You ever hear the saying, “Your energy introduces you before you even say a word”? There’s some truth to that.

As a working actor, this concept rings more true for you than it might for others. Half the battle is keeping the right energy and staying positive when you live in a world of systemic rejection, fear, and doubt. “It’s the nature of the beast,” you tell yourself – but maybe that’s the kind of thinking that orients you in a negatively-spun situation.

Maintaining the right energy is half of your job; whenever you walk into a casting call, you’re walking into a list of unknowns. You don’t know exactly what the casting director is looking for, you don’t know what inspired the role, you don’t know if you even have the right look they’re seeking. Here are things CAN come prepared with, and things you DO have control over:

  1. Your attitude.
  2. Your knowledge of the role/character.
  3. Your look/how you are physically composed.
  4. Your vibe/energy.
  5. Your delivery.

You have to remember to stay in the moment and really master the things you DO have control over. When you walk into a room with a positive attitude, that is how you are remembered – long before your first name, or if you flubbed a line. Also, your knowledge of the character/lines has a great impact; it gives you the opportunity to show preparedness, your style, and your interpretative skills. You can bring something to a role that nobody else can — you have unique skill and style you can bring to the table, and it may be exactly what they need. Make sure you study the character and the dialogue as much as you can, so you can show up with the correct/strongest interpretation possible. Your knowledge of the character may have a huge impact on what vibe you walk in with, how you dress, and what makeup you wear to your audition. You are selling yourself as the role – and you can’t do that without doing your homework. Our friends at Backstage recently came out with an article on adjusting your thinking, and this was our favorite quote regarding the idea:

How do you stay positive and productive with all the fear and doubt? You stay in the moment. Just like the Meisner technique for acting, you apply that concept to your personal life. A spiritual teacher suggested I say, “I’m all right, right now.”As long as you are in this moment—“Today is beautiful. I’m alive. I’m OK”—there’s hope.

When you start thinking about the past—“I should have…could have, would have done this better”—you end up recycling negative energy where it can’t go forward. And when you project into the future with the limited knowledge you have in the present, you are recreating the same negative energy. “I’m not booking, I don’t have an acting job…nothing is happening. I’ll fail!”

But you don’t know what’s going to happen in a month, a week, or even minutes from now. So stay open and trusting.

Things can turn around on the spin of a dime, which is all the more reason to be ready. Get up every day with the expectation that something wonderful is about to happen. Things manifest in the real world when you funnel all your creative, productive energy towards them. Cheers – get your mind right!