Non Working Behavior
There are many types of therapies in the world, but the purpose behind all of them is to help people discover what is not working in their life. Most are designed to begin to reprogram associations and beliefs so that new associations and beliefs are made that empower and support a person’s goals. Most people seek out professional help because their patterns of behavior are not supporting their goals toward health, happiness and security. Since all questions have answers, the question must first be acknowledged before any change can take place.

Common Denominators of Therapy
People go to therapy in order to discover why things are not working in their lives. There are many types but they have a common denominator. Therapy is designed to acknowledge and change beliefs in order to eradicate specific fears. The bottom line of all therapies is the recognition of the individual fear that has manifested itself in thought.

Let’s look at an example. Let’s say you have a problem with agents. You don’t have one. Without an agent you have very little hope for a career. Yet, you don’t pursue an agent because of the experiences you had in your past efforts. You may have associated agents with the bullies of your past. If you associate getting an agent with increased pain because you unconsciously associate it with the bullies in your past you are going to avoid that effort.

So how might a therapist go about this? One therapist might suggest you become aware of that association and change it. You can change it by substituting the negative association of seeking an agent with the positive association you also have when you realize that bullies are powerless if they have no effect over you.

Another therapist might suggest you place a chair in the middle of a room and envision an agent sitting there. You then tell the agent how frightened you are of the power you gave him by associating him to the bullies of your past. It this seems silly when you catch yourself in the mirror, enjoy the laugh. A negative association becomes positive.

Your emotional block that keeps you from getting an agent is not related to the agent at all. It is related to your belief about getting an agent. It is related to the unconscious mental associations you have attached to agents. The common denominator to most therapies are they each help you find out what are some of the unconscious beliefs impacting your life. Then you can explore why you associate those beliefs to certain areas in the past to the present.

Let’s look at another example of belief associations. How many people in the course of your adult lifetime have you asked out for a date? How many have turned you down? One, perhaps two, how about 50? Yet most people don’t let this stop them from asking someone out or pursuing a relationship. For most people the pleasure you anticipate from the date outweighs the pain of the possible rejection. If you have stopped asking because of the fear of rejection then you can change that association. Through therapy the beliefs attached to the fear are recognized unconscious associations and changed with knowledge and repetition. Therapy works when you recognize and change your beliefs. Therapy works when you don’t allow the fear of the anticipated and unrealistic pain continue to control your actions. For you to get a positive feeling of self worth and change your fear of agents, you need to change your perception of their value to you.

Therapy starts with you. You can become you own therapist if you acknowledge what it is that you want to change. And don't forget that an agent is someone who makes his living with a commission of what you are paid. That means you must have something to sell in the storytelling world.

The “We” Thinkers
It is the “we” thinking mentality that I believe is what keeps the 98% of actors in that unsuccessful category. To get into that 2% of successful actors, you must accept the “I” position.

Your desire to become a successful professional actor is dependent on your willingness to change the “we” mentality into the “I” mentality. The surest way to avoid success is to put yourself into the collective mindset. When you talk about yourself as an actor and use expressions like ‘actors aren’t given a chance’ or ‘actors are abused’, etc. you are in the collective mindset. Once you allow yourself to think as “we” you also are giving yourself permission to fail with a collective agreement.

The past is the past and the future is based on how you live the present. Regardless of what areas of the business you fear or avoid, nothing will change until you recognize the fears and you change the meaning they have for you. When that happens, you can avoid the 98% of “we” thinkers.

Your negative beliefs are real to you. They were created by what you perceived about an actual event resulting in physical and/or emotional pain. You must change these negative beliefs you have about the acting field and your place in it. Otherwise, your chances of success are limited.

Once you make these changes you can avoid leaving the career that your heart told you to pursue. You can stop your fears that overcome your ability to take actions. It’s best to find out what is at the heart of your career problems and take the power from them. It’s about transferring meaning. It is expected in any career field where success is accompanied with material rewards. Nothing less should be expected of an acting career.

You can transfer meaning by conditioning yourself to have a successful acting career. You can change the associations and beliefs you have about this career. Can you imagine that it is far more painful not to pursue this career than the pain that comes from pursuing it through possible rejection and confusion? Can you create reasons for going after this career, no matter what the personal cost? Can you create scenarios where not pursuing your career is unacceptable? Can you set yourself up for more pain by not achieving your goals? Can you change your perception of your results? I know you can change those beliefs and fears that you have used to keep you from success and growth.

