One way to ensure you drive yourself mad is to spend energy focusing on what your other actor friends are auditioning for and/or booking. It will often feel like everyone else is auditioning more than you, seeing more casting directors than you, getting more attention from their agent than you…

And these actor friends will often be in your own category. They may look like you. They may have similar resumes as you. They will often have similar training as you.

So why them and not you? Stop it.

This isn’t a competition between you and others. This isn’t about you versus anyone but you. Focus on being the best you that you can be. Focus on learning more about your craft today than you knew yesterday. Don’t work for praise. Don’t work for rewards. Work for the understanding of the craft at a deeper level. Work for an opportunity for more authentic self-assessment and self-awareness.

This isn’t a competition between you and anyone else. This isn’t a competition between you and yourself. As a matter of fact, this isn’t a competition at all. This is your craft. This is your art.

Popcorn is prepared in the same pot, the same heat, the same oil, and yet the kernels all pop at different times. Don’t worry about the other kernels. Your time to pop will come! Just stay in the pot and stay focused!

DO NOT JUST SAY “YES!”

It is not uncommon for an actor to receive direction in the audition room after their first delivery of the scene(s). This can happen for a variety of reasons . There may be notes from the director, producers, or studio for a specific take or element they want to see in your performance, or they may want to see what kind of range you have with the choices you’ve made, or they may just want to see it another way for the sake of seeing it another way. It can be anything.

Our initial instincts are often along the lines of:

“OH NO! They hated it. I made the wrong choices! They hate me. I should’ve done it differently. WHY OH WHY do I make such horrible choices?”

But let’s stop to think about this for a second.

If they really didn’t like you or if they thought you were incapable of performing the role, would they really invest MORE time in you? Would they stretch out this charade even longer? Just to torment you? To torment themselves?

So now that we’ve got that out of the way…

Don’t just nod and say “yes.” I know you’re trying to be likeable and directable and all the other wonderful qualities we believe are paramount in being an actor they want to cast and work with time and time again.

Make sure you not only hear the note, but ensure you are able to apply the changes effectively. If there is anything that isn’t abundantly clear, ask questions.

A sure-fire way to guarantee you understand the notes or redirection is to say it back in your own words for clarity sake.

So, what I am saying is that you should say “yes” to any redirections, but don’t just say “yes.” Make sure you can apply the “yes” to your performance. Nice people who agree with us are lovely, but people who can apply the note, get hired.