The Two Businesses for the Aspiring Actor

Following a single path to becoming a successful actor is not based on any set rules. It is based on recognizing that there are levels of success that can be followed. This requires that you accept that the actor could go from extra, to bit, to day player, to small supporting role, to supporting role, to primary supporting role, to secondary lead, to lead role. Each of these jobs has certain expectations. You want to know what you can expect to get from them. Once you have acknowledged this you want to recognize the levels of production and the corresponding levels of financial expectation.

The two businesses for the actor are the story moving business and the story telling business. It is important for you to understand the difference between the story moving business and the storytelling business. Without the separation of these responsibilities you could run the risk of placing emphasis on certain areas that cause the body to misread your ultimate achievement level potential. You don’t want this to happen. Everything you do toward this business needs to be put into its proper perspective. You want to enjoy each step along the way, but you want to be sure you recognize it is only a step. Don’t hang out rather than move on.

The Story Moving Business

The story moving business allows the actor to go from being background to small speaking roles. In the story moving business the actor is given little responsibility for the character’s development. There are many people who still believe that taking small story moving positions label them. They believe taking these jobs (extras – under 5’s – etc,) will limit their chances of being taken seriously. One of the great values for the actor doing story moving jobs in high level productions is his ability to learn about his craft and the things expected of him when he gets larger roles. It is assumed that the actor knows what to do when he is hired for a speaking role. It is assumed the actor knows:

how to maintain his character’s physically/emotionally position from take to take.
how to mark a scene and take direction.
how do find his key light and avoid shadows.
how to control his vocal levels based on the sound equipment placement and ambient noises.
his relationship to the collaborators such as make-up and wardrobe etc.
and
the actor understands the politics involved with other cast members and crew.

Many of these assumptions are incorrect and can affect the actor’s performance and fear level. It is this fear level that can cause lackluster auditions and lackluster performances. The best approach as you work at getting your union cards and seeking audition for larger roles in lower-level productions you seek high-level story moving jobs in high-level productions. You could think of these circumstances as being a paid apprentice.

You do these jobs with the purpose of learning everything you can about the shoot(production set). You want to take notes. Ask unobtrusive questions of crew members while they are taking a break. Be supportive and complementary of their efforts. Learn names of the cast, crew and production staff and send thank you notes to those who went out of their way to be supportive of your efforts.

If you don’t know what a best boy does or what a key grip is or a wrangler then you can see where you might have some things to learn. It is always best to read books on all aspects of your business. These books come from knowledge of the technical and the creative. The information from these books will become the basis of your question list you take to a set. If there are different A or B level projects in your area you should be able to get on all of the sets with at least a low-level story moving job. You want to understand the two businesses with which the levels of production are divided. These are two separate businesses, for the most part, are handled differently from casting to payment.

If you look at the progressive line of advancement you would see that the actor, going from extra, to bit, to day player, to small supporting role, fall under, what I call, the story moving business. Story Moving Jobs require little uniqueness of the actor’s ability. Story Moving Jobs do require a clear physical reference of type for the audience to understand the flavor of the setting, relationship, socio-economic circumstance, mood and ambiance the director wants to convey. The actor’s primary responsibilities in the story moving jobs are to show up on time and not cause trouble on the set. These acting jobs are usually self generated and can be union and non-union in pay scale. Let’s look at union story moving jobs.

Equity (AEA or Actor’s Equity Association – the stage union.), doesn’t have the same type of categories of story moving jobs as do SAG (Screen Actor’s Guild) or AFTRA (American Federation of Television and Radio Actors). The irony is the story moving jobs in Equity are chorus jobs which require extreme talents in the areas of song and dance. These jobs still pay far more than extra, and bits, and small supporting roles for SAG and AFTRA productions but they do tend to have little advancement to the star story telling level. The reasons behind this are many but the primary one is the comfort zone that comes with chorus success and thus the undermining of the need level.

It should be noted that in the history of the stage there were many small and non speaking roles in the theatre. You can look at scripts written before 1940 and see that most of them have long lists of characters that serve to support and flavor the everyman character’s world. However, with the onset of stronger union contracts and economics, the stage play was forced to narrow its supernumeraries (extras) and small speaking roles to a minimum. This resulted in losing one of the major learning paths for the actor. It also removed one of the primary networking opportunities for actor advancement. (When you make yourself familiar with the different union contracts and how they manifest themselves into job opportunities you can begin to create a marketing plan for the various areas in relation to your abilities.) Your advancement in this profession is based on many things: talent growth, industry awareness, business networking, opportunities and dedication. This is a great way to explore the value of the four “D’s” (desire, dedication, determination and discipline). You can clarify your dedication to your knowledge base. You can define your desire to achieve the knowledge and skills necessary to do an acting job. You can practice your determination to stick to your goals. And, you can master your discipline to organize your time on a consistent basis to achieve the knowledge and repetition to make your goals realities and your talents competitive.

Accept that the story moving business has within it a step by step advancement process leading to its highest level. That highest level of story moving jobs blends into the lowest level of story telling jobs. There is a path you can take for success. Story moving jobs require far less technical ability and character development than story telling jobs.

It should be noted that the highest levels of story moving jobs do require a certain degree of the formula A+B = C (actor + book = character) to create the character type needed. In the highest levels of story moving jobs the uniqueness of the actor, his type and point of reference for the audience must be blended with the book, or the script, to make more interesting and compelling characters. Even though the character will only be seen briefly in the story moving job, the character is still a part of the storytelling process and could be picked out and remembered in the retelling of the story. As these parts in story moving elevate themselves to the attention of the director then they can become a path for the actor working his way toward industry, and ultimately, audience recognition. Don't forget, an actor’s star status is primarily based on his value to the box office.

If being cast will not affect the box office then the above union scale payments are not justified. It is your job to make sure you have value to the industry with audience and industry awareness. This is not always easy but it is always possible. If you are clear as to your abilities to go to make believe in the various media, and you are clear as to your uniqueness of personality, and your need to be integrated into your story moving jobs, you will then see the process necessary to get story telling jobs.

Understanding the opportunities for knowledge through the story moving business will serve you greatly if you take advantage of it. If you hold on to some ego based belief that you are “too good” to allow yourself the story moving opportunities you, perhaps, should reevaluate your reason for entering this career in the first place. A career is a long time. It should last a lifetime. There is no such thing as forced retirement for actors, only different types of characters to create. Be clear about the story moving business and how it differs from the story telling business. Understand all the work possibilities and the path to success that can be followed. Let patience be your guide. Enjoy the learning and growth. Know how to take advantage of the story moving business by learning who the buyers for these markets are. Know which tools for marketing you will use to give you power. Know how to work the system to support your goals.

Once you are clear about the differences between the two businesses you can then begin to focus on their likenesses. You can begin to take advantage of your “knowledge base” and networking skills. You want your luck to be based on design, not happenstance. Nothing just happens in this, or any, business. Everything has a reason. Know how to decipher those reasons to design your course of action. The course of action will take you to the results you want.

