The Great Acting Blog: “It’s Our Art That Makes Us Stronger”
Measuring out progress as a number is not an unreasonable thing to do. We take pride in adding another line to the CV at the end of a job, and clocking up the auditions makes us feel as though we are progressing towards our goal. However, we must also beware statistics too, because when they don’t match our expectations they make us feel deprived. They grind us down whenever they fail to meet the target we have set. They are joyless. Further, they reduce the meaning of our work: measuring our progress by the number of entries in our CV, reduces all of our work to the same thing; ie – just another line on our CV.
If you’re kicking your heels round town, frustrated that the bit of paper you’re holding in your hand does not contain the names that you hoped it would, then you need to shift your focus. Turn to your art. Develop your art, not your CV. This will help you keep going for the long haul and see you through the tough times. Focus on what nourishes you artistically, emotionally and intellectually. Think of all the remarkable artists and writers and directors and actors you want to work with, think about all those who inspire you. Focus on the best work you’ve done, the work you are most proud of, the work which best represents what you are about – this will make you stronger and get you through the troughs – statistics however, will keep you weak.
