Episode 298: The Importance of Being Decisive as an Actor

Book a free consultation! Today I'm going to talk about something that I have found to be extremely helpful.  And that word is being decisive.  Now, sometimes when I'm decisive, I make mistakes. But this is the thing. Everything is fixable.  And mistakes are how we grow.  But in my being decisive, what happens is that things get put in order, into motion.  And the thing is that if I keep doing what I've always done, which can be being wishy-washy about something or procrastinating with something because I just don't know what to do. By the way, this is why I'm recommending these free consultations with me so we can get you out of that kind of mess.  What happens is that when I set myself a clear path and I get decisive about things start to happen, big things start to happen.  And I find that making a decision, and then following through with that decision is sometimes the most valuable thing I do in a day. So today I'm going to talk, I have five points about decisiveness.  They are efficiency and time management, confidence, reduce stress and anxiety, opportunity seizing, and clear direction and focus.  So I'm going to talk about each of those subjects and how being decisive has helped me and how I feel it can help you. So efficiency and time management, decisiveness helps in making quick decisions. Quick and effective decisions and saving time and increasing productivity.  So this is the thing. Not making a decision is making a decision and it keeps you stuck as an actor.  And this is the thing. I don't want to waste any more time in my life. I've got a finite amount of time on this planet and I want to make sure that I am enjoying it. Every single moment of it, and the things that I'm doing for my life and my career are moving me forward, not backward, and certainly not keeping me stagnant.  So what happens when I'm more decisive? I take less time, humming and hawing. And that is, that's why I'm offering the free consultation, because I want you to stop humming and hawing.  Either decide you're going to work with someone to get your shit in gear, or don't.  But, for goodness sake, let's make a decision. So what happens is that when you make a decision, chances are, when you leap, the net will appear and the universe will support you. And that's why that decision will be effective.  Also when I make a decision, I decide what I'm going to do instead of hemming and hawing about what I should do. What happens is that I save time and that is time that could be spent effectively working on the acting career.  Also because I'm saving that time, I have increased productivity. I get more done creating more Opportunities.  So I'm going to actually jump to opportunities here. Because what happens is that when you do more things, you put yourself more out there, more people know about you, more opportunities can exist.  And decisiveness allows individuals to capitalize on opportunities quickly before they are lost to hesitation. See, I want as many agents, casting directors, managers, producers, directors, writers to know about you, but how do you get in touch with them?  I want to show you how to do that. I want to also encourage you to be decisive in your career, whether you're working with me or not, but even by listening to this, you are working with me a little bit so that you can have opportunity. Bill Timoney, who is going to be on Broadway with Our Town, he always says, and he's such a friend of Acting Business Boot Camp, he says, “you want to have as much access to opportunity as you can.”  And that's what I like to help actors to access. access to opportunity.  The other thing about being decisive is it makes you more confident. Decisive individuals often exude confidence, which is crucial for effective leadership and inspiring trust.  So this is the thing. I am a casting director. I hire actors, I audition actors that exude confidence, who are good at their job, and almost more importantly, know they are good at their job. And that inspires trust in me, the casting director, to either directly hire them for a job or to continue auditioning them so that they have access to opportunity.  Now I'm going to talk about how being decisive reduces stress and anxiety. Because making prompt decisions reduces stress and anxiety associated with prolonged uncertainty and indecision.  That's the thing. The more you procrastinate, the more anxiety and stress you build up.  It's time to eradicate that from your life.  The stress and anxiety that is caused by indecision, it doesn't have to be there. How do I know that? Because I used to be a hand wringer, a pearl clencher, a hyperventilator about making a decision.  But once I started to get decisive, things started to happen.  And finally, let's talk about how being decisive in your acting career gives you clear direction and focus.  It helps you to align your efforts and your resources toward achieving specific goals, which is, hopefully, to be a working actor. So again, clear direction and focus and being decisive provides clear direction and focus, helping you to align your efforts and resources towards achieving specific goals.  And that's what I want to help you to do in these consultations, is I want to hear where you are at and where you want to go and how we can align your efforts and your resources and my resources to help you to achieve that goal of becoming a working actor.