The “we” thinking is powerful because we are not conscious of it. Once upon a time the middle class American citizen was strong and powerful because he used the term “I” in referring to his situation and his responsibilities. One of the things that has made America so strong has been the power of the middle class lifestyle and its personal dignity and self designed opportunity. A better lifestyle could be attainable in one generation! With that attainment would come the pride of personal accomplishment. There was no expectation of entitlement. There was only opportunity for accomplishment. The middle class had afforded future generations a certain degree of acceptance, as more and more moved up the ladder of financial and personal success. That was until the pride of the personal accomplishment became an expectation of entitlement. When that I, through fear, became “we”, the middle class lost its power and its position.

The same thinking errors hold true for the actor. When you allow yourself to be a “we” you forfeit your individual right to be the most that you can be. You forfeit the divine birthright of all people on the planet to achieve their highest possible level of success. You remove your individual responsibility. Ultimate success is the degree of affect your life has on other people in their efforts to learn the lessons of life while on this most incredible journey. Only you have the power to change you. You can change your behavioral patterns in relation to your beliefs about different areas of this career by using the “I” focus of responsibility.

Let me give an example. While teaching a class in Orlando a student told me, in front of the class, that the acting business in Orlando could never be a legitimate way to earn a living because there was not enough work for actors. She resented the fact that there was no work and she wanted me to agree with her. I commented on her selection of outfit and her personal style. I then readdressed the class on another topic. She interrupted me, saying that I had avoided her statement. She said that I should address it because I was taking money from her and the other class members when I knew that there was no work for actors there. I was taking advantage of them.

I looked at her for a moment and then asked her where she was from. “Atlanta”, she said, with a quizzical expression on her face. I then asked her if she would go topless in a movie for forty thousand dollars. She was appalled and claimed that I was completely out of line. I said that I didn’t intend to say anything inappropriate. I returned to my lecture. Just as she was about to interrupt again, I said to the class that I was told that there were no actors in Orlando whose sole income was derived from acting.

Many others in the class protested, saying that was not true. So, I asked the woman if they were lying. She said, “Well, no, there are….” I stopped her. “You told me that in essence, I was stealing money from this class because I knew there was no way an actor could make a living in this town.” She apologized.

I asked the class if they believed that a successful professional acting career was what they expected to achieve. Most responded that they were only looking at this business as an avocation and supplemental income. I asked the woman if she felt that way also. She said it would be nice to make acting a vocation, but it was impossible. I stopped her. “What about it is impossible? Are you going to tell me again that there is no one making a living by acting in this town? Or are you never going to make a living as an actor in this town?”

In less than five minutes after having publicly been embarrassed, having to apologize to me, she again repeated the same “we” failure belief to support her refusal to do the work. Her work consisted of having the skills necessary to act and to have the knowledge of the job possibilities afforded to those in the acting community. She needed to find out who the “I” members of the acting community were. Those people who are making a living as actors.

Only by changing the “we” beliefs of negative associations will she have the ability to make a living as an actor in Orlando. If not, she would bring even more pain associations toward acting in Orlando into her life.

In order to do this she will need to redirect her power and energy. By doing this she could interrupt her patterns of behavior. She could stop reinforcing the negative feelings and limiting thoughts which she supported with the “we” justification. And then, the final effort would be to attach her belief to a positive association that had already been empowered through recognition.

She could condition herself to a new association that created a feeling of pleasure, personal growth and empowerment. She could grab any positive related thought and use it as an actual pain eliminator. She could do this, rather than holding on to experiences of the past that caused pain.

Anytime you use a “we” to indicate your lack of opportunity you can be sure it will keep you with the 98% of actors avoiding the winners circle. Recognize what these “we” statements are and then associate them to real positive circumstances of possibility.

What positive associations could my Atlanta student link to her “acting cannot be a vocation” pain? First she can acknowledge her belief was wrong, that acting can be a vocation even in Orlando and she can change any belief connected to that association to one of growth and power! Second she can condition herself to accept a belief that empowers her; that she can be successful in acting in Orlando. Thirdly, she can associate the feeling of joy and happiness to the idea/belief that she can be successful. And, finally, she can learn from her past perceptions and explore why she held on to the negative belief about no one making a living in Orlando through acting.

I hope she did.

Have an exciting week and let the real reason you want to be an actor fill you with actions and direction.

I wish you well,
Russ