By: Brian Gilleece
We talk often about the importance of physically preparing to work, i.e training, preparing sides, preparing your body or what have you, but let's chat about some proper mental preparation that is for everyday use.
1. CONSIDER THE BIG AND SMALL PICTURE
“Lots of people wake up, see what the weather is doing and then decide how to train that day, but this is far from productive. A clear set of goals and a structured plan give you the best chance of success.”To keep your motivation up, setting a variety of goals, and breaking them down into long-term and short-term targets. It’s important to differentiate between:Outcome goals – these tend to be our main aims, whether we’re hoping to improve our marathon time, booking or call back rate etc.Process goals – these are the stepping stones towards our outcome goals: smaller intermediate targets to help us improve our strength, reduce nerves, increase technical skills or mental resilience.Winner don't do what they feel like, they execute the plan.
2. BE REALISTIC
You may surprise yourself, so don’t set the bar too low. On the other hand, if your goal is too far ahead of your current abilities, you could lose motivation, or end up over-training or becoming frustrated. Set goals that are realistic but align with your resume and abilities, you should be meeting with your team Sarah Baker Grillo , Bay Dariz & Jess Canty to discuss these goals and be held accountable to them, they will tell you if your on the right track and provide valuable advice on how to get there. Thinking you can do it alone is just not smart business.
3. FEEL THE FEAR AND DO IT ANYWAY
Fear is often one of the biggest barriers to fulfilling our ambitions, so it stands to reason that courage – and boldness – could be one of our greatest strengths, whether it’s your first audition or time on set or your millionth. Wether it is truly owning a room, having the confidence to be more bold in your choices or the self assurance to know when something is not right for you, this town rewards boldness and confidence more than any two personality traits. There is no doing it right, there is only doing it confidently and in your own voice.
4. BE TRUE TO YOUR PASSIONS
Performance psychologist Dr Josephine Perry suggests you make your goal something that excites you – a principle that applies just as much to the amateur as it does to an elite sportsman or woman. “What makes you passionate? Motivation will come from that passion. What will make you get out of bed to train at 5am on a cold, wet and windy morning?" What will make learning 12 pages of sides in 2 days ok? What is it that pushes you to make the sacrifices to achieve your goal?Make sure your goals are your own – not something you feel you ‘should’ do, or achieve. “When the going gets tough – as it always will – it’s much harder to persevere if you realise that reaching this goal is something you didn’t even want to do in the first place.”
5. THINK ABOUT HOW YOU’LL DEAL WITH SETBACKS
Life can be unpredictable, and unexpected events such as illness, bad weather, family emergencies and injuries can play havoc with even the most carefully written plans. There will always be roles we wanted and did not get, people we wanted to work with and it did not pan out or ways we pictured our life that did not materialize but, it's how we choose to turn these things into fuel that will determine your ultimate altitude as a person.
“In some ways I actually go searching for failures – it’s one of my goals,” says Robbie Britton, who is currently ranked third in the world for 24-hour ultra-marathon running. “Without finding out your breaking points, you can’t really discover what you’re truly capable of.”
If things go wrong, keep your overall target in mind, accept the inevitable and get your training and preparation back on course – you’ll thank yourself when you’re crossing the finish line and achieving the things you always dreamed.
Wrap Up
Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs are
the Super Bowl champions. Maybe you don't like football but the thing take from this game completely lines up with our discussion.
They were down 10 points going into the 4th quarter, and I bet this was not how they drew up
the plan (Setbacks), but the only thing they could do was play the game one play at a time and make every play a success with the confidence of knowing if they won each play on both sides of the ball, at the end of the game they would be victorious (Process Goals).
They took the small victories of each play, each pass, each weird scramble out of bounds to create the result they wanted (Outcome Goals). It did not all happen on ONE big play, they had a plan that was able to be executed (Realistic Goals) and each player executed. Have the confidence of knowing if you WIN every opportunity you have to play you will be giving yourself the opportunity to achieve those big goals. Every tape, every audition, every meeting.
Take the opportunities that are given and make them your stepping stones to your goals.
