One of the most admirable and arguably the most frustrating parts of being an actor is having a powerful ambitious spirit. Ambition is the dream of a proactive, confident, hardworking person – but it can also be the vice that destroys those who place too much pressure and expectation on ‘the plan’.

Our friends at Backstage came out with a fantastic focus piece on how to curb your ambition towards optimism; it’s all about allowing yourself to live in the moment while still remaining on your trajectory! Don’t let industry anxiety get you down. Even the hustle has to come in moderation. Sometimes it just requires a shift in perspective to get the most out of your acting career, while still maintaining your other identities.

READ THE ARTICLE HERE: http://bit.ly/1Fsnu6K

“Acting touches nerves you have completely no control over.” – Alan Rickman

OUR FAVORITE EXCERPT:

How to make your ambition your friend and not your enemy. Essentially, you need to put your ambition in check, be happy now, and stop hedging all of your happiness on outside forces that you can’t control.

How many times have you let the entire day pass you by as you waited for your phone to ring to find out if you got that part, that call-back, that agent, or manager?

You are at the mercy of so many external factors as an actor. An unfathomable amount of decisions are out of your control. You have a responsibility to take control of your inner world – not to bemoan how unfair the industry is or to push your happiness to some pie-in-the-sky day. Your job is to be centered. How? Stop waiting for your “real life” to begin and enjoy, relish in, find all the peace and pride in the life you are living in, right now.

Take a break and enjoy the sunset. Being happy now is your responsibility as an artist. We forget that.

Ambition is the obsession with the end result. Tenacity and grit is the moment by moment. While ambition may have planted the seed of where you’d like to go, you don’t let it drive you there—you don’t hand over the responsibly. Ambition will eat you alive. Center yourself so that your ambition doesn’t take over the show. The future doesn’t belong to any of us. All you have is this moment.