Hustle & Grind
How much do you want the acting career of your dreams? The one you always bitch about but do little to achieve? How much do you want it? What are you willing to sacrifice? You’re willing to sacrifice everything? – Just not your boring ass job that you hate, the bricks and mortar tying you to it, the person you share a bed with whose more of stranger now than when you first met, the time you waste on Facebook, the hours you spend watching mindless junk on television, or chasing your tail doing nothing productive?
Does that sound harsh? That’s okay, it is harsh, and I apply the same harshness to myself. And I will happily meet you for a coffee and you can kick me in the ass if I let myself off the same hook that you’re on.
It’s 3:14am and I’m working. Why? Because the next guy will. The next guy, the one who wants success more than me, more than you. So do I need to be harsh with myself? Fuck yes I do. And so do you.
Does this upset you? That’s okay, Stay home. Start writing down your excuses now. “I could have been an actor, it’s a tough gig. I did everything I could but the blah de blah blah blah.” Look, if acting is too tough, that’s fine, go find something else that you love, it doesn’t matter what it is, it only matters that you don’t spend the rest of your days living for the weekend.
Stay home and start writing your list of excuses. The rest of us will be out there. Hustle and Grind. You have to get out there and work. It’s not coming to you.
If you graduate drama school with the best agent in the country, congratulations. If your career explodes the moment you step out on the scene, that’s amazing, go for it. If you go from paid acting job to paidacting job and they’re lining up to get you in the room with them, that’s truly epic – but for the rest of us.
It’s Hustle and Grind.
I received an email recently. I’m an actor in MAKE UP A CITY OF YOUR CHOICE, I’ve got a really important audition tomorrow, and I wonder if you know any good monologues that will really help me get the role?
Dear Kid, why the fuck don’t you have a monologue prepared for auditions? As a professional actor, did auditioning come as a surprise to you? Did no one tell you that you would be asked to prepare a monologue for auditions? Is it my job to do your homework for you? You want my knowledge? Earn it.
But they don’t want to. We live in a downloadable culture. Just find the right people and download their knowledge, and you’ll never learn anything for yourself.
But the rest of us will Hustle and Grind.
Everyone else is asleep and I’m hustling, I’m writing, I’m grinding, I’m planning. I want the best damn 1-Year Professional Acting course in the world, and do you think I’m going to get that working 9-5?
What do you want? Go out and get it. There’s no excuse to sit in a mind numbing job when the job of your dreams is out there for those that will hustle and grind.
As Gary Vaynerchuk says “You are 100% in charge of your life. Stop fucking bitching”. Get upset, have a cry, wipe your tears and get your ass out there to hustle and grind, and you WILL achieve the success that you seek, you WILLl rise to the challenge, you WILL reach your potential.
Or stay home and watch some more Netflix.