Educational Stipend

The lower-level story moving jobs should be viewed as paid course work. For that reason these jobs should not be flaunted about as accomplishments. All you need to know is their value to you. Do not assume someone else will share your same enthusiasm. People in the industry may misread your bragging as an indicator that your feeling of accomplishment is out of sync with the reality of the situation. The real danger here is the energy flow disruption that may happen as a result of friends and family thinking that perhaps your expectations are too low.

When you get these story moving jobs you might look at them as if they are just classes that someone else is paying for you to take. Take full advantage of these classes. Reap the rewards from the knowledge learned.

When you clarify the difference between the story moving business and the story telling business you will be able to take advantage of how each business operates. You will realize how you can use that operation to best serve your career growth. Everything about this industry that you do not know will ultimately affect your ability to act. Realize how this lack of knowledge manifests itself as fear. Acknowledge how fear manifests in your ability to control your life energy.

There are many things that I will discuss in these lessons that are needed by the story telling actor. However, it is important to know that getting to the storytelling business may require going through the story moving business. It is there for you. It is one of the actor’s true educational processes. It is how the actor views the process and how much the actor chooses to learn that will decide the speed and level of the actor’s story telling success.

Story Telling Business

The story telling business is made up of acting jobs that require learning lines, auditioning, having an agent, knowing what you are suppose to do. I classify a low story telling job to be two or more scenes with five or more lines. As the story telling roles get larger the characters become more important to the telling of the story. The character will either be a support character to the everyman(protagonist), the dragon (antagonist), or bird (savior) or will be the everyman, the dragon or the bird. The primary lead characters (the ones with most of the lines) fall into the everyman and dragon category. It is interesting to note that although the bird character (a structural concept) may have fewer lines their scenes are crucial to the telling of the story and become the catalyst for the climax. In the story telling business the actor is expected to know what he is doing.

As the roles become larger this knowledge is supported by past efforts and successes as well as level of agent representation. The aspiring actor can make sure that his/her awareness of ability level is developed by large roles in low level production opportunities. This can be a key to your growth.

You want to look for story telling roles in venues that will hire you. Low budget film and television projects are a perfect place to seek these larger roles. You might also want to find a boutique agent (a very small one or two man office dedicated to new talent). These boutique agents/managers are excited to work for you and many do have access to story telling roles in C and low B venues as well as A level productions.

These lower level venues will give you an opportunity because you can act and are right for the role and, you guessed it, affordable. You can be sure of one thing your first big score will not register in your bank account. You will, however, be put in a position to have one of the major agencies take notice of you and put you in their stable. No major agent is going to deal with you unless you have proven yourself somehow. (Or you are very young and gorgeous) That is why the C and low B level productions are so important to you. The C and low B are determined by their budgets and star power or lack there of.

You want to know who the players are in these levels. Get that lead in an off-off Broadway play. Work with an up and coming membership Theatre Company. Know who the local independent film companies are. Be aware of the disciplined aspirants with the willingness to take a chance. Somebody has to come up with cold hard cash for these productions and it won’t be you. You want to support those who do.

The Story Telling Business is about telling the story. It is not about background. It is not about flavor. It is not about ambiance. It is about using words and actions to create characters that tell a story. Each medium uses the positions of play (everyman, dragon and bird) in various ways to tell a story. The genre (style) of a story is supported by these uses. You have to experience how the positions of play affect the different mediums of story telling and how it impacts you.

Once you become a story teller your responsibilities are greatly increased. Your responsibility to your product and your package are paramount. Your ability to know the business and how your talents affect the business are essential. As a story teller your advancement to one of the primary positions of play (everyman, dragon or bird) is based on your choices, talents, work ethic, determination, discipline, courage, expectation, energy control, willing to do what it takes to gain experience and your desire to be happy with the journey.

You will never know enough as a story teller. Once you become one of the primary three (everyman, dragon, or bird) you will spend your entire career searching out better ways to support and enhance your characters. You will seek ways to incorporate your characters as you mature and move from one category to another (juvenile lead, lead, mature lead). You do not want this growth process to undermine your efforts or lessen your power. You want to be aware of the changes in you and the ability to use those changes to support characters that have changed as well.

The story telling business will require that you be responsible for the audience. It is about energy and your use of it. It is about talent and control. It is about focus and awareness. It is about accountability, commitment and dedication to your craft. It is about being bigger than you. It is knowing that you have the power to make the lives of those you touch better, physically and emotionally. Your growth as a story teller will happen when you accept the power of your talents and your ability to understand the place of Talent.

Take the time to see what is available to you as a story mover as well as a story teller. I'll talk later about how to structure each of these efforts as separate businesses. I'll suggest ways to make sure you have tools and goals dedicated to each.
I wish you well,
Russ

Sacrifice

Sacrifice is giving up something you want in order to achieve something else. For the actor, sacrifice means that he has to take time away from other aspects of his life in order to fill his responsibility to his career. Sacrifice is about time, focus, and use of resources. Sacrifice is about discipline. When you have made it as a successful professional actor the sacrifices will be looked at more kindly because they will be compensated with money and fame.

There are sacrifices you will need to make to advance your career plan. There is the sacrifice of time with your family and significant others and there is the sacrifice of time with friends.

Sacrifice is not about your values or your self worth. Going against your true beliefs and values is not a sacrifice. It is a moral choice of self deception. If you think that you can sacrifice a personal moral value for expediency then you may find that you are wrong.

You may have beliefs that some things should not be sacrificed for your career. You may have the belief that you seriously doubt you can make it. You may have the belief that there never will be a career because acting is not a real job. You may have the belief that you shouldn't take time away from another need in your life in order to pursue a pipe dream. You may have the belief, “what the heck, I can do it tomorrow." These beliefs serve to undermine your desired beliefs. They will, however, spotlight what you truly value.

Your true beliefs are usually developed by religion, social status, race, educational status, or something else that occurred during your early years. If you were to look at your political party affiliation such as Republican, Democrat, Independent, Socialist, Nationalists, Green, etc., you would have a general idea of what your true beliefs are on almost every subject. Your true beliefs may not need to correspond with the true beliefs generally associated with a storyteller, but you need to know what those true beliefs are.

For example, if you pursue a liberal career field and yet your true beliefs are conservative you can see why your true beliefs are probably not going to support your desired value system. Even though your external value system may appear to be open and non judgmental, your true beliefs and values may not. You may find that your true beliefs could be supporting non action in order to avoid some self confrontation.

The Power of Cultural Beliefs

What is it that makes it possible for a student of medicine or law to make the time sacrifices of other aspects of their lives in order to secure their medical or law degrees? The educational systems of law and medicine have a reality built in. Everyone expects a law student or medical student to be out of pocket for the four to eight years necessary to qualify for these professions. There are preset true beliefs that law and medical students are special. There are preset true beliefs that becoming a doctor or a lawyer is the greatest career for your children. There are true beliefs supported by true values that law and medical students are the cream of the crop. Because of these culturally defined beliefs no sacrifice of time or money is too great for them or for those who support them.

