This week's post is inspired by friend and client Di K., who pointed me to a blog post written by a guy who broke through his fitness stagnancy and got into the best shape of his life by doing one pushup a day.
Sounds like something from a 3 am infomercial, right? Ok, it's not quite that simple. What he really did was bust through the obstacles that were standing between him and all the good stuff he knew he'd get from exercise by doing one pushup a day. Which is pretty impressive.
What does this have to do with being a working actor? Everything. The obstacles that were holding him back are the same ones that keep good actors from doing the work required to become working actors. First, the task felt so big that it became overwhelming, so he kept getting stuck before he even began. Second, his pre-conceived ideas about what the work looked like didn't feel like they fit into his life, so it felt foreign and undoable. Third, he kept thinking of exercise as something he should do, not something he was committed to doing in the present, so fitness stayed in the realm of the future.
Doing one pushup a day helped him realize that 1) even a little bit of exercise counted toward his goal, 2) he didn't have to go to a gym he hated or do things he doesn't like in order to exercise, and 3) all he had to do was start with a small, totally doable commitment to do one pushup a day. That put him on the road to doing two pushups a day, maybe even three, and eventually an occasional workout.
Here's the actor-translation. Taking charge of the business side of your acting career is not a humongous project that's totally outside the realm of your current life. You don't have to take an expensive eight-week class, or become a computer genius, or turn into a person who schmoozes at industry parties. All it takes is a little bit of daily focus. Start with a small, totally doable commitment to do one thing ever day for your career. That will put you on the path to doing two things, maybe even three, and eventually an occasional burst of career activity.
That's how I started. It's the standard I still hold myself to. Some days I do way more than one thing, just as the writer of that blog post sometimes works out harder and longer than one pushup. But I always do at least one thing. A congratulatory tweet to a casting director whose work was nominated for an award. A postcard to a contact I haven't reached out to in several months. An online submission to a project that excites me. Something. Anything. Every day.
What would it look like for your career to be in the best shape of its life? Really think about it. What kinds of roles would you be doing? Whom would you be working with? What would your resume look like? How would you feel? Is all of that worth a commitment to do one thing for your career every day? I bet it is. And I bet you have a list of things you've been meaning to do. I bet you've had it for a long time. Maybe years. And you're maybe feeling a little uncomfortable because I'm talking right to you and saying that starting on that list is as easy as doing a single pushup right this minute. Because that is exactly what I'm saying.
So do it. Start today. Right now. What will your first thing be?