractiveness to others, your ability to provide for your basic needs and for the needs of your family, and even simply having the confidence to speak the truth about a situation.

A lot of people might believe they are confident, depending on how they feel on any given day. But true confidence is not a fleeting thing that is here today and takes a holiday tomorrow. Confidence is all pervasive. It shows itself in every aspect of our lives: the way we view ourselves, perceive our world, approach crises, the way we treat others, our readiness to exercise compassion and forgiveness, and, most important, the way we treat ourselves.

True confidence is an incredible feeling because it has attributes embedded in it which are the hallmarks of the ability to reach your wildest dreams with speed, ease and power.

Want to build your confidence easily without struggle or effort? Practice confidence by giving and receiving acknowledgment. How to do that powerfully?  Take on this confidence affirming and fun exercise:

The next time you’re in public (at a class, audition, a store, walking down the street) and with someone who you don’t know, offer a genuine compliment.  “I love the color of your sweater.  You look great in it”.  Or, “great smile!” or “you have a great way of doing that”. Then just keep moving.  You’ll probably notice their attitude shift, sometimes “puffing up” with gratitude or even a stunned silence.  It doesn’t really matter which as you’re not doing it for the reaction, you’re doing it to offer your words and yourself authentically with confidence, expecting nothing in return.  Move on, feel good and let it go.

The other half of this exercise is to receive a compliment with confidence, offering nothing in return but a “thank you”.  The next time someone says “great scene work” or “I love the color of your sweater, you look great in it”.  Simply say “thank you” and move on, again, feeling confident and feeling good.  Why?  Too many people deflect compliments, making excuses like “oh, this old thing”? Or “it’s nothing”, or some other self-deprecating remark.  It actually steals the thunder of the person who offered the compliment. It undermines their confidence.

See both sides?  Practice this simple giving and receiving of compliments today, tomorrow and the rest of the week.  Without knowing how it works, by the end of the week your confidence will rise significantly.  Cool or cool?

I’d love to hear your comments here, especially after you’ve done this exercise!  Thanks for sharing your experience.  It’s truly inspiring!

The Answer is INSPIRATION

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Just like the struggle I discussed giving up in my last post, I also gave up effort.  I used to think that consistent daily effort without all the negative mindset and emotions that struggle brings was all that it takes.  Since then I’ve added effort-less-ness into this delicious mix.

I had to realize over the years that my thinking about effort and struggle as a necessity was off base, not helpful to my goals, and filled with mistakes. So with no efforting and no more struggle, what’s the switch I flipped to move in the right direction with grace and ease?  Inspiration.

Inspiration is often looked at as observing something outside yourself that moves you. Actors and audiences alike are inspired when watching great performances, which stirs something deep inside and that excitement causes a response, an action, a desire to duplicate what you’ve seen or even create something different and unique.  However, I’ve come to realize after much examination and practice that true inspiration is created, organic, and comes from within.

So how do you create inspiration?

The first step is awareness. When you are aware of a negative recurring thought you're having, take a moment to reflect how it’s holding you back today. This thought is most likely years old and has quite a hold on you, and being on the look out and on purpose about identifying these persistent negative thoughts is key.

Once you’ve realized you’re having this thought, just let it go. YES, you can let it go. It will most likely come up again later today, and tomorrow and later this week. When it does, let it go. It’s a process, never ending, but eventually it gets better and easier to identify and let go.  When you’ve got the grasp of this you will begin to replace the negative thought(s) with a blank slate with which inspiration and creativity are naturally occurring.

Many times we don't even realize so many of the things that are holding us back. After years, or even decades, they become invisible to us. Today you have a decision, a choice.

You can stay with struggle and effort or move closer to inspired actions that bring you greater fulfillment, greater calm, and better results. Which will you choose? I think I know, but I’d love to hear!

Are You Still Struggling?

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“The battle of life is, is in most cases, fought uphill; and to win it without a struggle were perhaps to win it without honor. If there were no difficulties there would be no success; if there were nothing to struggle for, there would be nothing to be achieved.” – Samuel Smiles

Huuuuuuhhhhhh? I have to admit I used to believe in struggle. Although I didn't realize it, I'd believed in struggle for years. Years. I would have some success and then find some way to screw it up to slow my progress. I would go forward, then back 4 steps, forward a few and keep repeating the cycle. It's like I had to make things more difficult for myself then they needed to be. Have you ever done that?

