Tag Archive for: Actor

How the “Breakdowns” got Started over 40 years Ago

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The term breakdown was actually coined by the creator of Breakdown Services in 1971.  Gary Marsh was the son of a prominent agent at the time and the story goes that he was asked to fill in on a particularly busy day doing for his mom what most agents did at that time to get their clients work.

In those days scripts were not allowed off of studio lots for privacy and security, so agents went there, read them in producers’ offices and wrote short synopses of the characters in the film or TV show.  They would then “pitch” their actors to the producers or casting directors for these roles and audition appointments would be set.  This was a very time consuming process.

When Gary returned with a well thought out and detailed description of several scripts that day, his mother the agent asked him to do this job regularly, thus freeing her time for more pitching and negotiating.  Observed by other agents, he was then asked to do the same thing for them.

“What do you call your service?”  “Hummmm” he pondered, and in a moment of divine inspiration called it a breakdown.  Based on taking the script’s storyline, it was the “breaking down” of the characters seeming age, archetype and humanistic qualities, put into a cohesive few sentences and used to decide which actors might best fit the particular project.  Breakdowns are essentially how all roles in all film, TV shows, commercials, theater, etc. are cast.

Like Kleenex, which is a brand of tissue, the term Breakdown has become the universally accepted word for a character description.  Gary created an entire industry and continues to serve the community today with Breakdown Services,  ActorsAccess.com and CastingAbout.com.

Nowadays there are many online companies that put out breakdowns.  But Breakdown Services remains the largest, most respected, and most copied business out there.  Gary is a personal friend who I’ve known for almost 2 decades and his dedication to actors and the business of show is his purpose in life!

For you and your purpose to be fulfilled as an actor, finding the alignment of your “product” and a breakdown is the KEY to gaining traction and forward momentum faster.  Here’s a perfect example of a breakdown for my own actor product:

[MARY LAZARUS UNDERSTUDY] Female, Caucasian, 40s–50s. Needs a powerhouse alto belt singing voice, comic chops, and movement ability. To appear in the onstage ensemble as a nun and understudy the principal role of SISTER MARY LAZARUS (Tough, full of vinegar and humor. She’s seen them come and go, and nothing fazes this Sister. She’s quick on the wisecracks and always ready to roll up her sleeves and dig in). ENSEMBLE

Why an understudy and not the lead for me?  Because I haven’t been in a musical production for several years and this is more in alignment with what I’m apt to be cast in. Can I do the lead?  Of course, but if the casting office doesn’t already know me, then it’s likely they’re not inclined to take a chance until I’ve proven myself a bit.

Alignment in both the art and craft of a role as well as where you are on the business spectrum (networking, known by the office, history on resume, etc.) is a balancing act and knowing where you fit in with regard to a breakdown will ultimately help both you and your talent agent or manager when you’re working with one.

Have you seen a breakdown lately that you’re perfect for?  Share it with me in the comments below.

Contacting Industry (Agents/Managers/and More) On-line

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Let’s start again with the premise that shorter is better.  Long, drawn out explanations about you, what you offer, the reasons why you became an actor, and why you are a perfect fit for this job, agent, role, etc. won’t get read.  Cover letters are out.  Cover notes are in.  But you still need to communicate all of the above.  How?  By shifting your approach in a huge way so you get your message across quickly.

The goal of  “regular” writing for most communication is to inform or entertain.  Newspapers, magazines, fiction and non-fiction novels.

The goal of copywriting for ANY business is to get people to do something, to take action or at the very least take notice.

In essence your message is the copywriting part of your campaign to attract a rep, introduce yourself to a casting office or other industry contact, and these days it’s likely this will be done on-line.  But don’t worry, I’m still a fan of hard copy mailing and follow ups, as are a lot of other industry professionals.  This works for both of these formats.

There are 6 steps of an effective copywriting process:

  1. Research – who they are, their wants and needs, their past experiences.
  2. Determine of the goal of the message
  3. First Draft
  4. Revise, rearrange.
  5. Send
  6. Constant Follow up

By the way if you don’t have the answers to what you offer, why you’re a perfect fit for a job, agency, etc. or they “why” you’re an actor in the first place, I urge you to go back and read some of my previous posts on these subjects.  In essence a note that you send should not be about what you want but what you provide.  And the key to it all is why you’re a fit and in alignment with what the other person is looking for.  Do your homework first and writing the note will be easy.

