A pursuit of a professional acting career or anything else — be it screenwriting, directing, dancing, singing and any other entrepreneurial goal — requires a lot of motivation. We have already discussed how to stay dedicated to your success, and today let’s take a look at ways to stay motivated and prevent that level of motivation from dropping below the dangerous line of apathy.
10 Ways to Stay Motivated
There are days when you feel ready to move mountains in order to achieve your goals and these days might be one of the most productive ones you ever have. Unfortunately, there are also other days when people can almost see the aura of discouragement radiating from within you. The problem is that you never know what has caused either one of these states of mind.
To prevent these downfalls in the future, let’s take a look at some ways to stay motivated and continue the pursuit of your goal.
1. Stay constantly active
Avoid spending most of your time in front of a TV or a laptop. Do something, anything! You don’t even need to leave your apartment, just be productive and proactive; instead of consuming information, start making something and engaging your creative mind.
2. Always get enough sleep
Sleep deprivation is one of the reasons people feel frustrated and tired to accomplish anything. If you feel you need your eight hours, go get them. And don’t forget that oversleeping (i.e. sleeping over 7-8 hours) has close to the same effect as not sleeping enough — unwillingness to do anything.
3. Make a plan for the day
Just as you create a plan for your whole career, it’s never a bad idea to plan out your whole day and stay on top of things that you need to accomplish. Either you write it down or keep the plan in your head (you better be good at this), it does not matter; what matters is the result of your efforts at the end of the day.
4. Sort out your diet
Overeating on sugar and greasy foods makes people sleepy and tired. One of the greatest ways to stay motivated is to keep your energy levels up at all times, and great food choices have a huge impact on this one.
5. Jump out of bed as soon as you can
The longer you stay in bed in your PJ’s — even if you’re working on something on your laptop — the harder it will be to get through the rest of the day. If you jump out of the bed as soon as you wake up and then go get ready for the day, you’ll get into a mental state of “being ready to work“.
6. Get your mantra ready
Keeping some motivational quotes, pictures or slogans close to you whenever you need them, or getting to them as soon as your motivation drops, is one of the better ways to stay motivated. And it’s also very easy to find, just go on the Internet.
Christian Bale’s dedication to acting.
7. Use the beat
Music is another one of the ways to stay motivated. Put on a tune that always gets you pumped up, feel inspired and get to work. This works perfectly with number #5, when you need some help to get out of the bed in the morning.
8. Visualize your goals
You have a certain goal in mind, maybe your ultimate goal that you want to achieve: a lead part in Nolan’s film? Use this big dream to your advantage to stay motivated. It will drive you forward as a reason to do what you do.
9. Talk to others about your goals
Share your thoughts, ideas and the things you want to accomplish. Letting know others that you’re on the big pursuit of getting that part you really want will keep you even more motivated than if you would’ve just kept this to yourself.
Because they sometimes inspire you.
10. Read about people that inspire you
There might be actors, directors, entrepreneurs or any other known and successful people that inspire you to continue on your journey. Read about them on the Internet, get their biographies and learn how dedicated they were to their craft before they achieved success.
Whenever you get that super-motivational day when it feels like you’re ready to write a novel in 24 hours, try to notice the things that got you to that state of mind. One of the best ways to stay motivated later on is learning what are these sparks of inspiration within you as soon as they happen.
Most importantly, never ignore your motivational mindset. If tomorrow morning you wake up with creativity, inspiration and motivation erupting from you — put it to good use. Learn that long monologue or maybe write a short film screenplay. The fact that you accomplish this will keep your motivational levels burning longer.
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