Repeat after me.

I don't have problems.

I have situations.

A situation has occurred to me lately

that I've been putting things off.

My attitude is, why do it to day when I

can put it off till to morrow?

Do you do that?

I think

you know you're an actor when you spend

three hours organizing your closet

instead of submitting for the role that

is due in two hours.

That is called procrastination.

The intentional display of a task

despite knowing it will cost us

something later.

Listen to me, this is not laziness.

It's deeper and it's often tied to fear

identity and self worth.

We're going to dive deep on to day's

episode, procrastination

and the actor,

this is casting actor's cast.

Well, hello, and welcome to today's

episode of casting actress Cass.

I'm casting director Jeffrey Dreisbach

with a mcCorkle group in New York.

How are you hope you're having a good

day?

I'm having a good day.

But I kept on putting this episode off.

And so

procrastination

let's talk about it, something that I

think we all do

more,

sometimes, more often than not.

Sometimes it comes in Waves, and

sometimes it doesn't so we're going to

tackle all of that, and good, dive a

little bit more into the psychology,

what an actor puts themselves through

in today's episode.

But first, this is that moment of the

conversation, where I get to say thank

you for tuning in to casting actors.

Cast.

It's been a pleasure bringing these

podcast episodes to you.

If you haven't done so already, please

do yourself a favor.

At least.

I think you're going to find it really

helpful to check out the website.

Casting actor's cast, all one word dot

com.

You're going to find some free bees

there.

If you fill out that form that says,

dive into the talent pool there's a

book absolutely free.

It's 100 pages

doing voice over work called

conversation pieces out of the studio.

The voice over works out for our

professional actors.

There's also a free video called

casting secrets, what they don't tell

you.

But I'm going to tell you in this free

video

also, I am so excited, and I've been

trying to

put some word out, both on all my

social media stuff and trying to get it

out there.

And I hope that you do me the favor at

least check out the new book release,

called booktick the actor's playbook

for getting cast.

Listen it's 190

pages.

It's a

comprehensive.

I mean, this

valuable tool for your auditions.

It covers auditions.

It covers self tape.

It also covers just the business of the

business and how you can navigate those

Waters successfully.

In addition to that, I'm thrilled to

tell you that it's now available, unaudible

as an audiobook.

So it's called booktit, the actor's

playbook for getting cast.

You can find it on the website as well.

It's right there.

It's very prominent because I'm very

proud of it.

Also, a course that's just been

released that I'm really proud of.

I've been working on it for a while.

It's called next level auditions.

Those folks who have taken this course

have told me that, oh my gosh it's like

having a private one hour consultation

about my auditions.

It's

very specific.

It's going to give you information you

are not going to find anywhere else.

And I would really love it if you at

least took the time to check it out.

It's a one hour course.

By the way, both the book, the audio

book, the course, I am not putting

these on sale because, you know what?

I have to tell you, they've taken a lot

of time, and I promise you they are

worth it.

So do check it out.

Do think, don't think rather that you

are going to kind of see it on sale

someplace.

I'm never putting these on sale.

These are available exclusively

for you.

I would hope that you would share that

information

with your friends, fellow actors,

whoever might be interested in the

work.

Ok, I know I kind of sound like a used

car salesman here it's honestly, I'm

just really, really excited about this.

But also, my dad was a car salesman.

That's true.

He was.

And so this enthusiasm that you're

hearing, although I promise you it's genuine,

I also think there's a hereditary

component to that.

So

listen, all you need to do to get all

of that information is simply go to the

website it's casting actor's caste

casting actors, cast all one word dot com.

Thank you for letting me get that out.

So let's talk about the psychology

of actor procrastination.

When I think of procrastinating, and

I've certainly had this experience in

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00:05:31,798 --> 00:05:37,3

my own work, but I oftentimes attribute

procrastination as a fear of failure,

or sometimes it's the fear of success.

Like we tell ourselves, if I don't give

it my all, I can't truly fail.

And so we don't try, we put it off.

We decide that it becomes less

important,

because if you can't go all, then it's

nothing.

I also think there's audition avoidance

for actors.

Actors might tell themselves, it's

better not to submit than to be rejected.

You might be saying to yourself, you

know, I've sent out all of these self

tapes and I've never heard anything

back.