The medical and law students know these preset beliefs exist and they are fueled by these beliefs. What about you? What preset true beliefs fuel your career efforts? “Acting is a nowhere occupation?” “Acting is an excuse to stay away from the responsibility of working toward a real profession?” “Chances of succeeding as an actor are almost nonexistent.” The list of negative preset true beliefs about the profession of acting is boundless. These preset true beliefs may well be your operating beliefs. Your preset true beliefs may have allowed your focus to be shifted from your external career values to your internal survival values.

You may be sacrificing for the wrong reason. This will happen if your belief system is working on automatic pilot. Your negative preset true beliefs about becoming a successful professional actor may be just useless baggage. These preset beliefs may be stopping you from realizing your career plan. You can change your preset true beliefs by addressing them.

You found your values by becoming aware of your use of time. Now you need to find the true beliefs that may be detouring you from your desired career. If you want to know what your true beliefs are, ask yourself questions about the non actions toward your career. Listen to your justifications or excuses.

Your justifications and excuses are your true beliefs.

You cannot succeed if your values are not supported by beliefs of positive achievement. It is critical that you lead your life in public and in private with the same set of values and beliefs. You do not wish to manipulate the public with one set of values and your private life with another. “You may deceive some of the people some of the time, all of people some of the time but never will you be able to deceive all of the people all of the time.” Always know what you have done is the best you could. Know that your true beliefs support your public declaration that you are an actor. Know that you are doing everything possible to increase your odds of success. Very few aspiring actors can say this. The reason they can’t lies in their counter productive preset true beliefs that sabotage and disheartened them from their desired goals.

Your true beliefs are based on certain truths. These true beliefs are the rules you set for your participation in winning the game of life. If you avoid seeking the knowledge about your true beliefs you are at the mercy of your own fears. It becomes a vicious circle that can undermine the enjoyment of the living experience.

Paradigm Shift

A paradigm is a plan; a proven path of success; a model. A plan based on a proven track record. They are not based on beliefs which are subjective in design. They are provable because they get desired results. Whenever you’re making the changes necessary to take control of your life, you need to follow the proven rules of success. Nothing can be more dangerous to your goals than beliefs that are steeped in subjectivity.

It is important that your beliefs are based on facts rather than opinions. The rules of a plan for success start by knowing clearly and specifically what you want from that success. Have an agenda for that knowledge. Identify each implementing action you need to take to get the results you want. Evaluate the results from a particular plan of action for positive results. Change the actions if you are not getting the result you want.

Evaluate your plan of action by modeling those who have achieved the results you are after. Learn from those who are getting what you want. There are industry supported beliefs that allow motivated aspiring actors to throw themselves into a process of promotion that only supports a cottage industry of non working performers. Know what those industry supported beliefs are. Don’t follow patterns and techniques that are out dated. Avoid sending mass mailings of pictures and resumes to agents. Find more interesting approaches in trying to get industry people to come to your showcases.

Most career techniques that worked 20 years ago do not apply to today’s marketing strategies. Anyone who suggests they do is running a business to support themselves at your expense. This is true for many acting classes and university programs as well. The process of teaching must fit the demands of the business as it applies to you. Your uniqueness within this industry is the common denominator to your success. Try to conform and you will lose your individual power to be a successful professional actor.

Making a Living

The first concern for the actor is how to make a living in this business of storytelling. Do what actors have done for hundreds of years. Make your own work. Become your own producer. De-program yourself from the belief that the collaborative process includes non artistic people. The career opportunities for the actor have been taken away by middlemen. These middlemen can come in many guises but their effect is still the same. They do things that you should be able to do for yourself. Create your own storytelling opportunities. Practice your instrument by doing showcases and co-oped scene classes. Explore efforts to clarify your product/package and your ability to create exciting and believable characters. Find efforts to practice creating these character with your uniqueness included. You’ll always be able to work if you are clever, dedicated, and disciplined enough to create your own jobs.

Generate the kind of financial rewards that come from controlling your own destiny. Search out the jobs that will give you insight into your professional skills and talents. And remember, your true beliefs are what decide whether you are pursuing your career or not.

The pursuit of an acting career should add to your quality of life, not detract from it. Any sacrifices you make should be sacrifices of love and participation. As stated, your perception of your circumstance is controlled by your true beliefs. “I never win anyway. No one would hire me; why bother to go to the audition. I should get new head shots but why spend the money.” These thoughts are supported by beliefs that must be changed.

Incentive to Change

Enhancing the power towards your personal goals can happen if you demand more from yourself. The process of taking action begins with this personal knowledge. This change cannot happen without finding the incentives to make the change.

If something makes you burst into a display of bad behavior you are responsible for that bad behavior. It is not what causes the bad behavior that needs to be addressed. It is what causes you to go to bad behavior and the beliefs that led you to that behavioral pattern that must be changed. It is the knowledge that you are working at a frequency that will attract the same. No matter how down you feel for holding negative true beliefs it doesn’t matter. What matters is what you do about those beliefs now.

Where is your focus going in order to avoid your career responsibility? Are you taking drugs? Are you drinking more than you should? Are you watching television endlessly? Are you getting lost looking for sex? Are you eating to fill the time and getting more out of shape so you can have yet another limiting belief?

Give yourself permission to change. Create your own incentive by knowing that you have the power to change the energy frequency that you are radiating. You can shift to a higher frequency and therefore inspire yourself to change.

Reflecting Your Personal Beliefs

You know that the philosophical, metaphysical and spiritual justifications for material wealth as the gauge of personal success boil down to hogwash. If others decide how you value yourself, it is because that is what you believe. If your beliefs are not what you want they can be changed by you in the now. Know what you want specifically, and create an activity necessary to implement a goal. This can be done over time, using discipline, consistency and competition.

Evaluate the progress and results of your actions for specific outcome and change the actions if the results you want are not forthcoming. You are capable of making this happen. It is not only about your willingness to do the work. It’s also about believing that you deserve the work. It is about believing that you have a right to be a successful professional actor. Believe you have the right to be an accomplished storyteller. Believe it is your right to be a physical healer with the control of your energy. Believe it is your right to be a member of a career field as old as civilization.

The ability to believe is connected to the glorious gift of imagination. To believe is to have access to life’s ultimate bounty. Acting is a career where ultimate power brings with it many obstacles. The greatest of these obstacles is you. If you make the choice you can change anything that is getting in the way of your desired beliefs. Recognize what those obstacles are to you. Evaluate their effect on you and then remove them from your life.

Take some time and evaluate what you are doing with your time. Find those activities that are keeping you from your purported goals. It is in those activities that you will find your true beliefs. If those true beliefs do not support your expectations then take away their power by changing the activities.

As always I wish you well,
Russ

Harmonizing Your Values

Harmonizing Your Values
It is important that you learn the difference between the core and cover of your reality. If they are not on the same page with each other they will work against you. As we know your true values are easily uncovered by looking at your use of time and your desired values are revealed by clarifying your wants. You now know that your true beliefs may be controlling your life while your desired beliefs may have little power for you. You want to find the priorities of your life. If you have done that you should recognize how your time priorities show your true values.

