Latest / The Aligned Actor / Success is a journey, not a destination
Transcript
- 0:00SPEAKER_00: Hello and welcome back to the Aligned Actor substack,
- 0:04SPEAKER_00: podcast,
- 0:05SPEAKER_00: YouTube video,
- 0:06SPEAKER_00: wherever you have found this content,
- 0:08SPEAKER_00: I welcome you.
- 0:09SPEAKER_00: I'm Amy Schlerb.
- 0:11I am a mindfulness and mindset coach and I help actors ride the
- 0:16roller coaster of
- 0:17SPEAKER_00: being an actor without throwing up.
- 0:20SPEAKER_00: And September is my actorversary,
- 0:23the anniversary of when I became a professional actor by moving
- 0:28to Los Angeles and
- 0:29SPEAKER_00: starting my acting career.
- 0:31And so I always like to reflect at this time and look back at
- 0:34how far I've come.
- 0:35SPEAKER_00: And a number of years ago,
- 0:37SPEAKER_00: I wrote myself a letter,
- 0:39SPEAKER_00: like a letter to my younger self,
- 0:42SPEAKER_00: the version of me that had just moved out to Los Angeles offering advice.
- 0:47SPEAKER_00: And so this year I decided that I wanted to go look at that letter,
- 0:50SPEAKER_00: see what advice I had offered myself back then,
- 0:55SPEAKER_00: and see if I still like that advice,
- 0:58SPEAKER_00: if there's things that I would change about that advice,
- 1:00SPEAKER_00: or if there's also stuff that I would add now as extra advice,
- 1:04SPEAKER_00: more advice,
- 1:05SPEAKER_00: to pile on top of newly arrived baby actor in LA,
- 1:11SPEAKER_00: Amy.
- 1:12SPEAKER_00: And so that's what we're going to do.
- 1:14And I had a lot of advice,
- 1:16apparently,
- 1:17for my younger self just starting out.
- 1:19And so this is just part one of a series of Substack podcast
- 1:25YouTube videos that
- 1:26SPEAKER_00: we're going to do because I didn't want any of these to get...
- 1:29SPEAKER_00: out of control long.
- 1:31SPEAKER_00: So we've divided it up into a number of different parts.
- 1:34SPEAKER_00: So this is part one,
- 1:35SPEAKER_00: success is a journey,
- 1:37SPEAKER_00: not a destination,
- 1:38SPEAKER_00: which I still really like this advice.
- 1:40SPEAKER_00: This is great advice.
- 1:42So let's read now what younger actor Amy had to say to even
- 1:49younger actor Amy and
- 1:51SPEAKER_00: then older actor Amy,
- 1:54SPEAKER_00: more mature,
- 1:55SPEAKER_00: more wise.
- 1:58finely aged actor Amy,
- 2:01now actor Amy,
- 2:03will chime in with extra additional thoughts as well.
- 2:07SPEAKER_00: So let's just dive into this.
- 2:09SPEAKER_00: I'm just going to read it here for you.
- 2:12SPEAKER_00: Dear Amy,
- 2:13SPEAKER_00: Success is a journey, not a destination.
- 2:17SPEAKER_00: I know,
- 2:17I know you've seen this on magnets and sometimes you even think
- 2:20you understand and
- 2:21SPEAKER_00: believe it,
- 2:22SPEAKER_00: but there's still something nagging at the back of your mind saying,
- 2:25SPEAKER_00: yeah,
- 2:26SPEAKER_00: but once I achieve that,
- 2:28SPEAKER_00: then I'll really be successful.
- 2:31SPEAKER_00: Sorry, no.
- 2:33SPEAKER_00: If you believe success is a destination,
- 2:36SPEAKER_00: You'll just end up hustling,
- 2:37SPEAKER_00: striving,
- 2:38SPEAKER_00: and holding yourself apart from happiness and a sense of accomplishment.
- 2:42SPEAKER_00: You have success now.
- 2:44High school Amy Schlerb believed that success was graduating
- 2:47and getting into a good college.
- 2:49College Amy Schlerb believed success was,
- 2:52again,
- 2:52graduating and starting a good career.
- 2:55SPEAKER_00: Now that you've arrived in LA,
- 2:57you're thinking success means booking bigger and better acting
- 3:00jobs consistently
- 3:01SPEAKER_00: and continuously until you're the next Reese Witherspoon.
- 3:05Not going to lie,
- 3:06I still sometimes think that,
- 3:07but then I remember the truth.
- 3:10SPEAKER_00: Setting goals is great,
- 3:11but continuously moving the goalpost on what it means to be
- 3:15successful is soul
- 3:17SPEAKER_00: crushing.
- 3:18SPEAKER_00: I'm going to read that again because I think it's really important.