What is wrong with me?

I would rather not be rejected.

This is just another effort.

That's not going to have a payback.

You know what?

I understand that.

And I think the reality

that casting people are stressed and

overworked,

and they just don't have the time or

the ability to thank everybody for

their submissions.

And it becomes a Numbers game.

And that is something I hope that

actors can at least appreciate.

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00:06:45,71 --> 00:06:45,638

Now listen.

If you are getting good feedback with

yourself tapes, than congratulations,

you're in a great place.

If you're not,

it's important not to beat yourself up.

It's not that you should put off doing

future self tapes.

It's that you should find some joy

within the doing of this self tape.

My suggestion is to think of it as an

opportunity to perform.

And that keeps you sharp, that keeps

you focused,

being

result oriented.

I think sometimes

in procrastination,

I also think there's that fear of

success,

because success can also be scary.

It really can't there's new pressures

put on you, there's new expectations,

and there's new visibility that's put

on you that may feel a little foreign,

or make feel just a little bit

uncomfortable.

I know that this is something to take a

look at,

because it is disrupting your life as

you know it.

When you book a job, you might have to

go out of town.

You might go to a regional theater in a

place that you've never been to before.

You might have to be on location.

There's challenges in that you're

disrupting your current life in order

to do the booking.

And so that's something to keep in mind

as well, that fear of success, because

you really don't want to make those big

deal changes in your life's pattern.

Something to take a look at.

You.

You see, it's all about perfectionism.

Sometimes we'll say i'll wait until the

self tape setup is perfect.

Of course, guess what?

You know, it never is.

I think perfection

is really procrastination

in disguise.

I think it stalls creativity, and it

really does.

Halt

momentum,

having everything in alignment and

everything perfect

can be a death knell, because it will

never feel perfect if you decide to

make it perfect.

Ok?

Somebody write that down?

I think that was really good.

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00:08:56,736 --> 00:09:00,6

That leads me to another thought that I

have about perfectionism and that's

decision paralysis.

I think sometimes there are too many

choices out there, and we have

difficulty making a choice for fear of

making a mistake, or just because there

are so many choices available to us.

For example, choosing your headshot.

How long did that take you

deciding about agents,

whether you should go to a particular

agent or not, or do your research on

agents?

And there are so many pros and cons

that it really keeps you from making a forward

movement toward an agent,

or which side to choose to do first,

you've been given some sides.

Maybe there's two or three, ok, which

would make it for you?

Just

get yourself into this very bizarre

kind of

spiral in terms of making choices and

making decisions.

There's also

decisions to be made about training, or

training options.

Like you say, well, ok, which monologue

should I do?

For example,

how should I set this up?

You can be overwhelmed into inaction

by those decisions.

Because overthinking,

it just simply leads to avoidance.

Because we say to ourselves, what if I

choose wrong?

That becomes an excuse,

simply to not choose at all,

moving on from there.

I think, lack of internal validation,

which is something that we all would

like to have more of.

I can tell you, as an actor, and now as

a casting director, that is very, very

true for me.

In other words, we're waiting for

external approval from others in order

to feel validated,

whether that's from a coworker,

maybe that's one of your teachers, or

maybe that's your agent, or maybe

that's a casting director.

You see,

it's really challenging.

And I know that as an actor, there were

times when my agent said,

listen, they specifically requested you.

Well, you know what?

That was a great motivator.

When I knew that some one was

interested in seeing me in the role, I

just charged full steam ahead.

But I also have to say there was a

little tiny part of me that thought

that agents knew to say that in order

to motivate their clients.

Now I'm not saying that was the case,

and I'm not saying that's the case

every time, because as a casing

director, now I know I make specific

requests for specific actors, for

specific roles.

However, there is a psychology about

providing some validation

to the actor that helps the motivation,

helps

the removal

of some procrastination.

Because actors need and want confidence.

They want confidence in their own

artistic authority.

Actors will stall

until someone validates

the way that they are feeling.

Someone validates them.

Does that apply to you?

Something to take a look at.

Now, diving just a little bit deeper, I

think, and

correct me if I'm wrong.

You could write to me if this is

something that you identify with or

not.

It's cashing actors cast at Gmail dot

com, casting actress gas at Gmail dot

com.

