How Do I Find Motivation?
That’s a great question my friend! Sometimes it can be extremely difficult to find your motivation as an actor when you feel like you are not seeing any results in your career. You submit auditions, you take classes and yet it feels like you’re stuck and can’t find the motivation to change gears and continue to push towards your dreams of being a working actor. Yes, you might book a job here and there, and that will help, but you feel like you are always struggling and not making any progress. In fact, you might even get frustrated and overwhelmed because you don’t know how to move forward which causes you to find excuses to not do the work you need to do in order to start seeing positive results in your journey as a performer.
Here are 3 things I need you to ask yourself right now in order to find your motivation again! Take your time and answer honestly.
- Why are you trying to be an actor? Seriously, why do you want to be an actress / actor? Does it bring you passion to create and explore characters thoughts and actions during a production? Do you enjoy collaborating with other creatives and making art that will make the audience feel something? If the answer is a HELL YES, then you can find your motivation to fight for your dreams! However, if you are in this business for the fame and glory, then it isn’t going to be enough to keep you going when times get tough. Because you have to love the process more than the money and stardom that can come with being an actor.
- Do you have your goals written out? This might seem like a silly question, but I promise it is well worth asking yourself. Take the time to get specific and write your goals down. This will allow you to start thinking of how to attain that certain goal – who to contact, how to market yourself, how to audition based on what that casting director likes, etc. You have to get specific so you can figure out the next steps to take in order to achieve that goal.
- What are you afraid of? Is something holding you back from really going all in on your dreams of becoming a working actor? Could it be the fear of not being good enough or that people might think you suck as an actor? Or maybe you don’t feel like you are worthy of success. Fear is no joke and will cause major roadblocks on your path to becoming a working talent. So it’s important to know what that fear is, so you can work on facing it head on!
Finding motivation can be tough, but it isn’t impossible! You have gifts, passions and talents that are meant to be shared with the world and no one can hold you back, but you… You have a destiny to fulfil my talented friend and I believe in you! So go ahead and start asking yourself key questions that will help you remember why you love being an entertainer, get specific and write those goals so you have a mark to hit, and start asking yourself what is the fear lurking inside that is preventing you from taking action and chasing your acting dreams!
“I’d rather regret the things I’ve done than the things I haven’t done.”
-Lucille Ball