Don’t you feel more confident and motivated after returning home from your summer program? What do you plan to do with these feelings and information? How do you plan to parlay them into something you can continue to build on as you move through this year and into the next season of auditions? How do you go about figuring out and breaking down what you have learned into organized thoughts, words and actions so they become useful tools for you to use.
If you are having trouble figuring out just what you did learn from each teacher, coach or colleague try asking yourself this question. "When ___________ happened, why did (I, they, he, she) __________ (ask, do, show, feel) ___________?" You can ask questions about your own reactions or use this to help translate what someone else asked of you. It’s the start of breaking down the situations you were presented with to find concrete nuggets of information. Often we get caught up in our feelings because of the nonverbal signals a teacher, coach or colleague sends. They can often be misinterpreted, so give that person and yourself the benefit of the doubt. Everything is simply a choice. These choices are learning experiences and opportunities to blossom even further into who you truly are and why you do what you do on purpose.
It’s knowing what the game is, what the rules are and most importantly, how the game is played. Then and only then can you decide to play or not. This means going forward, you need to start building relationships that are meaningful, honest and respectful. It means you have to be genuine in all relationships especially the one with yourself (because that’s the one that usually trips the most). It starts creating a calm center from which you listen and take action, not just constantly being in your head and reacting. Failure is an event not a person. It becomes detrimental if you don’t find the lesson within. This is how we learn most everything. We make mistakes and fail. Then we notice where we went wrong and learn not to do that again. This is also how one continues to gain confidence in oneself. Not just your voice, or performing ability, but your ability to work with others successfully and treat others with respect and dignity.
So here are some tools to get you started on the path to understanding what you’ve learned. That means the good, the bad and the ugly. Then make some choices about how you want to use them going forward. It’s not an easy task, but one so well worth your effort. So Avanti.