What I didn't get back in the day is that I bought into a really bad BELIEF about struggle. I thought things needed to be difficult and a struggle was necessary in order to achieve my ultimate goal(s). It's a belief passed onto all of us from our environment; home, school, parents, jobs we've had, and other people around us, particularly in this business of show.

It's a belief I see so often in the ‘starving artist' community. Check this out:

You know that saying – ‘the rich get richer and the poor get poorer'? I've come to learn it's true, but it's only true because the poor have bought into the belief called struggle. Struggle is all about negativity. Struggle develops from a self image that doesn't believe one's worthiness to succeed. The rich know there is no struggle with regard to making money. If you haven't already, I recommend highly that you read “Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill to dig deeper into this subject. In fact I created a great seminar on the subject called “Think and Grow Rich Acting” so actors could see these hidden beliefs and blind spots, identify them, and release the struggle.

But what is the origin of all of this often expected, and mostly taken in stride struggle? It develops from a belief around one's worthiness. Heck, we all want to succeed, but do you believe you will, and if so, what is that belief based on?

Do you realize there may be some ridiculously stupid belief you bought into years ago that's holding you back today from your best self? Yes, someone said something, and you believed that in order to have what you really wanted, it would be hard, a struggle, and you might possibly NEVER get it. Like that huge acting career, with an awesome agent that leads to an Oscar and a bulging bank account? Can you have that?  Only if you believe you can.

“Whether you think you can, or you think you can't–you're right.” – Henry Ford 

So what's the opposite of struggle?  Stay tuned for my next post…

Your Happiness, Part 2

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Happiness, by its very nature, encourages trust, spontaneity, optimism and enthusiasm. When you're happy, you find that people instinctively gravitate to you and like you…and ALL of this on top of your great talent is a heavenly mix!

In my last message about happiness, I brought up the Law of Attraction as a big part of why successful actors are successful.  What I mean by that is, with a few notable exceptions, most “stars” or actors/artists/directors/industry players we admire, all got to the top because, by their very nature, they were happy to start with.  They inspire you to get to where they are.  Not because of what they have, but because of who they are.

But they ALL started exactly where you are right now, wherever that is on your journey.  How can I assume that they were happy first and then got the “goodies” i.e., fame, fortune, acknowledgement, Oscars/Emmys, great talent agents, money and more?  Because of how they speak about their beginnings and what it took, and still takes, to keep up the pace of being a successful actor/artist.

They don't share the crap or the things they didn't love that they had to do.  They didn't say “I hated my first three agents” or “in the beginning I knew I knew more than that awful director I was working with” or “so-and-so is a total dweeb”.  No, they keep it light, tell only the good things about their journey and this is ON TV and OFF the air.  People who have “made it” are always speaking about how grateful, appreciative, and happy they are to be, do, and have the ability to act for a living.  You could do this too.  Hint:  you could start today and your life would look completely different by next week.

By the way, YOUR happiness is an inspiration to others. It's a gift, just like your gift of talent. Everyone benefits from true happiness…everyone benefits from your happiness.

So let's review. You want to be a successful actor? START WITH BEING HAPPY! How do you be happy? You let your natural, unconditioned, original self be revealed. You answer “How are you?” with words like “great!”, “so good the right words haven't been invented to tell you”, and/or “do you have a few minutes so I can share the amazing 20 things that have happened to me today and it's only 11am?”

Have a fabulous day…and always remember, speak your future into existence today! And be happy.

I welcome your positive, enlightened, and inspirational comments below.

Are Success and Happiness the Same?

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I don't hear many actors talk specifically about happiness. I hear a lot of folks wanting success…but isn't happiness what success is supposed to bring? Let's take a good look at actors and happiness.

When you were young your parents taught you a lot. You had many conversations that shaped your upbringing, your values and beliefs. All parents want their children to be happy (of course!) but few parents actually talk about happiness or know how to teach it. Also, judging from our day to day conversations in our community with fellow actors on the set, in a class or workshop, at auditions, etc. it seems not many actors are “happy” with their career.  This is even more true when speaking about your talent agent.  Rarely do I hear how happy an actor is with their rep.

Their agent/manager isn't getting them enough auditions; they didn't get a call back; the director of the show picked someone else for the solo; the subway/bus/plane/traffic caused you to be late…and on and on and on.

“How are you?” we ask and are asked all day long when we greet one another. There could be 20 great things that happened to you that day and two “bad” things and yet what seems to get the air time? The complaints. It's, dare I say it, normal. And that's sad.

