Infocus Magazine.com - Elements of Acting

Elements of acting

By Bob Fraser

This weekend many of us will tune in to get a taste of
one of our deepest desires - walking the red carpet at
the Academy Awards. It won't take much for us to start
imagining what it's like to live that particular dream.

But, let's get real ...

One of the elements that stops most actors, when we set
out to succeed in show business (and let's remember that
acting is a business), is the lack of a PLAN.

Even building a bookcase works a lot better, if you have
a plan.

So, if you want a successful acting career, it's critical
that you have a plan that contains all of the steps you
will need to take - to get the result you want.

Of course, unlike most business plans, an actor's career
plan involves a lot of insubstantial things like mindset,
attitude, and artistic point of view.

Naturally, there are some strictly business concerns too:
Marketing, advertising, networking, budgeting, & training.

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If you'd like to get professional guidance while you're
putting together your plan, you might want to check out
my 12-hour workshop on DVD, AN ACTOR WORKSBefore I begin this week's rant, let me say that I have a lot of admiration for the majority of the educators who explain the Law of Attraction. In fact, I have studied most of them to get a better understanding of success myself.

So what's the issue I have with this multi-million dollar Law of Attraction business - that's grown up over the last few years?

Here's my problem: If it's so easy to attract success how come everyone hasn't achieved it? Why do people struggle with money, health, and relationships? Why does our claim on success remain so doggone elusive? Why are these programs that promise so much 'stuff' selling like hotcakes - but still, most of us still find ourselves without all the 'stuff?'

In other words, why isn't everyone a star?

Could it be because there just isn't enough 'stuff' available?

No, that's not the case at all. In fact, some brilliant people figured out that there's more than enough of everything for every one of us to experience wealth and abundance in every single area of our lives. So it's not because there isn't enough 'stuff.'

I'm going to tell you what I think the main problem is ...

In my experience - on my own long journey of personal growth and development - I've been through all of the cycles. Creating stuff with my thoughts - the visualization - the meditation - and just about everything in between.

I've got to tell you, while the Law of Attraction was good for me - and led me to reflect on my perspectives, to get in touch with my feelings and the associations I had with money, love, health, success - it never once created a result.

Sure, it opened up new ways for me to take action ... but it was the actions I took that created the results.

While I agree (and I teach) that what you think about can create and design your life, it is only one step in a series of many other steps.

Having a thought about something is like buying a gym membership: When you join, you have the first part done but you still need to get your butt to the gym and do the work that's required - if you hope to transform your body.

It's no different with money, love, health, success, or anything else.

Thoughts themselves will never produce the results.

Thoughts simply open up and expend your awareness of what's possible - allowing your "filters" to fall away so you can see what's always been there.

When you see new ways to take action and do things in a new and different way - you are taking a step toward creating new and different results in your life.

But still ... you must do the work!

I think some of the 'experts' are leaving out the expectation that there is going to be work (sometimes painful work) involved - in order to break through your defenses.

The promise of riches, the opposite sex groveling at your feet, a body of a pro athlete and amazing results in your professional life - all without having to do anything more than think about it ... well, that's a very appealing scenario for most people.

The problem is that it skips over all of the hard work involved in creating those things.

Bottom line? The work must get done. You must burn fat to lose it, put resistance on your muscles to grow them, and get up and get going if you want to get where you want to go. That's the reason (in my not so humble opinion) many of these programs don't deliver ... they avoid selling the work.

I think one of the reasons my acting career courses are effective is because I make it a point to sell the work. Of course, I do my best to make it seem more like 'fun' than 'work.' But, let's face it - work or fun - it's really just a matter of your perspective.

I like to rely on the idea of self-discovery - and help actors find out that they have more ability to do the work than they currently think is possible.

I'm not afraid to sell the work for two reasons: First, I'm not afraid to buy the work and do the work myself. I know it's a requirement for getting results. And I would consider myself dishonest if I told you that my courses would do the work for you.

I know it is the act of YOU lifting a heavy weight that builds muscles. Creating that mental, emotional, financial, or even physical muscle takes work. It's not a matter of thinking, visualizing, meditating - or other non-physical efforts. But those things, combined with actual physical, roll up your sleeves and get your hands dirty work, actually do produce results.

Once you are actually doing the work, you will begin to build momentum - and when you see that the work is actually fun - that's when you become unstoppable!

By the way, I think it's sort of interesting to note that the word attraction - contains the word ACTION!

http://www.youmustact.com