“You don’t stand a tinker’s chance of producing successful advertising unless you start doing your homework. I have always found this extremely tedious, but there is no way around it.”
— David Ogilvy – Father of modern advertising (lived until 1999…created Ogilvy and Mather in 1949…the most powerful ad agency and still is today…seen it all, through the early internet)

David Ogilvy had the task to do copy writing for a Rolls Royce ad. He spent three weeks reading about it before he came up with the headline and the rest of the copy.  In emails, think of your subject line as your headline.

While he was talking about traditional advertising, it equally applies to your doing research on the people you are communicating with.  This is the number ONE mistake actors make in this area.  No research.  By the way, unlike David Ogilvy, I believe this can be a ton of fun. Learning about how other people got to where they are, their likes and dislikes, taking notice of another person’s life…I find it extremely interesting and delightful!

In marketing, it’s your job to figure out why people need you, how they need you (casting directors are different than agents are different than producer/writers, etc), what they need you for SPECIFICALLY, and what really matters to THEM. If you don’t have this figured out, you really cannot write a message that will be meaningful and therefore it’s a waste.

You have to interview people.  Find out what they think about your kind of your product, what language they use when they talk about it, what attributes are important to them, and what skills, talents, and unique qualities would most likely convince them to choose you.

Take these answers and then give them bullet points.  My template for a great, short note accompanying a submission for a rep or for a gig is this:

Salutation – this is an acknowledgement of them, the person you’re writing to.  “Congratulations on 10 years as a agent”, or “I loved the article your wrote in Backstage”, or “I so appreciated your comments at that discussion panel”.  Acknowledging them puts them in the right mindset to receive what you write next and creates an immediate connection.

Bullet Points or 2 to 3 short sentences – “I’m new to LA after 10 years as an actor in Dallas” and “I play witty, sarcastic, quirky, girl next door types” and “My last audition with CD so-and-so resulted in a callback”.  There literally are a million variations on what could be written here to describe what you’re offering.  Everything else is on your resume so there’s no need to repeat that info here.

Closing – This is your request for a meeting, a thank you for reviewing your materials, or an invitation to your show.  Again, it has to contain the request for the action you wish for them to take.

This copywriting, done correctly, will speed the process of you connecting to representatives and other industry because it will get read!  I can tell you, because you already know, that when someone opens an email or letter and they are busy, which we all are, then something short and sweet that looks like it will take 10 seconds to read will get read.  Something that, at a glance, has paragraph after paragraph and seems like it’s going to take longer, won’t get read.  And honestly if they have the time to read it, they’re not busy enough and you’ll hear crickets chirping when you meet up with them!

This is the way of the world in the business of show right now.  Adaptation is key.  Shorter is better.

Your comments?  Please let me know below!  As always, here’s to your success!

The Elevator Speech – aka “So tell me a little bit about yourself”

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In my last post I said that shorter is better.  Here’s part one of my two part answer as to why that is.  Whether you’re seeking representation or meeting other industry peeps the first time at networking events, workshops, an interview, auditions and more, this is the answer to how to communicate what you offer another human being IN PERSON. (Part two will be IN WRITING)

Invariably almost every time you are asked about yourself, or are attempting to introduce yourself without being asked,  you’ll have so much information to share you’ll often not know where to start. It’s sometimes called an elevator pitch because the premise is the answer should last no longer than it takes for a ride in an elevator – clear, concise, and leaving the other person wishing you didn’t have to get off on that floor because they want to know more about you! So this major message needs to be as prepared as your monologues and as sharp as your cold reading skills.  Let’s call it “loosely memorized” and at the ready.

The answer to that simple little question, “So tell me a little bit about yourself” is often not that simple. You’ve been asked it many times before but here’s the problem: no matter how old you are – 11, 18, 25, 45, 70 or more – you’ve had a vast and varied life and immediately what happens to the human brain is that you don’t know where to go or what to say about who you are.

