Process of Success

The process of success requires that you create actions that guide you toward success. I recommend that you do something every day in order to create a long-term and a short-term goal. To do that you need to acknowledge what gets in your way of doing that. I’m addressing those issues that keep you from a daily routine that will propel your progress. There are things that keep you from action. There are things that drive you to inaction. There are things that get in the way of your doing the actions necessary to be competitive, and it is important to realize that non action, for any reason, is just another form of action. You want to acknowledge what stops you from doing the daily tasks necessary to enhance your growth potential in this business. Of course, there’s always the outside chance that you think you’re just lazy. Lazy and fear of pain have two things in common. The first thing they have in common is you. The second thing they have in common is that they are excuses. Remember, excuses are always going to be excuses.

What do you think motivates your excuses? If your motivations are not clear to you then changing them is beyond your control. You already know that it is your motivations that will lead you toward or away from your primary professional goal: being successful in this business.

I want you to discover why an excuse appears less negative to your life than the possibility of taking an action. I want you to know what motivates your excuses. If you have not been motivated to action you now know the motivating factors you choose are not working for you. We are all motivated by two basic emotional positions with which to live life. The first are those things that make you happy and the second are those things that make you sad.

Some actions you choose will give you pleasure and some actions you choose will give you pain. You strive to be happy but many of the things you believe make you happy are based on choices that result in failure or pain. Choosing to use alcohol, sex, drugs excessively or choosing to neglect taking care of your body, the instrument you use to create your characters are often the result of “enjoying” the moment. The results of these actions most often lead to pain.

For example, if you don’t have an agent you may link more pain to trying to get an agent than to the pleasure you would get from having one. If you don’t have an acting job, you may link more pain to trying to get one than to the pleasure of having one. This is a possible truth. You may already have what you really expect. It may not appear that way but your existence could be based on settling for rather than working towards. If you have not achieved the success you want and the financial gratification that comes with that success there could be two reasons. You may believe the work necessary to receive financial gratification is too great. You may believe you may discover your abilities and talents are not up to the competition.

If you think this way or look at the world this way, you will only attain and perpetuate lack. Lack is as real as plenty. They are both mindsets. They are both brought about by perception and focus. Most of us are motivated to avoid the possibility of pain. One way to do this is by holding on to the degree of pain and unhappiness that you now experience. Sometimes this leads us to take the path of least resistance.

Any actions can be perceived as potential pain. For example, the potential pain could be caused by the time and effort needed to get new headshots. It could be caused by the time and efforts needed to do a mailing to agents, casting directors, producers, ad agencies, etc. It could be the time and effort needed to take lessons, voice, dance, acting, diction, fencing, or yoga, etc. It could be caused by the efforts and preparations needed to go to auditions and interviews. Or, the pain could be caused by efforts it takes to get your union cards so that you can compete as a professional actor.

This potential pain leads to procrastination, laziness or fear of rejection. The possibility of pain also can lead you to avoid being responsible for evaluating the talents and skills necessary for you to get and to do the job. Think about the joy of being able to do things that will replace the complacency of sitting in front of a TV set or mindlessly surfing the net.

You can change these excuses and patterns that you have developed that keep you from the daily actions needed for your career goals. Lazy is a derogatory term. When you use it on yourself you don’t feel good about yourself. It’s the same with any personal addiction. Addictions spill over into areas of life (Professional, Physical, Personal, Financial, Intellectual, Emotional and Spiritual). The constant thought of being lazy is made real in your body.

But, you can change this. Your old patterns and excuses can be broken by evaluating everything you do in terms of pain and pleasure; you can reverse your excuses. The two emotional elements of your being are happiness and sadness. They are the elements of pleasure and pain. If you don’t go to an audition it must be that the pleasure you might receive from getting the role is not as significant as the pain you might receive by being rejected. You are weighing the degree of pleasure in relation to the possible risk of pain. This is illogical. It is also understandable.

You want to make choices that will give you the power and fortitude to take risk in relation to your career. You want to avoid the choices that are excuses for not taking risks. Without risk there can be no success. You may have learned from an early age not to take risks; “Be careful, you’ll hurt yourself” or “a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.” And yet, you admire the people who do take risks. Even when they fall short you admire their courage.

Therefore, it’s necessary that you evaluate the excuses you use that keep you from action. It is important that you discover your excuses for non-action as non-action is the road to true failure. Every action not taken results in the possibility of a failure. That risk or action could be used as an experience needed for the process of success. You must take risk. Therefore, you must know what your excuses are for non-action. True failure can only happen when you give up. Only non-action can lead you to that result.

Maybe your excuses for non action are driven by your need to avoid the expectation of pain. Many of the excuses you use for not creating action are based on the perceptions you have applied to the possible results. Once an applied perception is in place the effort to create an action often becomes impossible. But, your perception of your expectations can be altered. This can be done by changing your perception of the result.

For example, you know that you have to experience a certain number of auditions before you get a call back. So go after the odds with a vengeance! Get them out of the way. Each supposed rejection then becomes part of your success plan because it moves you toward the ultimate result you want. Understanding perceived failure can guarantee you success because you understand that success is a process that necessarily contains some failures..

You have decided many times to get yourself organized and approach the business with dedication and discipline. You may have gotten all your tools together, your picture, your postcards, your resume, the Ross Report, Theatrical Index, etc. and prepared a massive mailing only to become disheartened and slowly make excuses for not following through. It is also possible that some of your fellow actors have allowed you to use the excuses you do. They let you use them so they don’t have to acknowledge their own failure. If the people around you support your excuses or give support to your inaction, then you may have a serious problem on your hands. You may have surrounded yourself with the kind of energy and mentality that can only breed fear and failure.

How many excuses have you used this week? How many excuses have you allowed to be used by others? It is important to know the excuses you use in your life, personally, professionally, emotionally, intellectually, spiritually, physically and financially. Do they follow the same pattern through procrastination and/or avoidance? By exploring each of these areas you can find the excuses and patterns used to undermine your success. Then you can recognize what patterns and excuses you use and how they work to keep you complacent. You can make the choices to create the actions to change them. You can reverse old patterns and refuse to let excuses be part of your new pattern of living.

Therefore, the process of success is action. You continue the actions that are working and you change the actions that are not. The process of success also demands that you recognize the excuses you use to justify your inaction.

I wish you a great week and, now with the new year, a new zeal toward your quest to be a working storyteller, in my book the most honorable profession anyone can undertake.