- 3:21SPEAKER_00: Setting goals is great,
- 3:23but continuously moving the goalpost on what it means to be
- 3:28successful is soul
- 3:30SPEAKER_00: crushing.
- 3:32SPEAKER_00: If you keep thinking,
- 3:33SPEAKER_00: yeah,
- 3:34SPEAKER_00: I did that,
- 3:34SPEAKER_00: good for me,
- 3:35SPEAKER_00: but now real success is up there,
- 3:38SPEAKER_00: guess what?
- 3:40Real success will always be up there,
- 3:44wherever the F either of those things are.
- 3:47SPEAKER_00: I actually wrote that in there.
- 3:51SPEAKER_00: Instead, put the goalpost of success inside you.
- 3:55SPEAKER_00: What?
- 3:55SPEAKER_00: What the heck does that mean?
- 3:57SPEAKER_00: I wrote that in too.
- 3:58SPEAKER_00: It was very witty.
- 4:01It means enjoy the process and the journey because,
- 4:05spoiler alert,
- 4:06that's all there is.
- 4:08SPEAKER_00: Journey.
- 4:09And then more journey,
- 4:10some more journey,
- 4:11a quick detour journey to a foreign country.
- 4:13SPEAKER_00: Oops, I've said too much.
- 4:15SPEAKER_00: Followed by, you guessed it, more journey.
- 4:18SPEAKER_00: It's quite a trip.
- 4:20SPEAKER_00: Oh, stop rolling your eyes.
- 4:24SPEAKER_00: You know that was funny.
- 4:26SPEAKER_00: I'm a very witty writer, apparently, when I'm writing to my younger self.
- 4:31There's going to be ups and downs,
- 4:33highs and lows,
- 4:34abundance and slow times.
- 4:36SPEAKER_00: And the sooner you recognize that that's just what this career is,
- 4:40SPEAKER_00: the happier you're going to be overall.
- 4:43SPEAKER_00: You're in the arena.
- 4:45SPEAKER_00: Look up the Roosevelt quote.
- 4:46SPEAKER_00: It's good.
- 4:47SPEAKER_00: I really encourage everybody to do that.
- 4:49SPEAKER_00: It's a very, very good quote.
- 4:50We're probably going to talk about that in another Substack or
- 4:53YouTube video podcast thing.
- 4:55SPEAKER_00: I did talk about it on the podcast at one point.
- 4:58And I'll link up the episode where I talk about it because it's
- 5:01a really good quote.
- 5:03SPEAKER_00: That was a complete sidebar.
- 5:05SPEAKER_00: All right, let's get back to the letter.
- 5:08SPEAKER_00: Okay.
- 5:09SPEAKER_00: You're in the arena.
- 5:10SPEAKER_00: Look up the Roosevelt quote.
- 5:11SPEAKER_00: It's good.
- 5:12SPEAKER_00: And that means you're already successful.
- 5:17SPEAKER_00: So like I said at the top of this,
- 5:19I still really love this advice because it basically means we
- 5:23get to define
- 5:24SPEAKER_00: success.
- 5:25And I've talked about this before on Substack pretty recently
- 5:29and on YouTube,
- 5:30SPEAKER_00: but I'll link those pieces up so that you can find them easily because
- 5:36it's a really important thing to think about,
- 5:38about how we define success.
- 5:41SPEAKER_00: So the way that Google and some kind of dictionary,
- 5:46I think online where I looked this up before for a different
- 5:50content offering,
- 5:52SPEAKER_00: the way that they define success is,
- 5:55SPEAKER_00: success is an,
- 5:57SPEAKER_00: sorry,
- 5:58SPEAKER_00: success is defined as the accomplishment of an aim or purpose.
- 6:05And I want us all to find a definition of success that allows
- 6:09us to feel good about ourselves.
- 6:11That's what I really think is important in terms of when it
- 6:14comes to our mindset
- 6:15SPEAKER_00: about ourselves and how we're going to approach ourselves and the world.
- 6:22SPEAKER_00: So if you define success as engaging in the journey of being an actor,
- 6:28then ta-da success anything that you do that's you engaging in
- 6:34the life of an actor
- 6:35auditions taking headshots submitting yourself for roles uh
- 6:40meeting with your agent
- 6:42getting a new agent if you need one going on commercial
- 6:44auditions networking
- 6:46SPEAKER_00: literally anything that you do that furthers your acting career all of a
- 6:53an act of success because you're just doing it you're just
- 6:56being an actor and doing
- 6:58the things that actors do on the flip side though if you choose
- 7:04destination based
- 7:05success then things get a lot trickier for the longest time
- 7:11I've had the goal of
- 7:12playing a recurring character on a fun tv show and that hasn't
- 7:16happened yet I would
- 7:18SPEAKER_00: really like to achieve that success let's say
- 7:23SPEAKER_00: But if I choose to define success overall for myself as recurring role,
- 7:31then everything else that I've achieved in my career starts to
- 7:33kind of look like a
- 7:34SPEAKER_00: failure.