“What do I tell them first? Oh gosh! Uhhhhh”…and you usually end up with egg on your face. I implore you to be as prepared as possible. Pick the one or two things that you think they might be interested in knowing about you as a person and not necessarily you as the product or your skill set to begin.  This sets the tone that gets them interested and engaged in who you are. Confidence and charisma is 50% of this business and if you’re naturally funny, here is where to put in a bit of humor. If you are fresh, new to the area, returning to the business or just out of school, here is where to mention that. You get the picture. Take the time to practice it with a friend or relative a few times – I’m not kidding one bit. DO IT!

Next throw in a bit of the biz info on what you offer as talent.  What is the type you’re consistently cast as, your most recent projects, performances, or training is what you speak about here.  Balance is key.  Don’t talk forever about what you love or want most about anything, but mention briefly why someone else liked working with you or enjoyed your performance. (Perhaps an award or article) That’s called 3rd party authority.

Now I’m going to give you a BIG clue – ACTIVE listening to others when they talk about themselves or their project is your goal when sharing information in person.  Listen for things you can address later that will help them.  Also listen for things that they share that you may have a common interest in.  You might take notes and then enter quality information in your database so that when you have the opportunity to have a conversation with that person again or follow up in writing, you’ll be more remembered because you were interested in what they had to say. Get it? A common denominator is an immediate connection and right off the bat you become more interesting to them too! Everything that follows after that is GOLD (Pun intended!).

Have the answer to “So tell me a little bit about yourself” prepared with the 3 or 4 things you think will showcase your “person” as well as your product, to break the ice AND be interested in them as well.

I’d love your comments in the section below on this subject.  What are your thoughts on active listening?  How about what you’re offering instead of what you want, a subtle yet vital shift?  Lemme hear ya!

Shorter is Better – Statistically Speaking

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As actors we love a good story so we tell them a lot. As a woman, I know I have the urge to tell all of the minor components that set up the actual point to what it is I really want to say before saying it.  The POINT of it all.  I’m not sure that’s an entirely female quality but I’ve noticed it with my girlfriends where my guy friends seem to get to their point a little faster. I’ve even been told I talk too much.  Whaaaat?  Well now I’m told I write too much.  In fact this first paragraph is not even needed to get to the point of what I’m writing today, but I’m keeping it in as an example!

The point I am trying to make here is that actors talk too much and write too much when submitting to agents and managers.  I’ve seen it over and over and over and over again…and I’m here to tell you that less is more, shorter is better, and reps appreciate brevity in their faster-than-most paced world.

Why is shorter better? Because we live in a short-attention-span Universe these days. Twitter limits us to 140 characters and these days when you watch a video, if you’re not inspired or intrigued in the first few seconds of the video, you’re on to the next.  A demo reel used to be 3 minutes, then two, and now one and a half minutes tops is recommended.  But even better than that are shorter 10 to 15 second clips.  Again why? Because we are all speeding through our day with content flying at us constantly.  It’s all about time, or lack there of.

The statistics are staggering.  Regular people receive close to 100 emails a day, much of it spam, but also messages from people, products and services they actually enjoy.  Yet most of these emails are deleted without them being read.  As an actor you can probably count on triple that number and thus inundated with choices of what class to go to, what online product to buy, where to go to meet industry, plus all of your personal preferences of things and people you like. Delete, delete, delete, mostly not read.

Now imagine you’re an agent.  Really imagine what it must be like to submit actors already on your roster for auditions all day long on your computer and emailing back and forth with casting, on calls pitching, opening mail, answering your personal emails with friends and associates and deal with your own family, AND look at new talent…all clamoring for an agent.  Their day is cluttered.  And I haven’t even mentioned social media yet.  HUGE distraction.

What’s an actor to do to clear through all of that clutter and get attention?

Shorter IS better, so in my next post I’ll give you the guidelines on getting your message across quickly!