Even folks hoping to stay positive use phrases like “oh it could be worse”, “I'm still in it”, “okay”, “can't complain” and the like. So what's the point Lisa, you ask?

The point is this: You have the ability at every moment in time to have the words you use directly reflect AND shape your happiness. You were BORN to be happy. Happiness is natural. As a creative person, it suits you completely. You look good and you feel good when you allow your natural state of being to pour through you. Your step is light, your mind is free, and your spirit soars when you let happiness simply happen. The entire world responds to your happiness.

When you are truly happy you are radiant and highly functioning in life. And most of all you are loving, which is the essence of true happiness. You're naturally kind, generous, open, warm, and friendly. The best part of BEING HAPPY is that there is no fear, no anxiety and no doubt. ALL things necessary for this career…and indeed your life!

When you're happy you're on point and on purpose. And you're also very REAL. Authenticity is key for actors right? After all it's impossible to be happy and play small, hide, or be defensive. It feels good. Happiness is also very attractive in that it literally attracts great things, people and projects to you!  That's the LAW of Attraction, one of my favorite subjects! (more on the LOA in future posts…)

What are your thoughts?  Seem to good to be true?  What's your opinion around having your speaking creating your happiness? Or what about drawing aligned people and projects to you simply because you are happy?  Feel free to respond and share.

 

Are You a Happy Artist?

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“The Grand essentials of happiness are: something to do, something to love, and something to hope for.” Allen K. Chalmers

This quote sums up my personal prescription for happiness! The activities I participate in, from hanging out with my friends, to feeding my dogs, eating fine food, to writing these blog posts, are ALL the things that make up feeling good in my life. My hope for the coming weeks and the rest of this year is that I continue to build a community and a lifestyle that reflects my passions – working with creatives, playing with animals, building businesses and relationships and oh yeah, having F-U-N! The stuff I LOVE!

It is my greatest desire that in this and the next several posts on the subjects of happiness, success, feeling good and more, inform the more content filled “here's what to do next” kind of posts I also enjoy writing.  To me, the WHY and the feelings behind doing what we're doing is just as important, if not more, than the WHAT we accomplish, get, or manifest.  (Although I totally still want that stuff too!)

In this life and in particular, this career you've chosen, you'll never have any lack of something to do. That's what being creative is all about. When you combine your love of creating/acting/singing or what have you with a nice healthy dose of hope, I'm certain the months ahead will have you jumping for joy as you experience a new ease and flow around your pursuits.

One of the ways to have this happen is to practice observing your thoughts and feelings around the activities you're engaging in.  Although I'd love to tell you to only do the things you “like”, there are often aspects of this business that are unlikeable.  The process here is to “check in” to see if you can create “liking” the things you do. This way some of the activities like auditioning, practicing, working on your website and the seemingly mundane tasks you know you need to do, the “to do” list…will begin to get done. HERE is the only place you actually have control. Your thinking is what creates your feelings and how you feel will determine your actions.  Do some of the things on your list, check in with how you feel, see that it's better/easier/faster than you “thought” it was going to be, and then the next time you do these new things it WILL be better/easier and faster. For me things shifted greatly when I took my “to do” list and converted it to a “to feel” list!

What kinds of things could you do today for your career?  How about one or more of these? —

  • Add a credit or upload new pictures to your personal website and/or submission platform(s).
  • Begin learning a new monologue, song or other material for upcoming auditions.
  • Set a 30 minute timer and work on your accent reduction, dialects, cold-reading skill or other “tool” you need to work on.
  • Research a tv show, director, agency, or casting office to gain valuable insight/info for your database.
  • Enter information you've learned from your research into you contact database.
  • Look at your audition record, statistics and begin a plan to increase your numbers.
  • Discover and learn some of the technology you know you need to master to compete in the digital world
  • Make a list of contacts you've been wanting to reach out to.  From that list, begin writing to one, drafting your cover note.
  • Create a plan of action around your marketing list.

…and those are just a few examples of doing something around your career today that will impact your forward progress and results in the future.  Remember —

Thoughts = Feelings = Actions = Results

Staying positive and engaging in activities that make you FEEL happy and successful is KEY.  Tell me your thoughts on this post in the comments!

Your Career MINDSET – Set up? Or Up-set?

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I’ve used the term “Success” in a few of my recent posts.  I’d like to clarify what I mean by success.  To me, success is in your THINKING.

