When you’ve got the gift of creativity, whether you’re an actor, musician, writer, or editor, your mind is going to be constantly in rotation, bouncing from priority to priority, from idea to idea, from expectation to expectation. It’s just in our nature.

Sometimes as creatives we have preconceived notions of what success should look like, what level we should be on, or we just hold ourselves to crazy standards that oftentimes aren’t realistic. When your mind is in overdrive and you’re trying to hold yourself up to all your training, expectations of your agents/managers, self expectations, and your timelines, sometimes you’re setting yourself up for sabotage rather than success.

Our friends at Backstage published a fantastic article on how to let go of some common obsessions that may be holding you back. Here’s our favorite excerpt, articulately detailing some things that may be healthier to let go of so you can grow as an actor and as a creative professional:

Letting go of methodology. I regularly encourage actors to let go of their system of acting. As far as I know, there is no single way to approach acting. Often, the things we feel we need to do are not necessary. Audiences don’t care how an actor is playing a scene. They just want to be moved, engaged, stimulated, and entertained. 

Letting go of audition concerns. The practice of “letting go” comes in handy at auditions. There are so many things that are out of your control when trying out for a part. So many people are auditioning for the same parts as you, and chances are they’re talented, too. The casting people may be looking for certain physical characteristics such as what you look like, how tall you are, etc. There’s nothing you can do that will guarantee you booking the job, so you might as well let go and have fun.

Letting go of trying to be perfect. You might want to let go of trying to be good. It’s a given: We all want to be good. Often we attempt to reach perfection. Perfection is, perhaps, an impossible goal and therefore we will always fail in the attempt. Actors can be too hard on themselves. Self-criticism can inhibit all sorts of creative possibilities. The actor begins to fear that they may not excel and this fear shows up. They try too hard and their effort is palpable and seen by the audience.