By the way, if you’re one of the 15% of people on my email list that opened it up to a partial blog post inside, then one of the 6% of those who clicked on the (read more) link to the entire post, would you do me the honor of being one of the less than 1% of people who will leave a comment below?  Now this should be interesting…

4 Huge Mistakes to Avoid When Defining Your Product

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I see actors make a lot of mistakes that could totally be avoided.  When it comes to figuring out your fit in the vast marketplace of actors, where there’s a large supply and you’re not yet in demand, distinguishing yourself, i.e. defining your product, is ESSENTIAL.  Here are some mistakes to avoid:

1. Not Studying – There is a tendency for the human mind to exclude or minimize what it cannot understand, which ultimately weakens its powers and perceptions. The trade-off is a seeming sense of safety in what is known and familiar. However, the exquisiteness of life is going beyond what you already know into the wonders of what is yet to be created and revealed. You’re here to fulfill your potential, not just have potential, and realizing that education and study is what expands your opportunities that begin with your thought process IS the key.  Finding and figuring out what you’re uniquely selling could be done via an in person class, mentor/coach, book, video or online course and will assist you in climbing the ladder of success as well as give wings to the longings of your soul.

2. Staying Comfortable – Different ships, same boat.  What I mean by this is that many actors think being active in a routine that has them in class, getting a few auditions, and adding one IMDB credit a year, though they may be different classes, auditions and credits, keeps them in the game of show business.  Yes, I talk a lot about feeling good and being comfortable does feel good.  But if you want more for yourself and your career in the manifested aspects of “reality” which translates into a discernable expansion in your network, resources, bank account and experience of joy, then you’ll want to learn how to be comfortable being uncomfortable.  Get out of your routine and include new things you haven’t tried before.  Fear of failure is what keeps you stuck.  F-A-I-L simply means First Attempt In Learning.  After you try something a few times and fall, you’ll realize that ACTing outside of your comfort zone is the fun and very point of it all.

3. Treating Showbusiness Like It’s Not Your Business –  Many actors love the creative aspect of the career they’ve chosen, have spent years learning their craft, then present themselves as ready and available for work.  The business aspect of showbusiness isn’t a primary concern and will work itself out because their talent will shine and be the thing that gets the work.  However what most actors haven’t realized yet is that show business is like every other business where the bottom line is the bottom line.  You have to get ready to be ready for the business of show too. You’re the CEO of your own company, a small business if you will, and treating your career without considering the product you’re selling and to whom, will have you be out of business before you start.  Starving artists stay starving because they don’t consider themselves business people.  If you want to make money acting, then think like a business person, not an artist.  Once you’re being paid to act, then you can bring forth that creative magic that only you can deliver.  The good news is that business and marketing is a learnable skill, just like the craft of acting.  It’s great to have some inherent abilities of course, but with a little bit of focus and practice, you can go from disaster to master in a short period of time.  Begin now.

4. Giving Your Power to Others –  “You are a luminary, a sage, a wise one, a high priestess/high-priest, a wizard, and a supreme manifestor.”  I draw one of Doreen Virtue’s Archangel Oracle cards every day and recently got this one saying Take Back Your Power.  I wanted to pass this message on to you because I believe as a creator, you have this power inside of you and need to be reminded…just as I did.  This is the biggest mistake that I see most actors make. It is their own willingness to be so powerless over their own careers…not a victim per se, but wanting someone, anyone, everyone, even me, to “do it for them”.  I recently got an email from a woman, who after one of my very descriptive and step-by-step, here’s what to do to get an agent posts, asked me to personally get her an agent or take me off of the mailing list, which of course she could also do herself!  It’s ALL up to you, and not realizing even when you do have a rep, that you are in charge of your own career and no one will ever focus on it or care about it (not even your mother) as much as you do, is a MISTAKE worth avoiding…and easy too!

By the way, your talent agent and/or manager will thank you and be more receptive and attentive to you if you are aware of exactly what you’re offering that’s different from everyone else.  What adjectives and language are you using in person or in writing? Being on the same page and working side by side in alignment is what that relationship is all about.

Have you made any of these mistakes?  Any others you’d like to share that we can avoid too?  I’d love your comments below!

What Makes You So Special?

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What are you uniquely qualified to do as an actor that NO ONE else can do or be?  Have you ever thought of that?  What’s your brand, archetype, bread and butter niche range of characters that you’ll become known for and reliable and counted on to create time and time again?  This is where the rubber meets the road.  Having this down pat is not an option.  It’s what will inform and feed the actions you take in advancing your career. Your actions determine your results.  This is a big CLUE here so if you haven’t taken this important step, this is your reminder to do it now!