Setting Action
As you may have noticed I believe that it is critical that you make sure that acting is really the profession you want(internal belief based on desire). It is important you are sure that acting is the profession you are willing to make your number one priority in life (external beliefs or use of time). But, you must acknowledge the possibility of your having external and internal turmoil. Without acknowledging this possible turmoil, you may never have what you desire for this career. And there is the possibility that your true beliefs of defeat will never loosen their grip on your destiny so that you can fulfill your desired beliefs. Remember, it is your true beliefs that dictate your actions.

Try these few simple tests to see if acting is both your true and your desired occupation. If acting is your true and desired profession then you are not embarrassed by those efforts needed to achieve your goals.

You are not embarrassed to go to make believe.
You do not criticize the physical actions needed for repetition.
You do not try and justify the art of acting.
You talk about your character in the third person.
You do not feel silly doing the job.
You expect to make a comfortable living and career success.

If you are challenged by any of these thoughts then there may be in conflict with your true values and your desired values. Meaning, there may be conflict between your true beliefs and your desired beliefs.

Beliefs are what create the countless reasons for your actions. Values are the attitudes and the qualities you consider important and are revealed in the way you live and conduct your life.

Some values motivate your behavior and some values motivate your thoughts.

They can be described as external or presentational values or internal or protective values. They really must be in sync. These internal and external values/beliefs must be focused on the same thing. If not, you’ll work against yourself without knowing it.

Your external values are your presentations, accompanied by your physical and emotional attitude. They present how you want to be perceived in relation to someone else. Your external values are what you want other people to observe as important to you. Your external values lead to the actions used to define you as a person. Often the presentation of some people’s external values is like "praying in public" to show they are pious.

In many cases a person’s external values are not supported by the internal values/beliefs. These folk risk being exposed for who they really are inside. There is nothing more pathetic in the human experience than presenting yourself as one thing but believing something else. The only thing worse could be not recognizing the difference. How terrible it is to be respected for your presentation and then to be discovered that your internal values negate your supposed truth. This is often the case with characters that you will play.

I had a friend who became mayor of a small town. He was respected and loved by the entire community. A married city councilman, who had decided to run against him for mayor, received a videotape of himself having sex with a woman, not his wife, in an abandoned parking lot. The councilman decided to expose the blackmail attempt at the cost of his reputation. His outrage of being blackmailed was greater than his fear of shame. When it looked as if the mayor was behind the whole scheme, the mayor denied his involvement. When an innocent deputy sheriff was charged, convicted and sentenced, the mayor denied his involvement. When the mayor’s closest friend began to crumble under the weight of the secret, it was finally exposed and yet the mayor still denied any involvement. The mayor denied any involvement even after he was convicted on Federal extortion charges and sent to prison. Two years later the husband of the mayor’s former secretary, a local minister, admitted that he had written the blackmail letter at the request of the mayor. With this revelation, the mayor finally confessed. After two years in prison, after being divorced by his wife, after going bankrupt, the innocent deputy sheriff was released. And, the culpable minister was given a new car by his parish for coming forward. Go figure.

What internal belief/value did the mayor possess that was more powerful than his external belief/value of decency and honor? What internal beliefs did the councilman have that made him think that his responsibility to his wife, his children and the community were more important that a quick sex act? What internal beliefs did the minister hold that allowed him to become involved in the ridiculous effort by writing the letter when he should have stopped it from happening. What value of his beliefs would allow him to let an innocent man stay in prison for two years before coming forward? What internal motivation did a moral reformer governor of a state possess that allowed him to be caught spending campaign funds on prostitutes or the internal motivation and beliefs of a close friend of the President of the United States and CEO of a major Wall Street company who tells all his employees to buy as much stock in the company as they can as he is secretly selling all of his or the internal beliefs of United States Senator that would allow him to actively support legislation to limit the rights of homosexuals while he cruises the men’s rooms in airports for anonymous gay sex?

These convoluted internal beliefs are what make up the stories we tell. None of these men would appear to be willing to let these selfish internal beliefs risk destroying everything they had created for themselves and their friends and family. But they did and they still do.

Look at the extent the mayor was willing to go to in order to protect his external value presentation. Look at the extent the mayor was willing to go in order to protect his internal belief system from being exposed. It is important that you make sure the external values you demonstrate in your life are supported by your true internal beliefs.

It is frustrating when you recognize that your external values (use of time) needed for a successful career are hampered by your internal beliefs/values for security and respectability. Identify the actual beliefs you hold that support an internal belief that acting is a profession of security and respectability. When you find those true beliefs of fear that contradict your goals then you can work to replace them with your desired beliefs for success. You can then change their value with your use of time.

If you don’t know the difference between your beliefs and values how can you expect to keep them working in harmony? The primary reason for the 98% failure rate in the entertainment industry is the conflict between true and desired values and beliefs. By uncovering your values of these beliefs you can distinguish between the two.

Make sure your external values of presentation are in harmony with your internal true and desired values. Make sure your behaviors match your internal and external goals. Your goals must be in harmony with your use of time and your belief in the outcome of the goal.

Therefore you must create an agenda. You must create a plan. Arrange your time so that it puts your values in there proper place. Any goal requires being consistent and willing to sacrifice your time and efforts. It requires that you persevere. A goal requires action for results. This action can only be maintained if your beliefs are supported by both your true and desired values with your use of time.

One of the most difficult concepts to accept is that “all things are possible, if you only believe." It is difficult because it requires that you know your own truth. That means you need to believe in the truth of yourself and the truth of your beliefs. When you realize that your desired beliefs are real, supportive and powerful you’ll also realize that your success is in direct relationship to their harmony with your true values (indicated by how you spend your time). Your priorities, as defined by your use of time, will reflect if your true and desired values have merged and are moving you toward a successful acting career.

Remember, your true beliefs control your internal values that support action. Your brain does not evaluate the pros and cons of the instructions you give it when it is on automatic pilot. And on automatic pilot your true beliefs are the operating values you depend on to become a successful professional actor. They must be in harmony.

Your desired values and your desired beliefs can only be working with positive focus, awareness and accountability. Until you find a way to ferret out the true beliefs that are non supportive you’ll continue to be at the mercy of your own limitations. Don’t support beliefs (rules for living) that stop you from winning the game of life. It is your choice which beliefs (rules) you accept for yourself. That is why you want to know if your true beliefs are also your desired beliefs. You want to know if the things you really value most by the use of your time are supportive of an acting career or some other life affirming circumstance.

To be eliminated they have to be acknowledged as true beliefs that support true values rather than desired beliefs that support desired values. You must know the difference in order to put harmony in your life. You cannot wish yourself to be something different. You will have to work at it. Learn to accept your true beliefs and values by being accountable for your use of time. Own your use of time and be accountable for how you go about doing what you do.