While most people look at their bank accounts, homes, clothes, awards and acknowledgements, having an agent or other “outward” symbols or signs that show they are a success, I have a personal experience of success defined by the way I feel on a daily and on-going basis.

I know many people, actors and others, who have an abundance of the aforementioned things in their lives, who are extremely unhappy, have struggles in their relationships and are on Prozac or other anit-depressants.  Conversely, I also know folks who live paycheck to paycheck, share an apartment with 4 other people, no car, no savings, no agent, no visible “stuff” to be admired and yet they are happy and know and believe that what they are working on or towards is inevitable.  Hummmmm.

Success is in your thinking.  And what you think is what informs how you feel.

It’s my humble opinion that the outward signs of success (that “stuff” again) are wanted only for the simple reason that once they are obtained, you’ll FEEL good!  And that feeling is success.  Hummmmm?

Well here’s the good news.  You can feel successful right NOW, without the stuff… and you know what?  Once you’ve figured out how to do that, the “stuff” will come faster!  How’s that for a mind-bender?

Here’s my list of the 7 Habits of Highly Successful Actors…and in my next several posts, I hope you’ll continue to read more and take a closer look with me into how your mindset will make or break you in this biz.

SUCCESSFUL ACTORS NEVER STOP MARKETING

Be consistent and mechanical = no stop and start
(Out of site out of mind…it’s TRUE)

SUCCESSFUL ACTORS ARE ALWAYS NETWORKING

Hang out with other enthusiastic actors, participate in positivity
(Get out of your house, move away from the computer!)

SUCCESSFUL ACTORS ARE ALWAYS IN AN ACTING CLASS

Have a continued appreciation for the craft and other actor’s work
(If you’re not growing, you’re dying – there’s no in between)

SUCCESSFUL ACTORS DO THEIR HOMEWORK

Study, research and KNOW who the players are in this industry
(Names of people and projects, box office gross, deals and more)

SUCCESSFUL ACTORS KEEP A POSITIVE MINDSET

Speak and think WELL of yourself and others ALWAYS
(Kill off the negative little voice in your head)

SUCCESSFUL ACTORS ARE ORGANIZED, ON TIME, AND RESPECTFUL OF OTHERS

Have integrity in EVERYTHING you do
(Not the moral kind, the NOT cutting corners kind)

SUCCESSFUL ACTORS HAVE BOTH ARTISTIC AND FINANCIAL GOALS

Have a PLAN for your day, week, month, and year in advance
– with room for adjustments, but committing to accomplishing them
(Most actors don’t plan to fail – they fail to plan)

If some of the above sounds repetitive, GOOD!  It's meant to be.  I'll keep on saying the same things over and over and over and over again until it sinks in.  If it's already in, then it's time to apply it.  If you've already applied it, it's time to keep consistent with what works.  And rinse and repeat and never give up!

I'd love to hear your comments on what success means to you!

What to Know When Working with a New Rep…

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Getting an agent is just the entree into your new experience as a represented actor.  If you’ve followed the steps laid out in the last two posts(1) and successfully secured a rep(2), you now have new responsibilities.

I know a lot of actors who unfortunately leave their career in the hands of their agent thinking that they can rest, and other than a quick “touch base” here and there to remind their rep that they are around, do, well, nothing.  Your job in marketing your actor services never ends and now is the time to ramp up your own efforts because you are represented and part of a team.

Here are some guidelines to help you stay top of mind in your rep’s thinking and assist them in getting you in the door for more opportunities. Your goal is to have them happy to work with you over the long term and you them:

COMMUNICATION

  • Ask how often and the best method to be in touch – then do it. When you haven’t had an audition in a while, don’t assume anything.  Have a way of being in touch that works for both of you. Email?  Text?  Call?  When?
  • Respond to calls/emails for auditions immediately. This is PARAMOUNT.  Even an hour’s delay is too long. Confirm or ask for a reschedule if needed.
  • Be as available for auditions as humanly possible.  Tell them (book out) when unavailable. A huge pet peeve (that’s putting it lightly) is when you’ve finally been called in by the CD for an audition and you forgot to tell your rep you’re on vacation this week.  Booking out, even for a day, is necessary, as cancelling auditions makes both you and your rep look unprofessional in the CD’s eyes.