In my last post I began to offer some thoughts on figuring this out for yourself using the well-known (and well paid) actors on the series Friends as an example.  But words don’t teach.  Only experience teaches so…

Take on this inspired action if you want to start the process today.  Don’t just think about defining your product, take ACTion.  Start by watching the performance of another actor in the area of your focus.  Find someone you enjoy and see what qualities and characters they have built their career on.  What is their archetype and/or brand?

Make a date/time commitment with yourself to watch a film you’ve been wanting to see (if your focus is film), go to a live theater performance (if your focus is theater), purposefully watch commercials or listen to voiceovers on camera or on radio/podcasts (if your focus is commercials or voiceovers), etc. You get it, right?

I know you’d give almost anything to have the careers of the many actors that you respect and admire right? So check out their IMDB page or Google them.  Do your homework and you’ll see that that with little exception, they have a niche.  They’re the “bad guy” (Devil) or the “femme fatale” (Lover) or the “funny one” (Jester) in just about everything they do. Yeah, there are the exceptions like Meryl, Johnny, and RDJ but you’re probably not going to “buy” Steve Martin as a killer or Mark Walburg as a scientist.  How about Julia Louis Dreyfuss as a political leader? Only when it’s a comedy!  Get it?

So what is YOUR brand or niche?  I’d love to hear in the comments section below!

Represent Literally Means RE-Present

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I have an important question for you.

What are you offering to your agent or a potential new agent to “sell” you with?

Take a look at the word represent. It literally means RE-present.  

Having a firm grasp on what you are presenting and what you are uniquely offering the show business marketplace is the surest way to quicken your climb on the ladder to the kinds of acting jobs you desire, gain visibility accompanied by acknowledgement, and attain the kind of financial stability and abundance that you seek.

When I ask this important question these days, most actors know they should have this answer at the ready, but many still haven’t done the work to figure it out or chosen a “defined” product for presentation.  Your talent is only one component of your offering. Other things to consider are your skill set, appearance, gender and age range but the most important thing to consider is your essence and archetype.

As a person you were born with innate qualities, tone of voice, and a vibrational essence that cannot be separated from the roles you will be acting in.  Your essence is felt in the audition room and will impact the performance you create in the show or on the set.

As an actor in a play, film, TV show, commercial or anything else you’ll be cast in, it has to be written first.  Writers create characters drawn from something called “archetypes”.  A few examples are: Leader, Caregiver, Sage, Adventurer, Innocent, Everywoman/man, Rebel, Hero, Lover, Devil, Jester, etc.  ALL story is comprised of these archetypes for the purpose of creating contrast.  If every character in a show was a Leader type, it would surely be boring…just as if every character in a show had a Jester type, it too wouldn’t have enough contrast to keep us interested.

Take the mega hit show Friends as an example.  If you take a look, each of these 6 characters are distinctly different archetypes.  They were not all Jesters. Even though the show was a comedy and all of the actors and storylines hilarious to watch, Matthew Perry as Chandler was the Jester.  Monica played by Courtney Cox was the Caregiver and her brother Ross, David Schwimmer, was a Leader type.  Throw in Joey (Matt LaBlanc) as the Innocent, Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow) as the Adventurer and Rachel (Jennifer Aniston) as the Everywoman and you had the explosive mix of a group of people that the writers created wonderful stories around that lasted for 10 seasons and 236 episodes.  This show will most likely continue to be shown for decades more, bringing laughter to millions and millions of dollars more to the actors and other creatives responsible. This wouldn’t have been possible without the contrast of these archetypes.

As an actor, if your goal is to make money acting, it would also be wise to stay with a particular archetype.  Using David Schwimmer as an example, the majority of his roles since Friends have been Leader types, as in the role of Robert Kardashian in The People vs. OJ Simpson. Matt LaBlanc plays wide eyed, you could have fooled me (and often do) characters in the series’ Episodes and Man With a Plan. Jennifer Aniston has done countless movies playing that Everywoman/Gal next door type.  Of course these very famous actors have also played roles outside of these main archetypes but the majority of the projects they work in and the roles they play keeps us a loving audience because we can count on them based on what we liked in the past. And this keeps them in the category of continually working actor. Literally bankable!

You want this too?  Figure out your archetype.