But I think that there's a level of

emotional, self sabotage involved here.

Self sabotage like it becomes a

protective mechanism.

We might say to ourselves in our most

quiet moments, I don't deserve this.

Sometimes procrastination

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00:12:45,65 --> 00:12:45,598

becomes

self punishment or it's a way to

control outcomes.

I've said this many times, we feel a

loss of control.

And so when we can put some of those

emotional feelings aside for a little

bit of time,

that's a way that we want to establish

some level of control, which is

basically not that productive,

now that we've really torn apart

some procrastination.

Now let's talk about some behavioral

patterns.

Actors fall into.

It's what I call the I'm too busy

syndrome.

It's convincing yourself that a busy

schedule means that you're being productive,

while honestly it's avoiding the real

career tasks that you need to take.

You know what I'm saying, it's what I

call the procrastic planning.

It's endless preparation.

We say, ok, I've got to update my

resume first before I go ahead and put

that audition together.

I need to clean my studio, because it's

a mess and I can't concentrate.

I need a new reader before I can do any

self tape.

And on and on and on.

We decide that we're so busy,

but

in a way, that's just avoidance.

It can feel productive.

But

we know that it's just delaying the

right kind of action that needs to be taken.

Speaking of time, we also wait for the

right time.

You say to yourself, i'll submit when

I'm ready.

Well, newsplash.

No one is ever fully ready when they

self tape

there's a myth of the ideal moment

that keeps actor stuck.

I've got to be in the mood.

It's got to feel right.

Well, you know what?

If that is your inner dialogue,

there's a really good chance that it's

never going to actually feel quite right.

Because also, we set up unrealistic

standards.

We compare ourselves to others

to the other actor's success.

People that we might know that are

doing really well.

It's specially true on social media.

Stuff

that can really shut down motivation

very, very quickly.

Then there's the all or nothing mindset

that keeps actors from taking small, little,

consistent actions.

Now we need to talk about some

solutions,

the solutions that you can make for

yourself.

For example,

when you make the decision that you are

going to do yourself tape in three takes,

what that does for you, and we're going

to come up with even more solutions.

Right after this break,

welcome back,

casting actor's cast.

We're talking about actor

procrastination.

And now we're going to talk about some

solutions and some strategies

for moving forward.

Number one, adopt a, do it

messy

mindset, let go of perfection.

Messy action is better than perfect

inaction.

Hey, somebody write that down?

That was really good.

Messy

inaction,

no,

messy action.

Oh my god.

Ay, let's take a break.

No, I'm kiddy.

We took a break.

Messy action is better than perfect

inaction.

You see, you can do nothing.

Perfectly

it's the doing something

that is messy.

And I, before the break, we talked

about the self tape thing.

And I, you know that from past

episodes, if you've been a listener for

past episodes, talking about self tape,

that three take rule that's really

challenging for a lot of people.

But I can't tell you how useful that is

when you employ it.

Give it a shot.

I think you should

practice some messy submissions.

It's really ok.

People aren't going to remember that

terrible or that messy submission

if you are genuinely putting in a good

effort.

So example, if you have a quick rough

take, that's fine.

You've got two more takes to do it in.

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00:17:14,334 --> 00:17:16,2

And guess what, it gets easier.

Another suggestion I have is to use

what I call micro commitments.

So if you can break tasks

into just little ten minute goals for

yourself, you're going to find yourself

in a much better place as it relates to

procrastination.

For example, you'll say, today, I'm

just going to set up my tripod, or I'm

just going to set up myself, tape stuff

in ten minutes, I'm going to only give

myself ten minutes.

You see, when you practice that, when

you can do that little ten minute increments,

you genuinely feel good about that goal

that you've set.

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00:17:56,9 --> 00:17:57,444

And it only took ten minutes.

And you'll also know that momentum

builds motivation.

It's not the other way around.

Motivation does not build momentum.

Momentum builds motivation.

In other words,

putting together

a few small little ten minute tasks

put you in a mindset

of moving forward,

and that's all about time blocking

and having a ritual.

When you say, ok, I'm going to just set

this up and I'm going to only take ten

minutes to do it.

Now you've got to focus, you've got an

energy that is very motivating.

Here's another suggestion I think this

is really helpful is set recurring time

slots for acting work.