EXPAND AND GROW

  • Network and meet casting directors, directors, writers and producers every way you can. This is a continuing process and includes you announcing to your list of these industry contacts that you have new representation through email, postcards, social media or all of the above.
  • Inform your agent and/or manager who you’ve already met in the industry who knows you, your name, your skill, etc. for more leverage. Make sure they know who you are already connected to.
  • Be engaged in education, training, research and development for your business constantly. Every business person who is in business (that’s you if you haven’t figured it out by now) is always learning what’s new in their market to stay with or ahead of the curve.

INVEST IN YOURSELF

  • Become a wealthy artist instead of a starving artist or a “just getting by” artist by putting 10% of all income aside to consistently invest in your show business career.
  • Create a budget for your show (craft training) and another for your business (marketing expenses).  Then stick to it come hell or high water!  No money, no marketing, no business. Game over.
  • Spend your time, energy, effort and money on result producing products and services. Classes, marketing tools, online submission profiles and more are essential and keeping track of what you spend money on that works is too.

HAVE A PLAN/STRATEGY

  • Failure to plan = Planning to fail. When choosing to become an actor for a living, you weren’t thinking of it not working out.  Having a plan will create a path to your dream career.  Not having a plan keeps it a dream.
  • Make long term and short term goals with specific with dates and numbers. Measuring and monitoring your efforts and seeing what you’re doing that is effective and what is not will show you what and where to correct…and when to stop or continue.
  • Create quarterly written business plans with benchmarks in time.  Review weekly. Take out the mystery of your career progress.  What you focus on expands (The Law of Attraction).

Working well and in tandem with your rep will propel your further faster when you employ the things laid out above.  You want that right?  I enjoy your comments on my posts and would love to hear you share your thoughts, especially if you are currently represented.  Did you learn something new?  What will you begin today?

Interviewing with Your (Potential) Talent Agent – What to Prepare Before your Meeting

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Securing representation during the interview process should be your goal.  “Of course it is” you’d say to me, but I can’t tell you how many actors I’ve met, either interviewing with me or being coached by me, that have no idea if they have a rep by the time the meeting is over.  So here are some more steps to consider before, during, and at the end of interview process to be sure.  And to secure that YES!

FIRST BUSINESS, THEN SHOW

  • Do extensive research on both the agent and the agency (or management co.) before the meeting. I often asked actors I met while working at 90210 Talent if they did any research on me before the meeting. 95% said no. The few that did had my immediate and full attention.  Not because of ego, but because I was looking for someone who was business minded like me who would take their time to see if we were aligned.
  • Treat the interview like finding a life partner. Ask the most important questions first. Ask questions about some of the things you found out about them in your research.  Be more interested than you are interesting.  Trust me, this works!
  • Have basic knowledge of the shows and projects their current clients are in.

DISCUSS MUTUAL GOALS

  • Know in advance the answer to “so where do you see yourself a year from now?” Be sure, clear and concise.
  • Make sure you know the medium you’ll mostly likely make money in quickly (i.e. commercials, theater, independent film)
  • Talk just as much about financial goals as artistic goals.

WHAT YOU OFFER VS WHAT YOU WANT

  • Let your potential new rep know what you are doing on your own to make money acting. The thought that you can’t make money until you get a rep is backwards, especially in today’s open and internet driven marketplace.
  • Have your speaking illustrate what your acting provides other people’s projects.
  • Be confident in your value, artistically, financially and as a creator.

TEAM MENTALITY

  • Realize they need you as much as you need them. You’ll be working together.  A rep doesn’t work for you and you don’t work for them.  There is no “I” in team.  So cliché but so true.
  • Let them know that will be continuing to do your own work for audition opportunities. This is more than simply taking classes in your craft. They want to know what you’ll be doing to continue to market yourself via networking and meetings.
  • Relate to them as your equal and ASK them to be your representative.

This last part is the missing link – the ASK. There’s a lot of fear around this and I want to alleviate it by saying that if you think and feel it was a great meeting and that you are mutually aligned on most if not all aspects, the rep will feel it too! If they haven’t already offered to represent you, do NOT walk out of the door without asking this question.  Instant respect, whether it’s a yes or a no.

If during the interview process you know in your gut that something isn’t aligned and that you have missing pieces to fill in or that you and the potential rep don’t have the same perception of what you offer or what’s possible for your career to mutual benefit, you’ll know this too.  TRUST your GUT!

In my next post I’ll offer even more things to consider while working with your NEW REP to keep you top of mind, in step with your rep, all the while keeping inspired enthusiasm for your new partnership, even though they will have moved on to find their next great client.

Comments?  Care to share?  Please do!