Don’t make it too complicated…archetypes are meant to be broad and actors often imbue a combo of two.  Two at most, but not more than that.  Harrison Ford has always played Everyman/Heros and Julia Roberts Leader/Lovers.  This is just the start of a larger conversation of how you can create your niche (rhymes with rich!)

If you think of an archetype like a sign of the Zodiac you’ll understand that though you were born on a certain date and that makes you one of 12 possible signs, you have the qualities of all 12 within you.  I’m a Libra, known for our wide smiles, being lovers of peace, happy in nature and loyal to the core (amongst other traits) but you may recognize some of these qualities in yourself and might be a Pisces or Sagittarius. Get it?

The point is to determine what your predominant archetype is and once you figure out this essential and important information, combined with your own natural essence, you’ll be able to “brand” what you offer with your marketing materials.  Then your carefully crafted message of what you’re presenting (headshots, resume, website, social media, online submission profiles) along with what you say in person and in writing will get you in the right doors to show your talent.

Your talent agent, or potential new agent/manager, will then be able to RE-present you and zero in on connecting you with the kinds of opportunities that fulfill your wildest dreams.  Begin this important process of defining your product today!

Tap Into Your Inner Know-it-All

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Want to quicken the abracadabra of your career?  The truth is, you already inherently know what to do.  Before I move on to my next set of posts with the content “to-dos” of your career, you’ve first got to realize that trusting your own intuition is key.  It won’t matter if I give you the Keys to the Kingdom if you don’t know how to unlock the door.

All the magic you need for a magical life is conjured by being and expressing who you truly are – with a sense that there is always more of you on your way from the eternal into time. You have unseen assistance and assistants who guide you.  They would say to stand center stage in your story, play an authentic role in every scenario, surround yourself with cast-mates in lead and supporting roles who help your presence to be magnified, use any antagonists as foils for defining and strengthening your character – and be aware of the cues that life is always providing you! (Your emotional guidance system).

Playing your true self and acknowledging your personal power and knowledge within, quickens a magical flow in not only your acting career but you own life story.  It also, by association, impacts positively the lives of everyone around you. For trueness in one inspires and begets trueness in others. You are here to follow a star in the sky of your own heart, to walk the path to which your inner light calls you and to offer the treasures of your uniqueness to the world. For this is how the Divine comes to Earth – not only through you, but as the uniqueness of you!

It’s time to tap in, turn on, and tune into the dreams you have for yourself and manifest them into glorious reality.  You DO already know how…by letting your internal guidance system be the GPS.  Though I’ll be offering many distinctions and many concrete ways in upcoming messages to hasten your journey by sharing my own experience and what I’ve learned, please always remember “words don’t teach”.  Only your own experience teaches.

By the way, most of what I’ve just written comes to me via my own Law of Attraction education via Abraham-Hicks.  It is this context that allows me to design the content of my extraordinary life.  And I’m so very pleased you are on this journey with me!

The #1 Way to ‘Let it Go’

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OK, OK, I hear ya.  A few posts back I gave you the answer to how to stop struggling by creating inspiration.  The answer was this: the minute you’ve recognized the thought that is creating the struggle, just let it go.

I got a lot of emails asking me “How do you do that?”  By the way, I’d love it if you’d ask these wonderful questions in the comments section of the post so that I can answer here on the blog and everyone can access my answer instead of just one person, capisce?

So here it is:  The number one way to “let it go” is to GO GENERAL.  To stop the forward momentum of a negative recurring thought (you know the one(s) right? That one…that just came to mind!), once recognized, and that’s key, is to think a less specific thought.

Here’s an example.  One of my recurring thoughts that keeps me struggling is “it has to be perfect”.  When I write these posts, create courses, choose webinar discussion topics, or am about to give a talk or speech, I want it to be perfect.  This often stops me from getting it done.  Projects take longer than they need to and I’m never truly satisfied.  But I have identified this as a negative, recurring thought.  After I recognize this thought again (and again and again) I GO GENERAL.  I don’t think about how to stop this thought or even change this thought.  I GO GENERAL.

I look at my dogs and focus on how awesome they are.  I look out the window and see the blue sky and appreciate how lucky I am that it’s a pretty day.  I wash the dishes.  I call my mom.  I do something to take my focus to a general and non-specific place, especially around the “perfectionist” conversation.  I do something, anything, to slow or stop the forward momentum of that particular unworkable thought.  I GO GENERAL.

