Detatching from Expectation

Boy, is this hard.

You get the coolest audition, the gig you really want.

(I mean, come on, who doesn't want to play Batman?)

You devour the script, you practice, you research, you finally step in front of the camera or the mic and you give it your best series of takes.

You edit, trimming the fat. You make yourself laugh as you listen back. You love your audition so much you want to wake someone up and share it with them becuase a) it's just that good and b) you've been up until 1:30a trying to get it just right.

And now you've sent it in.

How do you detatch? Keep yourself from grabbing your phone every 10 min to see if you missed an email or call from your agent telling you that you're on avail for it.

The truth is, it's probably already too late.

We have to detatch before we begin.

Start by focusing on what can be controlled. Set your intention not on booking the job, you have no control over that. Set your intention on bringing the environment alive, or pushing the boundaries of your emotional range, or PLAYING in a different way.

When we begin the process of creating with a mindset of need or desire for something that is completely out of our control, the booking of the job... our intention and definition of success is tied to something totally random. But redirecting our intention to play, to discovery, to telling the story for ourselves... that has a much better shot of leading us towards a tangable sense of success and growth than chasing something so elusive and extrinsic as a booking.

It takes practice. But if you start small, with little specific intentions, it gets easier with every audition.