The Comfortable Pain of Mediocrity
The power to change your life is completely up to you. Sometimes you may find yourself in a state of mind where your focus and actions are counter productive. Remember that your physical body has the power to keep you from your desired course. Your body can set an energy vibration that causes the law of attraction to work against you. Change this. Recognize when your thoughts are at a frequency level making you think as a victim. Recognize than in truth you are the victimizer. You victimize yourself. You do this because it is more comfortable to live in the pain of mediocrity than to risk the failure of action. Risk could force you to deal with humiliation and ridicule. The irony is that only you can feel badly about what you have done. But, to feel badly when you know your best was thwarted by your own true beliefs is a waste of time.

You do not want to accept mediocrity. That should be one of your new true and desired beliefs. You should believe that if one person has made it to the top of the mountain, it can happen to you. You should know what the top of the mountain is for you. You want to know what you expect from yourself. You should expect that if everything goes according to plan you will know where your career will be five years from now. If you know that, you also know how to describe your plan.

Put your plan into writing. You will feel empowered knowing that you actually have a plan. Identify what is keeping you from focusing on having a plan. Then, identify the priorities you have set for yourself that are your values and beliefs. Once you see your priorities (use of time) you can begin to understand what the true values are in your life.

It is important that you identify those beliefs that are keeping you away from your desired values. If you can’t put your desired values (the way you want to live your life) on your goal list then you really don’t want them. You must control your beliefs with awareness. Make sure all the pieces to your life puzzle are in place. And, most of all, make sure being a professional actor is where you really want to spend your life.

Character Types
You want to recognize any beliefs you have about acting that are keeping you from an acting career. They may be unconscious so you are seeking to understand what you truly believe to make them conscious.

I have already discussed that characters come as four basic types. Not just physical type by appearance but also what the person wants someone to see by their look. Some people choose to appear nice on the outside but at their core they are selfish and dangerous. I call these people light on dark. There are others who choose to appear to be nice on the outside at their core they are truly decent loving people. I call these people light on light. Then, there are others who choose to appear to be dangerous on the outside but, at their core, are unselfish and loving people. I call these people dark on light. And, finally, there are those who appear evil or dangerous on the outside and, at their core, they are. I call these people dark on dark.

Of the four types of people, the most honest are those who are light on light and those who are dark on dark. That is the honesty factor. You know where you stand with these people. Their true and desired values and beliefs are in harmony. What you see is what you get. Dark on dark types are not trying to intimidate without cause or trying to be intimidating without motive. They know that their selfish internal and external beliefs are in harmony and they let you know it, too.

The same is true with those who are light on light. They appear kind and compassionate on the outside and, in truth, are the same from their internal belief system. They, too, present to the world the truth of who and what they are. Characters are quickly defined this way whereas in reality it is a bit more complicated. Where do you fit in this list of types? What true beliefs have led you to a presentation that may or may not support the truth of your internal beliefs? You need to have this awareness in order to create harmony in yourself.

Self Serving
Self serving is only a negative experience if the feelings and needs of others are sacrificed in order for us to get what we want. Based on topic and circumstance any of us can be self-serving. What is important it that you be true to yourself. If you choose to sleep your way to the top yet that is counter to your true belief system you’ll find the end result may not be worth the sacrifice. If, on the other hand, your true belief system accepts sleeping to the top then may not become an issue. However, choices you make today will surface to haunt you if they are made against your true beliefs. Do not try and go around them. That is why it is important to know what they are and change them if you can. Be sure that you know what your true beliefs are or you may be in for a surprise.

Have a great week. Focus on what you are doing with your time. See if that time expenditure matches the things you are saying about what you want from this life. You might be surprised.

As always,
I wish you well.
Russ

Formula for Creating a Character or a Life

Formula for Creating a Character
The characters that you play as an actor are looking for the same things as you. Character types come from an internal position of value that is either based on being selfless or selfish. That core belief system will determine whether the character’s internal motivation is positive or negative. A character that appears to be open and nonthreatening from his external presentation has a light cover (presentation). The character that appears to be intimidating or superior from the external presentation has a dark cover (presentation). They first come from a point of reference both emotionally and physically. This, as you know, is a presentation of expected value.

If the character’s internal motivation appears to be selfless, then his operating beliefs or his core is light (nonthreatening). If the character’s operating belief system appears to be selfish, then his core is dark (threatening). These are character qualities that you will deal with. There will be clues in the script to guide you to this knowledge of the character. There will also be clues that the casting director or director will give you to help guide you to the core/cover choice you will make. The four cover and core combination possibilities are: Dark on Dark, Dark on Light, Light on Dark and Light on Light.

Your ability to create and play characters, with a strong point of reference for the audience, has a great deal to do with your physical and presentational clarity. There are two types of characters from the presentation position. The first are those characters that appear to be nonthreatening by their external physical and emotional presentation. This physical presentation includes both non threatening physical characteristics and non intimidating choice of dress. These elements constitute a light cover position. There are also those characters that appear threatening and intimidating from their external physical presentation. This includes the physical characteristics and their choice of intimidating clothing. This constitutes the dark cover position.

Your physical reference point will help guide you to what acting jobs you might be best suited to seek and what areas of storytelling you most comfortable fit. Many actors or aspiring actors choose not to clarify their type (including stock and stereotypes). This lack of position of play clarity may keep one from finding an agent or business representation. Unfortunately, in many cases the truth of the presentation is counter to the actor’s grasp on reality.

The first major way to know what characters you are best suited to play is if the character is liberal or conservative. Most people don’t want to deal with this kind of apparent discrimination. They feel it is unfair and prejudicial. And of course, it is unfair and prejudicial. That’s part of the purpose of story telling. Story telling shows the audience how we class each other and strive to be better than each other even within our own race and subcultures. Presentation of style and affluence is primarily an effort to convey a class distinction. For example, certain class distinction indicates that the character values education, elitism, style, affluence, breeding, culture, propriety… etc.

You should use your understanding of creating a character to help you find your own quality traits and values both good and bad. You need to know your strengths, weakness, talents and fears that make you who you are. Not being aware of these will keep you from being the person and the actor you wish to be. In your own life this is also true. Finding your values and qualities to achieve the goals for your life need to be as clear to you as it is for any character you are creating.

Formula for Creating Yourself

There is a formula for creating a character. That formula is A + B = C. The A is the actor, the B is the book/script, and the C the collaborators. All of these elements constitute the creating of a character. The book refers to the script’s clues or suggestions given by the director. The director’s clues come from the literal as well as his vision of the script. Later clues come from the contribution of the other creative collaborators.

By understanding this formula you will serve yourself as a storyteller. Without this blend of your qualities and the needs of the script you may well serve the character in the play but not serve yourself playing the character. Knowing how to make the blend will serve you as someone the audience loves to see telling stories from one of the four cover/core presentational styles. The knowledge of the blend will make you special and get people to pay attention to you and therefore, it will provide financial security.

