The Olympians

I must confess I started to get excited about the Olympics back in April.  A lot of people that I know, concerned about the cost, have been bitching about it on Facebook, but I’ve been sleeping under a Team GB Duvet for several months.  I’ve also been going to the gym and using a Team GB towel, and why? Maybe a little bit of national pride, the Olympics are being held in the UK, and I expected them to put on one hell of a show.

The first true Olympian of the 2012 games was director Danny Boyle, who conducted the Opening Ceremony with unbelievable creativity and spectacle.

And then there’s the athletes.  I cannot believe the pride that has swelled in my chest to my country’s top sports people compete at their best, and this year Sir Chris Hoy, Andy Murray, Jessica Ennis, Mo Farrah, Jade Jones and many many more have competed beyond their wildest dreams.

But I am not impressed most by their achievement on the day. I am impressed most by the commitment to excellence that all of them share.  The hours of sacrifice, the dedication, the commitment.  That’s what I admire.

Actors could be like Olympians.  They could train hard, they could commit themselves to excellence, but… they don’t.  Somehow acting, an industry which is unbelievably hard to get into, descends into ‘jobness’.  Jobness is what I call the state that happens when someone gets used to their job, and performs it without too much thought.

But actors could be more like athletes and think about what they eat, and think about their ongoing training, and think about going further and doing better all the time. I know many actors do, but more could.  More actors could commit to excellence.

The trouble is that actors spend so much time and energy getting the job, that they forget that once they have the job, they need another Herculean effort to perform that job with utter excellence.  They need to prepare themselves well, they need

I’ve no doubt that those actors in movies with expensive personal trainers, and someone to make their food, and someone to do their laundry CAN do what I’m asking BUT, there are those that cannot, those that do not have movie star fees, and they must make the bigger effort, because they have to do it for themselves.

Actors – treat your job like you were going for GOLD all the time, every time, prepare, train, compete, review, and repeat the cycle again.  And then, if you still do not make it to the finish line, you will know that you did everything within your capacity to try to do so.

Dancers commit themselves to this life. Musicians commit themselves to this life.  Could actors do it too? They could, but will you?