Motivation & Goals, "The Action Pack"

Outils - that's French for "tools."
In this section of the site, I'll review the various "tools" I use to help me fly straight and true through the turbulent atmospherics of my life and the New York City Performing Arts Scene.

One of the most important things you need to know about a career in acting is that you need clearly defined goals, and a plan to go after those goals.

Let's say your goal is to get cast more consistently in off-Broadway productions. A couple of obvious goals would be 1) find and attend every audition for any roles you think are appropriate for you, 2) become better in your auditions. Pretty straightforward - but you need a plan, a consistent plan, a plan of action that will daily move you toward these goals.

While it's relatively easy to know what you want, and to set some goals - it's not so easy, at least for me, to know how to break those goals down into smaller goals, to come up with "action plans," i.e., to come up with specific things I can do to move towards my goals.

However, it's critical to do this: if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.

But it can be lonely when it's really just you and your goals. So what to do . . . ?

It turns out you're really not alone, especially if you live in one of the big market areas, like NYC, LA, or Chicago. Not only do these large markets have an overwhelming wealth of performance opportunities (especially. NYC & LA), there's also a world-class support system composed of life and success coaches and consultants who help actors with both the personal and business side of acting, and I'll talk about one resource that I've found particularly helpful in setting goals and making plans, and you can take advantage of it no matter where you live.

Triple Threat Ventures's Leslie Becker is at the forefront helping actors and other creative artists create success in their careers and their lives (from their site):

Leslie Becker founded Triple Threat Ventures in 1988. The purpose of the company is to inspire, entertain and educate others and to add value to their lives as performers and people. We are dedicated to helping others continue their quest for stardom in all areas of their lives through our books, seminars and live events.

Every three months or so, I review my long-term goals and take account of what I've accomplished. Long-term goals are critical, but just as critical is knowing how to break them down into manageable, doable steps. This has the great advantage of giving yourself something specific and concrete to do each day or week, and it keeps you from feeling paralyzed in the face of that big huge mountain you're trying to climb by putting your focus on actually climbing that big huge mountain, one step at a time.

Triple Threat Ventures's The Action Pack is a great idea and product I use to help me both define and focus on short-term weekly goals. Its a simple deck of cards that features 52 specific actions you can take each week toward your acting career. There's four categories actions: Marketing, Training, Essentials and Life. What's great about this product is that even though it wasn't designed with my specific long-range goals in mind, it nevertheless has magically broken them down in ways I would not have easily thought of on my own.

Each Sunday night, I randomly select a card, and each time, it gives me something specific to work on (or start) over the course of a week that nicely fits into one or more of my long-term goals. It's great way to easily help me move forward.