Things Actors Should Say ‘No’ To

Things Actors Should Say 'No' To

We have previously covered how important a positive outlook on your life, and on your career, is to an actor. The problem with many budding artists of today is they often get ahead of themselves and when they hit a big brick wall, they collapse. When you’ve decided to pursue this career, you knew what you’re going to sacrifice for your acting dream. Stop being a burden to yourself, and read on.

Things Actors Should Say ‘No’ To

Fortunately or not, there are plenty of things actors must sacrifice and say ‘no’ to once they embark on this journey. The whole two chapters have been dedicated to list all the reasons in our acting handbook. Today, let’s focus only on the mental state of every artist out there, and the things they should stop doing if they want to continue their successful conquest of this business we call “show”.

Say “no” to your fears

All of us (and trust me when I say all) have entered this profession with big dreams, ambitions, aspirations and various degrees of naivete. Regardless of whether you thought you’re going to be discovered overnight or not, there was always that voice in your head that whispered about success being just around the corner. But as the years go by, most of us begin to understand that becoming a regular on a TV show, let alone a movie star, might never happen.

Some actors are absolutely fine with never becoming famous and they’re happy to continue their journey; maybe they will get there, maybe they won’t. It doesn’t really matter as long as you love what you do. Others, however, start giving into their fears: paranoia about never making it, never being famous, never earning enough from the acting gigs.

If you’re one of latter breed, you must put a stop to this. Understand that there’s absolutely nothing to be gained from these thoughts. As long as you’ll stay positive and focus on the road ahead, not only this will make it easier for you to finally reach that dream, but this journey will bring you pleasure every single day.

Say “no” to all the complaints

Whining is something humankind loves to do. Actors, however, being emotional and temperamental, sometimes take it to a whole other level. Chances are you don’t notice it because you’re so used to saying things like: “if only they would’ve given me a second chance!” But they didn’t, you only had the one. Now you must change this attitude and move on! Put all this energy into your performance instead, because constantly feeling sorry for yourself will never do any good to your career.

Say “no” to all the comparisons

Do you sometimes find yourself comparing your progress to your friend’s, colleague’s, stage or film star’s achievements? Do you Google other actors to see what have they done when they were your age and then beat yourself up for not being as successful as they are? You’re not the only one. But even if there’s a group of us doing this, it doesn’t make it right.

Remember that there will always be someone who’s doing better than you in this business, who’s had more ups than downs and who’s more successful than you are. It’s the reality of show business. Even the celebration for your acting friend’s success will always feel ambiguous because of that little part in you that feels sad for the very obvious reasons. Such path leads to nowhere, and it will always be like this. So it’s time to say “no” to all these kinds of worries and continue on your own pursuit of success.

Say “no” to constant self-criticism

Sometimes it’s good and healthy to criticize yourself on one thing or another, but actors tend to let it out of hand and blow everything out of proportion. Oh, what drama queens we are. Don’t beat yourself up for every single mistake you’ve made in your career. Learn from them and move on, but do not focus on the bad things, never.

So what if you’ve screwed up a line or went completely blank at an audition today? It happened, and that’s that — move on. It’s been said way too many times but some of you still ignore this: stressing about it won’t change the reality. You must understand that we all make mistakes because that’s just life, it doesn’t work any other way. Check the box for learning the lesson and get to the next audition.

Everybody told you it’s going to be a difficult journey. You knew that the job of being an actor is going to be tough, unforgiving and complicated. And the truth is — it always will be, no matter how successful you get in this field. There will always be something to complain about or criticize yourself for. The thing is that once you learn to stay focused and be prepared for all those obstacles down the road, that’s when you graduate to the next level in this business. Get there sooner rather than later!

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