July 1, 2022
The most direct route to self-love and success is to make a series of commitments and keep them no matter what. Please remember, that whenever you make a commitment forces of light are conspiring to assist you and shadow forces are conspiring to challenge you or destroy. So, those are always there. So, for all of you, you need to make friends with the shadow and go, "Oh, it's you again the inner saboteur", that's how you have a career. Do you notice how many people folks and I really want you to hear this. I want you to hear all of it but hear this. How often do you see someone at the pinnacle of success sabotage it? So, that's in all of us don't personalize and that's why in the book that we recommend you listen to on audible the piece of it maybe every morning the four agreements that shadow is always there, it's always there. So, do your best but you cannot modify what you haven't identified. To have a career, first, you have to declare what that looks like for you and that goes back to dream plan reality and you've got the more specific you are with that dream and that plan the more specific will be the manifestation of that reality. Yeah, but beware the shadow it's always lurking, right. Talked about the balance of things yeah it's always there. Don't confuse the career with the craft. First comes the craft. You gotta get really skilled at this and I say this over and over again but I'm gonna say it one more time, "Impatience kills craft and career', and there's only one first impression. When you walk in the door are you ready for camera? Are you ready for the stage? Or do you need more class? Now, if you find training to be a chore I would question seriously if this is what you want to do. Because without training you're on the road to becoming what we refer to as a personality actor that essentially you do exactly the same thing in every single job and you will get bored with that. I mean, what's really fun is expanding your range of things you can play. That's why you want certain actors once they get a degree of success. During their hiatus they come to new york and they're in a broadway play, an off-broadway play. They're doing an edgy indie film because they want to keep growing because these are muscles. It's a lot like going to the gym. It's like, well, I used to work out. Well, you used to feel good, and frankly, you looked better too. What can I say about that? I mean, that's not open argument right. You're enjoying this? Yes, please click below and subscribe. Agents and managers love actors who are training. Why? Well, my pals in that department nothing frustrates them more than an actor who calls them all the time and says, any auditions?
They're thinking, "Yes, there's a dozen of them but I'm purposefully not telling you about them because I want to be impoverished myself". They love it when you're building your craft and your skill set because they know when they call you like that firefighter you're ready to slide down the pole. The craft precedes the career. So, under the heading of how to ask and fight for what I want and say no to what I don't want? One of the most important days in your life is when you turn down an audition. If something is repellent to you morally, ethically, it's important that you don't do it, right. Now, you'll hear certain people say, "Well, you have to do everything when you're starting out. I'm here to tell you I never did that. I'm here to tell you that the majority of the actors that I've worked with whose names you know they didn't do that either". So, you have to have self-respect. There's a wonderful book called Respect For Acting by Uta Hagen and one of my favorite parts of the book is the title, have respect for acting. Because the minute you say you're an actor people say uh you're an actor and the first response you tell them you're an actor and they say, "Really? Have I seen you in anything?", and you're thinking, "Dude, you sell insurance why are you giving me a hard time here?", right. As I said, you're guilty to prove and talented but if somebody says, "I'm a cellist", you go, "Wow, really? Do you play in an orchestra or or a string quartet or do you teach?", you believe them, right? If they say I'm a welder you know you think well gas or arc welding or both. You don't go, "Really you're a welder? I don't believe you. Well, when you say you're an actor what is that? Well, because the port of entry is wide anybody can print them a picture and say they're doing this and that makes it difficult for the folks that are committed. So, how do you build an acting career? Craft, commitment to craft, and learning how to fight. Learning how to fight for what you want and it doesn't just come to you. We've all been overly socialized and overly domesticated which made us controllable in kindergarten or our teachers who want to jump out the window. Hopefully, that class was on the first floor. So, folks, if you don't stand for something you'll fall for anything. So, the career, let me demonstrate for you how a career goes. First of all when you learn, in the beginning, it's the learning curve goes like this and you feel the wind rushing through your hair because I go, "Oh my God. I can't believe how much I learned", but you know the road to mastery looks something like this huh and this is how it goes, right? But before you know it you started over there and you ended up over there. You just didn't feel that wind rushing through your hair etc. Esquire magazine in the 80s printed an article about the road to mastery uh written by four red belts about the people that started on the path to become a black belt and most don't achieve it and they said that you know the road goes like this when you first start training it goes like this and then you plateau and then it goes like this and then every now and then you get a little bump and every now and then you get a little bubble and every now and then you get a little bump but it's more like this and every now and then you get a little bump. But look at where we started and look at where we got, okay. So, your talent is your point of view and your ability to fight for what you want. So, come learn to fight on Saturday show you how to throw a hook right dramatically of course. Our classes every Saturday the first one is a gift to you. Click on the link below make your life a work of art, work of your own heart.