When Should You Start Working?

The short answer to this question is: yesterday.

I often hear people say things like I'm just not ready yet to start auditioning, or writing, or producing, or whatever it is they want to do.  Their main excuse is that they aren't as good as they want to be.  They are so focused on being perfect that they are scared to get off the starting block.

In the arts, perfection is not the goal.  Not being perfect is not the same thing as failure.  Failure is never trying. 

This time of year is when the Playhouse West Film Festival submissions start coming in.  (The final deadline is April 21st.)  And every year I see friends of mine scrambling to finish (and sometimes start) projects that they really meant to be working on all year.  Deadlines are good; deadlines force you to act and I am really proud of all my friends who are working on projects.  But, if this is your passion; if this is what you really want to be doing with your life then you need to learn to do it without the deadline. 

Don't let your perception of not being perfect stop you from starting.  At the film festival every year the most common advice is to just go out and do it.  So, stop judging yourself.  Get out there and try. 

You Are a Terrible Judge of Yourself

I am a very harsh critic, not of other people, just of myself. 

I can't think of a single audition, play, or day of filming when I have left thinking "I nailed that!"  There are always moments missed, some fault that made me feel less than perfect.

Even worse is me watching tape of myself because all I see is how much I hate how my face looks when I turn my head that way or why didn't anyone tell me how bad my hair looked in the back.  These things that don't really matter, things that aren't related at all to my ability to act.  But, when I'm editing my own footage, darn it, if that isn't all I see.

This past week I had another reminder to not judge how I did in an audition.  Because I totally thought I blew one this week and it was kinda a big audition.  So big that the fact that I thought I'd blown it actually had me crying in my car.  Embarrassing but true.

Even more embarrassing is that I was totally wrong.  I booked the job.  It's not set in stone yet so I'm not sharing with you guys what it is.  Once I have the deal memo signed and all that, I will tell you all about it!  But, it is kind of a big one.

Remember you can't see how others see you and don't spend your time worrying how you think you did.  Because no matter what you think, it is probably wrong.