Acting : Play the Right Game by Caitlin Burt

Your actor/artist mindset should be about giving all you've got. YOU, your fully fleshed out human self- real, vulnerable, and unabashedly unique. Your biggest detriment to this awesome mindset is the "wanting to be chosen" mindset. You are playing one game or the other, but never both. They are opposite sides of the same coin. Of course you want to be chosen, you say. That's how we get paid! We get chosen for auditions, roles, leads. It all depends on being chosen. You're right, I'd say, but the mindset of trying to be chosen is one of someone who often is not. Think about a needy, clingy, self absorbed boyfriend. It is the energy of trying to get, of taking instead of giving. When you are focused on what to give, you automatically have so much more to offer and appear that much more attractive and valuable. I think it is a focus on creative ways to give that make you stand apart, not how well you decipher what someone else whats to see from you. Common knowledge says you should know your target audience, but to guess what they may want based solely on how you judge them can only bring up demons and insecurities out of nowhere. You'll create them where there weren't any before. Genuinely knowing your audience involves no pandering, but actually caring about them and developing a relationship with them. You have nothing to give, says your self worth. That is why we look in all the wrong directions when we want that job, that validation, instead of looking inside, to the source of that insecurity and then nurturing that wounded child. People will notice that wounded child you carry around with you, the past you haven't reconciled with, so pay attention to its missed needs and practice giving to it what it lacked- appreciation, encouragement, attention, celebration, nourishment, acceptance- whatever it may be. Make a habit of it and by learning to give it to yourself you learn to give it in general. Then you have something to offer if someone is in need. By caring about people in general and having compassion you will recognize the needs of others. So pay attention to the game you play. Are you in it 'to be chosen,' or to give what you have to give? I'm sure you have an abundance of love and energy for your craft to give, but it's easy to focus on the lack of parts there are to get, and the competition involved in getting them. It's your choice which to focus on. Notice what helps you breed a content and confident mindset, and nurture that.