- 7:35SPEAKER_00: And I start to feel like I'm failing.
- 7:37SPEAKER_00: I haven't achieved that, so therefore I'm not successful.
- 7:42SPEAKER_00: I'm a failure.
- 7:44SPEAKER_00: Why would I do that to myself?
- 7:46SPEAKER_00: Why would I view it like that?
- 7:49SPEAKER_00: It's a lot smarter
- 7:52SPEAKER_00: to define success based on what I can control.
- 7:56SPEAKER_00: Yes, I did that self tape.
- 7:58SPEAKER_00: I played that character the way that I wanted to play them.
- 8:02SPEAKER_00: I hit all the beats that I wanted to hit.
- 8:04SPEAKER_00: I connected with my reader really well.
- 8:05I felt really present and in the moment,
- 8:07I really went after what I wanted in that scene.
- 8:12And defining success that way,
- 8:14deciding that that's the measure of success based on what I
- 8:18did,
- 8:19SPEAKER_00: Rather than success being based on what others do,
- 8:22SPEAKER_00: the stuff that I can't control,
- 8:24SPEAKER_00: how casting sees the video,
- 8:27SPEAKER_00: what casting thinks of the video,
- 8:29SPEAKER_00: which videos they choose to pass on to production,
- 8:34SPEAKER_00: how production sees the video,
- 8:35SPEAKER_00: what they actually need out of this role,
- 8:38the heights of the other actors and how I line up in terms of
- 8:41all of that.
- 8:42SPEAKER_00: I can't control that stuff.
- 8:44SPEAKER_00: I can't control what auditions come my way.
- 8:48SPEAKER_00: I can't control what types of roles are casting.
- 8:51SPEAKER_00: Maybe there's just not casting anything that works for me at the moment.
- 8:56SPEAKER_00: And that's just how it is.
- 8:58SPEAKER_00: I have no control over that.
- 9:02SPEAKER_00: I can't control how casting responds to my work.
- 9:04SPEAKER_00: I can't control how production responds to my work.
- 9:07SPEAKER_00: What I can control is how I show up in my work.
- 9:12SPEAKER_00: in all the actions that I take as an actor.
- 9:15SPEAKER_00: I can show up, I can control how I show up in my self tapes.
- 9:20SPEAKER_00: I can control how I engage in my career as an actor.
- 9:23And this next little bit that I'm going to read to you,
- 9:28I found with the letter.
- 9:29And I think it was when I did a version of this on the podcast
- 9:35years and years and years ago.
- 9:37SPEAKER_00: And so I'm talking about the letter that I had written
- 9:41SPEAKER_00: But it's still really good stuff, so I wanted to share it with you now.
- 9:44SPEAKER_00: But I wanted to clarify that this is also probably younger Amy as well.
- 9:50SPEAKER_00: So the takeaway here is that you get to decide what success means.
- 9:55And I would encourage you to define success as the entirety of
- 9:59the journey of your
- 10:00SPEAKER_00: career rather than some destination.
- 10:03SPEAKER_00: Co-star,
- 10:03SPEAKER_00: guest star,
- 10:04SPEAKER_00: series regular,
- 10:05SPEAKER_00: three-picture deal,
- 10:06SPEAKER_00: paying all your bills from acting work,
- 10:09SPEAKER_00: Oscar,
- 10:09SPEAKER_00: Emmy,
- 10:10SPEAKER_00: EGOT,
- 10:10SPEAKER_00: whatever.
- 10:12Holding the journey as your marker of success is so liberating
- 10:17and rewarding.
- 10:19Please don't hold yourself apart from happiness,
- 10:22fulfillment,
- 10:23and achievement.
- 10:24SPEAKER_00: You can have it now.
- 10:26So that was something that Amy on the podcast was saying to the
- 10:30larger podcast
- 10:31SPEAKER_00: audience at the time and also probably to her younger self.
- 10:35SPEAKER_00: It was commenting on the letter when I did it on the podcast from before.
- 10:40SPEAKER_00: So yeah, the idea here is just engaging in your career.
- 10:45SPEAKER_00: All of it,
- 10:46SPEAKER_00: the highs,
- 10:47SPEAKER_00: the lows,
- 10:48SPEAKER_00: the twists,
- 10:49SPEAKER_00: the turns,
- 10:51SPEAKER_00: staying at the table,
- 10:53SPEAKER_00: as I once heard Henry Winkler say,
- 10:55SPEAKER_00: that's the success.
