The Great Acting Blog: “Work Shouldn’t Be Miserable”

The Great Acting Blog: “Work Shouldn’t Be Miserable”

Focus on what you enjoy.

This is especially true for actors, who are constantly being told things like; “yes, but you’ve got to do years of garbage work in order to get the chance to do the stuff you enjoy”. Why exactly? Why must we continually defer the day when we can concentrate solely on the work that interests us, that energises us, work that was the very reason we became actors in the first place? Why can’t we concentrate on that work today?

Focussing on work we enjoy is not only pleasurable in itself, but it’s actually very productive. When we are presented with an array of options, as actors frequently are when trying to develop a career, sometimes none of them seem right, and we are unable to prioritise our goals. This state of affairs can lead to a stasis whereby nothing gets done. However, if we let our mind fall onto the work which most interests us, then the situation and ourselves simplify, the other paths vanish and we are left only with the right one.

It seems so obvious, but sometimes, in a culture like ours which deems that work should be miserable, we forget that we’re actually supposed to be enjoying ourselves.

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