Hotbeds of Talent

Hotbeds of talent

Where a disproportionate amount of successful individuals come from one location

For example

Sprinters from Jamaica

Wrestlers from the Caucus region

Screen Actors from New York City

New Zealand and their insanely successful rugby team over the last century

List goes on and on

Point is

How can so many insanely successful people at their given craft

Come from one single place?

The reason?

For a specific time in history

That location

Has a culture of virtuosity

What does that mean?

The striving for excellence is more important than the results

In other words

Things like

Practicing well

Or building quality processes

Are regarded as more important

Or admired more

Than the results that come from doing those things

Now, of course

With acting

(Despite the fact that some might occasionally get caught up in the idea of “winning” an award or role)

There is no winning

At the end of the day

No actor can push or force themselves into getting great results sustainably

So an important question becomes:

How do we really know if someone is operating from a place

Where they are focusing on virtuosity over results?

I mean

Surely its easy to walk around showing the world you’re all about the craft

When really, deep down, you just want to WIN

To out compete those other four actors for the role?

To win an award and get the photo with that statue?

To get that email for the audition and start psyching yourself up to SMASH it?

So

How do we tell?

By examining their internal dialogue.

Cultures of virtuosity

Build internal dialogues

Which are at home in the process.

For an artist wanting to move in a sustainable, long term direction

Who notice they are indeed focussing on pushing toward results

What can they shift their attention back to instead?

Two important questions

One

Who do I become / how do I behave

When I focus on getting results as an actor?

Some examples

Competitive toward my colleagues?

Impatient when it comes to waiting?

Forceful toward your script work? Rushing it?

Resentful toward your agent? Thinking they art doing enough for you?

Angry toward the industry?

Judgemental toward other actors work?

Fear that you’ll never “make it”?

And two

Who might I become if I was to make virtuosity the goal instead?

Some examples

I might start taking my time

I might become present when reading a script or scene

I might stop getting overwhelmed and simply focus on just one moment of a scene at a time

I’d start enjoying prep

I’d start playing in my self tapes, actually enjoying them

I would see and connect with the people around me - actually look and connect as a human

I might actually connect with the casting director in a human way

I would stop waiting for a role to come save me

I might start enjoying my life

I’d start being kind to myself again

I’d start being kind to others

I’d start celebrating my friends work

I’d start doing tapes with people I actually enjoy being around

I’d start organising work with others just for the joy of it

I’d start to play again

Etc etc

You get the point.

For a sustainable career

Build an internal dialogue where you are at home in the process of doing what you love

Hope this helps

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