By simply engaging in the process repeatedly once the thought is recognized – again that’s the key – this practice is your beginning to stop struggling, by letting it go, therefore slowing that momentum, bringing in a clearing for inspired creativity.

Got it?  Broken down, I’m sure you’ll agree this is a LOT simpler than the persistent struggle and rat-on-a-wheel thinking that keeps most of our creative community in “starving artist” mode.

It’s starts with your thinking!  Feel free to let me know your thoughts on this subject in the comments section below.  I’d also love for you to share how you might GO GENERAL the next time you recognize a negative recurring thought.  Here’s to your inspired ACTion!

How to Go From Unmotivated to Motivated Quickly.

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I’m glad you asked! The truth is, staying motivated is very difficult for most actors.  We deal with on-going rejection, slow results, stretches of time without paying work and more.  What’s the difference between the actors who are able to stay motivated and those who don’t?  It comes down to one primary factor…

It actually boils down to only three letters and one word: Why?

Many actors are unmotivated because they don’t have a why that resonates with them. They don’t have a REASON for being motivated. Yes, you’re talented and creative but so are many, many other people in the world who are not pursuing an acting career. When I ask many of my coaching clients the question why they want to be an actor for a living, they simply don’t have a good answer.  At least not “good enough” to keep them motivated when times are tough.

The Law of Momentum states that a body in motion will tend to remain in motion and a body at rest will tend to remain at rest unless acted upon by an outside force.

This means you’ve got to get yourself moving in the direction you want! And that’s why you’ve got to have your why. You need to have your reason for why you want to do what you’re doing.

This can relate to not only your acting career but also your health, relationships, changing cities, and changing jobs; it could be about anything, but the bottom line is you’ve got to have a clarified why.

Jim Rohn once said, “The bigger the why, the easier the how”, meaning that if we have a good enough reason or a good enough purpose for doing something, the how will come. You’ll get it done and it doesn’t have to make sense.

Scientists have done research on this because of the extreme creative ability that we have to motivate ourselves in times of need – meaning the why or the reason.

Miracles can happen when you have a big enough why. You’ve heard those stories about people who have lifted the weight of an entire car off of a loved one by themselves?  They were motivated!  That’s a HUGE why.  What’s yours?

Why is what you want important to you? Why is money important to you? Why is acting important to you? Why is making money acting important to you?  I mean, after all, you could have a great income producing job in another sector and act in community theater, right?

People ask me this question all the time. They say, “Lisa, you’ve shared a lot of your early struggles and searches for more fulfillment, even once or twice saying you wanted to quit Act Outside the Box. Why didn’t you give up?”

The answer is because I had a bigger why than any struggle or obstacle that I could entertain or have come over me. My why, although not overly enlightened, was very simple back in the day: I had something to prove to someone, though won’t say who.

I needed to prove that they were wrong when they told me I’d never amount to anything and that I’d be broke and begging them for help, support and/or money.  I was shamed by them and spoken to in ways that when I think about it today, still twist my gut in knots.  So my WHY was huge.  Success is the best revenge.  I’d never give up.

Again, it wasn’t very enlightened because that why came from fear, even though it was a great motivator! Once I started getting an education in the Law of Attraction and awareness of what truly matters most to me in life, my why turned into something different.

I wanted to be able to do what I wanted with my time, my energy and my life. I didn’t want to have to be beholden to anyone or anything and I just wanted to be free.  All I wanted was freedom to travel, create, contribute, be with family and friends on my schedule…so that became my new why.

Let me give you one more clue here about your why, because it’s one of the most important things you can ever do. First, your why should have two sides to it. First is you. What is this doing for you? Why for you? Second, your why has to be bigger than you.

It’s why for yourself and then why for something bigger than you, whether it’s your community, your family, your team, your country or a charity or a wellness situation.

If you have those two why’s, one for yourself and one to help others or the world, you’ll be motivated.

Without a why, you will be unmotivated. It’s as simple as that.

So I’ll ask you again: what is your why? Why do you do what you do? Why do you want to be successful? Why do you want a great relationship with your family, friends, or significant other? Why do you want freedom? Why do you act? Leave me a comment below, I would love to hear from you!