You also want to be able to translate a director’s interpretation and script clues for a character. You want to recognize the character traits and physical presentation that the director lifts from the script and the ones he brings from his own vision. You can then take that knowledge and blend them with your understanding of your own core and cover combination.

As you strive to create your own acting career, what you are really starting is your own company. And, if that company is successful you will be responsible for the income of others. While you’re working to become a successful professional actor it is important that you are accepting that you’re going into business for yourself. And, like anyone who owns his own business, you need to believe you can do it well. You must believe you have the spirit and ability that makes you a competitive business in this diverse industry. You must make sure the rules you have set for yourself are based on beliefs that support your true abilities to be successful.

You want to know how to translate the rules that others play by. With this knowledge you can interpret their physical dark or light cover presentation as well as interpret their selfish or selfless core motivation. Knowing the purpose of the core /cover combination used by others in relation to you will give you an advantage in the choices you make.

But, it depends on what you really want. It would be wonderful if seeking this career gives you a feeling of importance and accomplishment. It would be wonderful if this career makes you proud knowing that your work affects lives and makes things better for your audience. It would be wonderful if your time with an audience removes them from their personal pain. It would be grand if a reason to pursue this career was to heal others. It would be awesome if these were your reasons. But the real reasons may be more personal and complex.

It is said by many self help advocates that life is not a destination, it is a process. If you do not enjoy the process you will not enjoy the destination. Life is to be lived and the living is filled with ups as well as downs. It should be filled with the excitement of the adventure. If the trip isn't fun chances are the memories won’t be either. Beliefs that are not matched with responsibility and intelligence are more than likely going to result in your possible unhappiness. Therefore, you want to make your beliefs pleasure oriented. Make sure your belief’s support your priorities (true and desired).

Make sure your beliefs support your pursuing a successful professional acting career. Make sure your beliefs or rules for living are not interfering with your ability to achieve a successful professional acting career. Assess those beliefs that are working against you.

If you want to be successful begin by feeling as if you are successful. If you can fool other people, chances are you can fool yourself. Catch yourself whenever you are holding on to beliefs that are nothing more than instructions to support a negative low energy vibration. Make sure your rules for living are not so difficult that you can’t pull away from negative thoughts in order to win the game of life. You must truly want to be successful in this business. Circumstances will happen that create a detour from your set goals. It is not the event of the detour that will change your fate. It is the belief that you attach to the event which will determine the power of the detour.

If you believe you can or you believe you can’t you’re right. And, remember, beliefs are not permanent unless they go unchallenged.

Have a great week.
I wish you well.
Russ

How Your Negative Realities Become Your True Values
Before you start to change something, you need to know what it is that you are going to change. Uncover your true values by analyzing your behavior patterns. Find out how they originated in your life. Most of your patterns of behavior are learned from your family. I believe that the first 18 years of a person’s life are critical to setting up life-time patterns.

We are taught impression management. While growing up we are making choices. While growing up we are taught what values are acceptable according to the society of our origin. We see people make choices that result in pain. We see other people who make choices that give pleasure. Often the two are in conflict. What some choose that gives apparent pleasure are often choices that go against the beliefs we have been taught about right and wrong. Most of us are taught how to conduct ourselves in front of other people. Most of us are taught to value what other people think of us. We have learned to value our ability to deceive others and we may even have learned to value our right to stand up for ourselves even when we are wrong. We may have learned what works and what doesn’t work to get us what we want.

As an actor you know how values are presented through a character. Like the clues given in a script, many of your values, true and desired, are shown in your personal presentation. For example: Your values are shown in how you dress. They are shown in how you communicate to friends, family, and strangers. They are shown in how you respond to different types of people, from acceptance to judgment. Your values are shown in how you entertain yourself and in the places you frequent. Your values are evidenced by what you believe in terms of being just or unjust. Your values are seen in your priorities. Your values are seen in the types of movies and television you watch. They are seen in the kind of friends you have. They live in the secrets that you keep. They are reflected in your honesty. They are reflected in your decency. They are reflected in your expectations of yourself and of others.

When creating a character we become aware of the deception techniques used by the character because during the course of the play those techniques will be exposed as the story unfolds. Just like characters you may develop you discover deception techniques are tied to the values that the character may have adopted for survival. As you study your character you can acknowledge that each of their values may be supported by beliefs that come from your own life experiences.

Like a character, your true values that create negative experiences are found in your hidden fears. And, as with a character, you realize that most of your values were learned and accepted by you as you were growing up. Your family, your social and economic circumstance, your religion, your race, your peers, and your education are among the many things that created your accepted values, both true and desired.

To become more effective in your career and life you need to be aware of those values that you may have turned into beliefs that are stopping you from doing the work that is necessary to move you toward a successful professional acting career.

Changing Your Values by Default
There is another reason you need to be consciously aware of your value system, both true and desired. You know what gives you physical pleasure and what gives you physical pain. You also know what gives you emotional pleasure and what gives you emotional pain. Emotional pleasure and pain are often used in this business. The more you control you have of what causes them in you the better prepared you are to override disabling techniques used by some casting directors, producers, agents and, unfortunately, other actors. You need to know their values if you want to share their playing field. If you wish to play only by your rules you may find the road to success a difficult and painful one.

Knowing how to recognize your true values in relation to your desired values affords you the opportunity to become aware of the behavioral patterns of those you will come into contact with in this business. It keeps you from being vulnerable to the manipulation and abuse that can be experienced in this business. Pushing buttons is a term used to explain someone’s ability to control your emotional responses. If someone knows how to read your true values (through your use of time) they also know how to push your buttons. With this ability they have the power to control your emotional state and therefore your state of mind.

Leaving your emotional state to the mercy of others is a tragic mistake. You may have found learned to alter your desired values because you wanted certain people to be your friend. People who are going to be in a position to hire you or promote you are going to be using their understanding of the game to move up the ladder of success. You need to know what the game means to them.

Many actors or aspiring actors may be using values to operate their careers that do not support their desired values. Look at your own career choices. There may be things that you have done in order to promote your career that are disagreeable to you. Develop a clear path for your career and you will become less vulnerable to others’ agendas. Have a clear path so you can determine whether your values and beliefs are supporting your desire to be a successful professional actor. Remember, your values are being affected all the time. They are being affected by your peers, your family, and your most personal relationships.

No Dogs or Actors
The acting profession does not sit high on most cultural lists of acceptable occupations. It wasn’t that long ago hotels had signs reading “no dogs or actors”. Times may be changing due to the enormous amount of work being generated for successful actors, but the old beliefs and old reputations still haunt the aspiring actor. Some of your beliefs and true values may be subconsciously affected by history. It is important to acknowledge how many of your pre-instilled beliefs are freely residing in your brain. You may have unknown beliefs that limit your thoughts. And, you may be evaluating your efforts with these limiting beliefs.

Some of these beliefs could be: If I had a great showcase I would get an agent. If I had an agent then I could get an acting job. If I had an Equity card I could get a professional audition. If I knew the right people I could get the right job. If I won the lottery I would have the money I need to pursue all my dreams.