Again,

here, I'm going to just work this

amount of time on my

audition before I do the self tape.

Okay, I'm going to give myself ten

minutes of studying this side, trying

it different ways and having fun with

it.

And after that, ten minutes it's now

time to do the ten minute setup of the

self tape.

You see what I'm doing is giving

yourself slots for acting work.

And then you can do that also for the

course of your day.

You know what?

My submissions are going to always take

place

between five and seven p.

M,

if that works for you, for example.

Or I am going to go to the gym every

day and that's from 830 to 945.

Once you start adopting

those kinds of habits,

you're not going to be procrastinating

much.

You're going to feel very fulfilled for

those small tasks that you've accomplished.

Also,

I'm a big fan of this.

I'm a big fan of the rituals,

the rituals of doing something at a

very specific period of time, or taking

those ten minute increments,

because rituals

train the brain

to associate structure

with creativity.

Now I know this to be true for myself

but sometimes creativity

is just a stream of consciousness in

terms of putting things together,

when you can associate some kind of

structure within your creative self,

let me tell you,

you're much more creative.

I used to think it was less creative

that it was sort of squashing my

creativity, that it wasn't spontaneous,

or it wasn't

that interesting, because I surrounded

myself with structure.

The opposite is true.

I promise you.

Moving on from there here's another

suggestion.

I've made this before, and I'm

wondering if people really take this to

heart, but I'm going to keep on

suggesting it.

And it's what I call accountability

buddies,

accountability buddies.

I think if you partner with another

actor, you say, can you be my

accountability buddy and i'll be your

accountability buddy?

Okay, I've said that three times really

well, without kind of making a mistake.

I'm pretty proud of myself.

So that means simply

just partner with somebody and check in

on a weekly basis,

ask,

what did you commit to doing this week,

and did you do it?

Then the question gets asked of you.

You see, that becomes a gentle pressure

valve

that you can do something for each

other.

It's not about bad or good.

It's about gently

helping another person

state a task

and then complete the task.

Whatever it is,

actors would

benefit from this greatly

if they got connected with somebody

that they really liked and really trusted.

I'm also a big fan of visual progress

trackers.

You know, keep an audition log,

have a submission tracker, or listen

don't laugh at this.

But even a sticker chart.

How about a calendar that you put a

sticker when you've accomplished a task?

I think that visual wins things that

you can literally see.

It reduces that feeling of being

overwhelmed.

And it also encourages consistency.

Also reframe the fear.

Ask,

what is the worst that could happen?

As far as an audition is concerned,

what is the worst that could happen?

Honestly, it's usually not as scary as

it feels.

Then, of course, you have to ask

yourself, what is the best that could happen?

What is the worst that could happen?

Unless you also have, what is the best

that could happen?

Just doing one,

put you in a separate place,

that makes you very pessimistic, and

now you're procrastinating and

pessimistic.

That's not a good thing.

We don't want you to do that.

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00:22:56,9 --> 00:22:57,744

Also celebrate those small wins.

Every time an email is sent, or you

complete a class that you took, or you

finish a self tape and you uploaded, it

it's time to celebrate it.

Acknowledge yourself regularly

to stay engaged.

All right?

Here's my conclusion and call to

actions.

Actors don't lack discipline.

They often lack clarity,

and they often lack confidence

or kindness

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00:23:26,840 --> 00:23:28,8

towards themselves.

Is that you?

I want to encourage you to pick one

action that you've been putting off,

and I want you to do it to day.

I really do

whatever it is, something toward your

acting, something toward your career.

It can be a small, ten minute task, but

do it to day.

And here's my gentle nudge.

You could email that agent, you could

tape that monologue, just to have it to

take a look at,

see you're more ready than you think.

Gosh, that was a lot.

I hope you enjoyed it to day.

I really had a lot of fun bringing this

to you to day and listen.

I can't express my gratitude enough.

Please do check out the website.

I've really worked hard on the book and

all the stuff that I'm providing, cause

I really love being in communication

with you, and I would hope that you

could return the favor.

Please don't forget to leave alike in a

share.

It means the worlds to me, especially

on iTunes.

I'm Geoffrey driesback.

You been listening and watching because

we're on YouTube casting actor's cast.

Thank so