Photo Credit: bobaliciouslondon via cc
After you walk out of an audition or casting what do you do?
Do you think about how well it went and feel great about yourself? Or do you leave kicking yourself, thinking about how you shoulda, woulda, coulda?
I know which one is easier to do.
It is easier and completely human to scrutinise what you have done, to examine it, to rip it apart and look for the faults. We are programmed this way. We are built to look for our problems, so that we can fix them.
But does it really help?
Does it serve you to beat yourself up after a casting? Is it useful to knock yourself about how you messed up or weren’t good enough. How often has that behaviour led to you actually getting the job?
If it doesn’t help you, then why do it?
You have to believe in yourself, that’s the secret.
Even when I was in the orphanage, when I was roaming the street trying to find enough to eat, even then I thought of myself as the greatest actor in the world.
I had to feel the exuberance that comes from utter confidence in yourself. Without it, you go down to defeat
Even when I was in the orphanage, when I was roaming the street trying to find enough to eat, even then I thought of myself as the greatest actor in the world.
I had to feel the exuberance that comes from utter confidence in yourself. Without it, you go down to defeat
Next time you have a casting or an audition, no matter how you think it has gone, walk out of that casting room and feel great about yourself. Wouldn’t that be a nice feeling, and wouldn’t that be freeing?
It is not your job to be your own worst enemy and criticise yourself. Leave the criticising to the critics and let your enemies be your enemies. You should be your greatest champion and the sooner you can silence your inner critic and let your inner coach start speaking up, the better.
Don’t be your biggest critic, be your biggest fan
Your inner coach has the power to look at what works about what you have done and to build on that. An inner coach is able to examine your actions in a positive light and help you to use what works about you to help you to move forward.
To feel good about yourself is a choice. It is a choice that you can make in daily life which will support you and help you to approach every task with a sense of joy and feedom.
If at this point you are saying ‘Yes, that’s all well and good but you don’t know my situation’ – then that is the little voice which is giving you all the grief after the castings. That little nagging voice has come from somewhere and from someone, perhaps a teacher, perhaps a parent, perhaps a bully, perhaps an old boss or a colleague, but that voice isn’t really your voice, it isn’t your higher self. That voice is like an old answerphone message which you keep on repeat, it is a message which it is time to delete.
Don’t carry on bullying yourself, its not healthy and there are plenty of people in this world who can do that for you! Start to believe in yourself because in this whole world you are the one person who can and should love you unconditionally.
A person who doubts himself is like a man who would enlist in the ranks of his enemies and bear arms against himself.
He makes his failure certain by himself being the first person to be convinced of it
He makes his failure certain by himself being the first person to be convinced of it
A movie director will have a vision for a film they are making, and that vision will colour every aspect of the film. You can see the director’s vision in every scene, every shot, every choice. You are the director of your own movie and you can choose your vision. Your vision is colouring your life and your career, and if you have a continually critical and negative vision then it colours every choice and action in that nagative light.
Change your way of thinking, change your vision. Honestly, it is that easy.
The power is within you to create a better outcome.
Start by leaving the next casting feeling empowered. Enjoy the fact that you have had a casting, that you have just done some acting, that you are following and living your dream. You were chosen to be seen out of hundreds of actors for this part.
Enjoy who you are right at this moment, it is who you are after all, and no one can take that away from you.
Other Mind, Body, Spirit Posts
-
Many actors, dancers, singers and performers swear by the Alexander Technique and its teachings. But what’s it all about and why is it useful when acting? Here is our brief introduction -
The thought of giving up an acting career crosses every actors mind, especially when times are hard and the work dries up. Here are some wise words of wisdom from Actor Hub to make sure you never give up on your acting career! -
Guest Post from award-winning writer, director, producer, and Artistic Director of Anthony Meindl’s Actor Workshop in London. His London acting classes meet Monday nights. -
The world needs you, it needs me, to step up and give ourselves to it because somewhere there is someone who will be moved by what you’ve done enough to do it themselves
