You have to protect your headspace.
We have a job to do. No excuses, not even broken hearts or loss. There’s nothing wrong with your auditions or work being affected by personal issues, but it isn’t effective, and we need to be consistently effective if we want to be consistently working. And we all know those actors who always seem to have an excuse for everything. It’s lame and doesn’t reflect well on them.
I don’t know how I was able to focus on work for much of the past year. I’ve been through the most emotionally challenging year of my adult life, and yet I still managed to have my best year as an actor, booking a dozen shows and almost as many commercials. It forced me to learn how to compartmentalize, take control of my brain and my instrument, and not be victimized by my personal struggles.
Perhaps you will be able to relate.
Emotional insulation. First off, when shit is going down, your phone is your enemy. While I should have been running lines in the car or prepping outside of an audition, it was too easy to be checking for that next text or email that had the potential to destroy me or send me to the moon.
Before work on set or an audition, turn your phone off or leave it in the car.
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