The actor’s life is FULL of ups and downs. One minute you are riding the adrenaline of getting cast in a play with a director you’ve always wanted to work with, or you’re buzzing from booking a voiceover job that will mean you can afford to go on vacation this year (or maybe pay your damn dental bill). The next minute, you come crashing down because some deal didn’t go through, or because you’re stressing out over a self-tape audition, or because maybe your stylist cut your hair a touch too short. Who knows!
This week, I got short listed for a big gig that would have been amazing to get, aaaaaand….I didn’t get it.
Am I bummed I didn’t get the gig? OF COURSE.
But as actors, we have to find ways of coping that involve focusing only on what we can control. So here’s how I turn this around for myself:
I can’t control who the client will pick. All I can control is my work, both my level of commitment to consistently working, and also to doing my best every time. If I do a great job at my auditions, hopefully the creatives at the ad agency will remember me when I cross their desk again. Maybe (and this has happened) they will directly request me for a project.
And I also remind myself that things change all the time.
At any point in time, even after the job is recorded, the client could change their mind.
They could scrap the whole project.
They could decide that they made a mistake, and that they actually did want to use me after all (this has also happened to me).
They could fire the person at the job (I’ve heard of this happening, though it’s obviously rare), or after the job (happened to a friend of mine).
Or the voice actor could get sick or otherwise not be able to do the job, and they could have to recast it.
So, at any point, the job could still be mine. (And if you believe in multiple universe theory, then there definitely exists a universe where I got the job.)
All I can control is:
My work (consistent effort over time)
My attitude
It behooves me to not get too attached to the outcome of my efforts, good or bad, but to keep working toward my goals whether I see results or not. And to keep a good attitude as best as I can while doing my work.
“You have the right to work, but for the work's sake only. You have no right to the fruits of work. Desire for the fruits of work must never be your motive in working. Never give way to laziness, either.
Perform every action with you heart fixed on the Supreme Lord. Renounce attachment to the fruits. Be even-tempered in success and failure: for it is this evenness of temper which is meant by yoga.
Work done with anxiety about results is far inferior to work done without such anxiety, in the calm of self-surrender. Seek refuge in the knowledge of Brahma. They who work selfishly for results are miserable.”
― Bhagavad Gita
A good friend of mine once stated a goal to our accountability group of wanting to get cast in a stage show for the summer. The local auditions came and went, and he was not cast. At one of our meetings, he came in defeated, and with a heavy sigh, he said “Well, I didn’t get cast, so...I guess that’s that.”
I responded “The summer isn’t over yet.”
Halfway through the summer, someone dropped out of a show, and a director he had previously worked with offered him the role. He achieved his goal.
I believe that if you shut down the possibility of achieving something because you don’t see how it could happen, then you might not see the opportunity when it arrives. Keep your mind and your eyes open!
Final story: The origin of my persistence
As a child, I wanted to be in the 4th and 5th grade musical. I really wanted to be the lead, but I didn’t even get cast in a speaking role. Despite having the gumption to audition, I was put in the general chorus with the rest of the kids. The ones who really didn’t want to be there. I didn’t get to dance or say a line. I just had to sing from the bleachers.
Inside my eight year old brain, something spoke to me. A little voice said “Your classmate…he doesn’t always show up to things. Tomorrow, you’re going to show up for the early rehearsal, and he’s not going to show up, and the teacher will give you his role.”
That little voice was correct. I listened to my intuition and chose to show up. I got my line. I got to dance.
If you really want something, just keep showing up for it. Show up for yourself and your dreams. Rain. Shine. Good days. Bad days. Days you don't feel like it. Days when your kids are sick, when you would rather watch TV, when you have dishes or laundry to do.
Choose to have hope. Choose to keep faith that things are happening behind the scenes, even when you don’t see evidence of them yet. You won’t win them all, but if you keep showing up, results will come.
Show up.