Your own rules for living may be making the pursuit of acting in this game of life difficult for you to win. Your beliefs can determine the possibility of your reaching your goals by the choices you make. Those choices are indicated by your use of time. What you choose to believe is up to you. You do not want to accept beliefs that are too difficult to follow. It is possible to have a belief that you can have a successful career as an actor and, at the same time, have a belief that acting is not a vocation but an avocation with no hope for financial security. The goals for your life are dictated by your values and your choice of beliefs will indicate the importance you put on the way your life is to be lived. You could have many beliefs that are built-in detractors and saboteurs. You may even have beliefs that are designed to justify poverty and survival.

Acknowledging the Ifs
It is my contention that your “ifs” are excuses for non action. The “ifs” are the result of the conflict between your true values and beliefs. You need to know where any belief comes from. You should also know that it is not the individual belief that is important. You need to find the purpose your belief system serves. That knowledge will lead you to your core beliefs that are controlling your process of thought under the guise of logical support. A core belief may be: ‘someone else needs to make it happen for me because my personal power must be validated from the outside’. Core beliefs are coded as rules we have accepted as truths. Once you can identify what those rules are you can weed out those that do not support your desired career oriented values.

These beliefs may have been ingrained into you at such an early age that you do not realize that they are actually a part of your reality. Yet, these beliefs may be subconsciously undermining the desired values you need to support your chosen destiny

Success and Rejection
You need to verbalize your life purpose. You need to know what you really want out of life. It is important that you know if your values and beliefs support your goals for becoming a successful professional actor. You need to know what is most important to you and what is your life going to be about. Therefore, you need to know your rules or beliefs for your life.

Success in your chosen career requires much effort in order to achieve the knowledge and repetitions needed to acquire talent and take it to Talent. There will be rejection along the way. Your desire for success may be in direct conflict with your fear of rejection. This may result in non-action

I know of many actors whose personal beliefs or rules for living do not support a successful acting career. Many actors have set their rules for succeeding so high that the actions to go after the career become impossible. It may also be true for you that many of your beliefs, both personal and universal, are making success too difficult.

The origin of these rules could be found by looking at your circumstances of growing up. Many of your beliefs about acting were set when your becoming a professional actor was not a major focus. Many of your acting beliefs could have come from people you love and respect who shared information that they felt you needed in order to pursue an acting career. Their concern was activated when you began to indicate that this might be an interest that could lead to a career effort. These well meaning people in your life may not have believed that an acting career was best for you.

Regardless of where or why, their beliefs were shared with you and the fact remains that they became part of your subconscious beliefs. If left unchallenged they can secretly distract you from your career efforts. There is a part of you that won’t let your dream come true. The result is pursuing the idea of an acting career while rarely doing the efforts necessary to move the career to a legitimate effort. This often leads to a convoluted idea of an acting career.

Even though many cannot make a living as an actor, based on the average income statistics, they may claim success from a three scene guest acting job on a second rate television series. This could be a problem, especially if these actors are using that credit years after the series has left the air. Their belief that success, even this minor effort, qualifies them for lifetime storytelling status is a public announcement of a defeating belief.

An additional problem with this acceptance of such a low bar for success is that it creates a built-in defeat position. I had a student during a private session mention he had not spoken to his parents in over five years. I expressed my regret for this and he proceeded to tell me the circumstances of this estrangement. It seems that he was doing an extra job on a network soap opera. He told his parents to be sure to watch the show. After the show aired he received a call from his parents. They didn’t understand what was wrong? Did they miss his part? He told them that walking behind the lead character was his part. They found this curious. “When will you be getting any lines?” With this, he tells me, he expressed to his parents his anger at their lack of support and their naivete at how hard it was even to get a walk on. If that was as supportive as they could be then he didn’t need them or their support.

When he finished his story I was at a loss for words. I asked if he planned to make contact with his parents and he said no. He felt he had done the right thing. My response to him was to acknowledge his parent’s position, which I felt had nothing to do with their support, or love for him. It dealt with more practical matters. If he believed that getting an extra job was so difficult, and if he believed that others should look at this as an achievement, then he had set the value or expected goals, for achievement as an actor too low. His belief about what could be classified as acting success did not have the power of expectation. The issue was not resolved during my tenure with this delightful and sad young man. He was unaware that his own beliefs did not support him. I hope he has become more aware of the beliefs that he holds that could, because of lack of logic, end up hurting him. With the pain comes non-action. And, with non-action comes unwanted results.

If you want to know the true values which may be undermining your desired values ask a friend. Ask the friend a question about you. Example: "Do you think I'm working hard enough on my acting career." Once they respond ask for more detail "how do you know?" Their follow up answer will reflect the true belief you have that supports the topic of the question. In their answer is the belief that may or may not be supporting your desires.

Have a great week and become aware of the actions you are taking that support your beliefs, desired or true. Look at the rules for the game that you have set for yourself.

I wish you well.
Russ

Separating True Values from Desired Values
The human experience is driven by either avoiding pain or achieving pleasure. The network of values by which each person operates can be divided into two camps. Those associated with either pleasure or pain.

Values are those things in life that we hold most dear. It is something of worth by which a life is lived. Values are those life beliefs that guide us. However, values that we live by are also divided into two camps. They are desired values which are those beliefs we wish to have and there are true values which are dictated by how we conduct our lives.

It is important to know which ones are your true values and which are your desired values. This is done by acknowledging which values in your life are given the most time and effort. The only values that are owned by you are those to which you give your time. Desired values, on the other hand, may only be a wish and, often are never given the time to become real. Your true values, the apparent beliefs that are given your time, are often counter to your desires.

For example, you may spend a great deal of time watching television. This would indicate that you have a belief that sitting in front of a television set is a belief to which you give value. By the amount of time that you give to this TV watching behavior would make it appear that this belief about the importance of watching television is the most valued belief that you hold. The truth is in the results. Taking account of how you use your time is what will give you a true picture of what you value as the most important to your life at this time. Your true values could be identified, in order of importance, by the amount of time you give each of them.

Take your career for example. Is finding success in your career your number one true value? Wanting to succeed in an acting career could be based on an underlying desire to find a purpose for life. This does not mean that career success is the number one value and may not be supported by your actions. The reasons for pursuing this career are supported by your life values. However, if what you believe you value and what you actually value are not the same, may cause you confusion and chaos.

You need to be clear as to what you think your true values are, and what your actions reflect what your true values really are. If this is not clear to you, then the message you are sending out to the universe may be negating what you may truly desire. You want to rank those things in life you think are important and then see if your use of time supports your expectations. You need to separate what you would like to believe are your values and your actual values. The universe communicates with connection to energy of the world by the use of action, which is the energy of motion. It is the energy of your life, communicated through your actions, that control your transmission frequencies that the universe receives and then responds to.

If your true values are supported by actions and beliefs, based on your time usage, then your desired values are the operating focus of your life. You want to make sure your desired values are given the chance to overtake the actions that support your true values. Your goal is to transfer your focus, through your actions and efforts, to make your desired values become your true values. This can be done by acknowledging your behavior and being prepared to let your desired values compete for your focus.

You want to be clear on what your use of time communicates about your beliefs and expectations and you want to recognize your desired values of life in order to make sure they are not at cross purposes. For example, if your number one reason to achieve success in this career is based on a belief that you need to prove yourself to other people then your belief is associated with a negative need value. You’re putting value on a negative belief. A negative belief can only transmit at a low frequency because it requires constant justification. This holds your life energy in a down and closed position. This down and closed position will demand more constant internal dialogue which results in a negative transmission frequency that will only be responded to by like energy. This negative energy leads to confusion and chaos. This conflict creates a problem for your desired value system which would not place value on insecurity or low self-esteem. You want to make sure your actions and behavior is not allowing your true values to override your desired values.

Operating Rules
Each of us has a hierarchy of personal values that I call the operating rules for life. They are guiding your everyday focus. What you pay attention to may be based on what must be your true values instead of your desired values. This is usually done without awareness. This means that your use of time could be counterproductive to your desires. What you focus on may indicate that what you must really want is not supportive of your life desires. If left unaware your true values may lead you to focus on things that lead to familiar and comfortable results but at a cost of professional and emotional growth.

It is also possible your desired values are being avoided because they are associated with more pain than pleasure. Many of your desired values may unknowingly be fear based, meaning they are not supported with actual knowledge.


Our Personal Belief System
What are your values? In each of the 7 areas of your life, you should identify the beliefs that are most important to you. Remember, what you would like to believe you value about life are your desired values whereas, what you actually value about your life are your true values. The easiest was to find out the difference between your desired and true values is to calculate your time efforts. How you spend your time shows what you truly value. When you take the time to look at how you spend your time I believe you might find that you are locked in a dichotomous circumstance that can only support chaos and confusion.

The priorities in your life fall into two general categories. They are circumstances you seek to have and circumstances you wish to avoid. These life priorities are driven by your own belief system. We have developed our belief system by the life experiences that have resulted in pleasure, such as happiness, joy, comfort, or those life experiences that have given us pain, such as unhappiness, discontent, sorrow, frustration, depression. Based on the level of pain or pleasure, these life events have been supported by beliefs which collectively have become our personal belief system.

These life events and corresponding beliefs are valued based on the impact they have had on the individual’s life. Many of the beliefs in our personal belief system are based on life events and experiences that are counter to our knowledge the belief associates with. Most people believe that success should be valued. Many believe that respect should be valued. Values such as health, happiness, adventure, loyalty, human rights, romance, kindness, peace, religion…etc are all beliefs that many hold as important.

However, in reality, values are really only concepts. They are concepts that bring with them individual ideas and individual expectations. They are concepts because they are associated with a collective ideal but not necessarily a collective path. Values, true and desired, come from life events that need to be understood independently in order to appreciate their worth.

Like the characters in stories every individual’s list of values is different based on their life shaping events. In storytelling, the sequences of these events form the French scenes of the character’s life. So in our lives there have been events that have been associated with pleasure that drive us to seek like experiences and there have been events that have been associated with pain that compel us to avoid similar experiences. The layering of these events and the resulting pain or pleasure they create, define us as to who we are emotionally, physically and spiritually.

No two individuals can experience the same sequence of life events of pain and pleasure. As a result two individuals may have similar personal experiences but they can never have the same experiences leading to acceptance life values. It is important that you identify the life experiences that have proven in the past to give you pleasure. These pleasure supporting life experiences have created the beliefs that drive you to hold the concepts they represent as a high priority value in your life.

It is also critical that you acknowledge the life experiences that have proven in the past to give you pain. It can be said that all things we value in life are supported by a personal belief but not all things we do in life are supported by what we value. Many of our actions are not supported by our desired beliefs but become the true beliefs that we allow to dominate our lives. It is one of the ways the physical body controls your life energy and resulting focus and actions. It is this dichotomy that causes chaos and confusion in our lives and often leads us to waste time and behaving in ways that can only result in continued self-loathing.

Personal Truths
Anger could be an emotion that you seek to avoid. Anger is a concept and is experienced differently as a result of the life events and experiences that have made it a high priority on your avoidance list. Frustration could be an avoidance concept for you as well as rejection, greed, hate, cruelty, dishonesty, betrayal, depression, sadness, anxiety… etc. Because these responses are also concepts they are based on the individual experience and the order of importance and degree of avoidance are personal to the belief system that it has created.

There are certain events, circumstances and life experiences you try to avoid more than others. They are supported by the degree of impact of the event and the resulting emotional response that created it. Your values in life are based on continuing accumulation of events that are being defined by the beliefs you have accepted as your personal truths. They have become your rules for living and they often affect the way new experiences are perceived. New experiences may be associated with fear of more pain and the result is to remove the possibility that this new experience will bring growth and personal power.

It is said that if you know how a person uses their time you can predict the direction in which their life will take. Your use of time indicates what you truly believe about your life. Let’s say your number one value in life is personal freedom or independence. As a result you would be highly aware of anything that might threaten to take that away. Therefore, it would seem that you might have a more difficult time with commitment. Since we know the values of a person’s life are based on their desire for pleasure and their avoidance of pain, we can predict how they will behave. If they held personal freedom as their number one life priority we could have a general idea of what their relationships would be like. If a person held adventure as the number one priority in life we could generalize what kind of activities they might enjoy. If shopping was a person’s number one priority in life we could imagine how they might spend their time.

Let’s say a person’s number one value in life is security and their number 25 value is adventure. You could guess what their life might be like and where their focus might be. But, what if those values were switched? The fastest way to change the direction of your life is to change what you do with your time. By doing this you would be forced to view your life differently and be faced with the beliefs that life has presented you. If you accepted a different position you would be compelled to seek pleasure from events and circumstances that have never allowed you to pursue. The priorities of your entire life would change. What you would focus on would change and what you do with your time would be different.

You need to uncover your present values. You want to discover the order of their importance. This is not based on what you desire to have as priorities. It is based on your behavioral patterns that can be broken down by your use of time. Your actions reflect what your values and priorities are. Your goal is to become aware of your desired values based on how you wish you lived your life in relation to your real values based on your beliefs about pain and pleasure.

You need to uncover what is keeping you from living your life in accordance with the values you desire. To do this you must clarify your values. You must direct what you focus on daily. The actions that follow will change the patterns that have been created by the conflict between your true values and your desired values.

You can only change the conflict between your pleasure seeking values and your pain avoiding fears when you discover what these values and fears are. Until then you run the risk of being at the mercy of circumstance. You can look at a close friend or family member and, most likely, be able to list their pleasure seeking and fear avoiding priorities. You could most likely describe their values and behavioral patterns. You could describe their attitude, their outlook on life, their beliefs about society, the world, and the things they go after as well as the things they try to avoid. You could name the things they fear and the things they fear in others. If you can do this about someone else you can do it for yourself.

Have a great week and know,
I wish you well.
Russ