- 10:59SPEAKER_00: Success is a journey, not a destination.
- 11:03SPEAKER_00: Means success is what you do,
- 11:08SPEAKER_00: the journey,
- 11:09SPEAKER_00: you walking your path,
- 11:12SPEAKER_00: you taking all of the actions that you take as an actor.
- 11:16SPEAKER_00: Not where you end up.
- 11:20SPEAKER_00: And this is definitely a mindset shift because,
- 11:24SPEAKER_00: oh boy,
- 11:26do we have a lot of messaging that we receive from society that
- 11:29says basically the
- 11:31SPEAKER_00: exact opposite.
- 11:34But I think this is a really important mindset shift and it
- 11:38really can help with
- 11:39your overall happiness and your overall drive and your overall
- 11:44motivation and your
- 11:45overall inspiration for wanting to continue on in your career
- 11:48and keeping that
- 11:49SPEAKER_00: fire,
- 11:50SPEAKER_00: that ember,
- 11:51SPEAKER_00: that passion alive in you.
- 11:56SPEAKER_00: And if you want help making this kind of mindset shift,
- 11:59redefining success for yourself so that you can feel great
- 12:03about yourself and great
- 12:05SPEAKER_00: about your acting career,
- 12:06SPEAKER_00: I can definitely help you with that.
- 12:09SPEAKER_00: I would love to chat with you.
- 12:10I offer a complimentary session to anybody who wants to come in
- 12:14and talk with me
- 12:15SPEAKER_00: for about an hour.
- 12:17SPEAKER_00: We'll connect and we'll see what's possible together.
- 12:19SPEAKER_00: And I want you to know this is not a sales call.
- 12:23SPEAKER_00: I am not at all a salesy type of person.
- 12:26SPEAKER_00: My only intention with this time that we spend together is
- 12:30is that you leave feeling deeply seen and heard and then also
- 12:34that you pick up some
- 12:36new insights and ideas to consider and implement and I just
- 12:39hope that you leave
- 12:40feeling really inspired and uplifted and emboldened in yourself
- 12:45and in your acting
- 12:46SPEAKER_00: career and just feeling really good about yourself.
- 12:49SPEAKER_00: And then after we've both let that experience kind of settle,
- 12:53SPEAKER_00: then maybe we end up coaching together and that would be fun and awesome.
- 12:56SPEAKER_00: And maybe we just feel like,
- 12:58SPEAKER_00: hey,
- 12:58SPEAKER_00: that was a great time,
- 12:59SPEAKER_00: but our time together feels complete for now.
- 13:02SPEAKER_00: And either way, it's a win-win because I love talking to actors.
- 13:07SPEAKER_00: I love talking about actor mindset.
- 13:09SPEAKER_00: I love talking about mindfulness.
- 13:11SPEAKER_00: I love talking about all this stuff.
- 13:13SPEAKER_00: So in no way, shape or form,
- 13:16SPEAKER_00: Would you be wasting my time?
- 13:18SPEAKER_00: If you were like,
- 13:19SPEAKER_00: I don't really know if I want to coach,
- 13:20SPEAKER_00: but I'd kind of love to talk about this kind of stuff.
- 13:22SPEAKER_00: Let's do it.
- 13:23SPEAKER_00: Let's talk to each other because I think we could have a lot of fun.
- 13:26So go ahead and set up a free session for yourself and we'll
- 13:30have some fun.
- 13:32SPEAKER_00: There are links all around for you to do that.
- 13:35SPEAKER_00: It's going to be in the Substack post.
- 13:38SPEAKER_00: It's going to be in the show notes of the podcast.
- 13:41SPEAKER_00: I will find a way to have it in the video description on YouTube.
- 13:45SPEAKER_00: You can always go to my website,
- 13:47thealignedactor.com and get set up there and we're going to
- 13:50have a lot of fun
- 13:51SPEAKER_00: together.
- 13:51SPEAKER_00: So go ahead and do that.
- 13:54And then the other thing I wanted to let you know about is that
- 13:56if you are super
- 13:57SPEAKER_00: stressed,
- 13:58which I'm even feeling a little stressed right now because this
- 14:01is only the second
- 14:02time I've recorded on Substack Podcast YouTube the trifecta of
- 14:08content in this sort
- 14:11SPEAKER_00: of new way and new format that I'm doing.
- 14:13SPEAKER_00: So I'm feeling a little keyed up and stressed in my body.
- 14:15SPEAKER_00: And I should be using some of my...
- 14:19mindfulness life hacks right now so i'm actually going to try
- 14:23one right now for you
- 14:23SPEAKER_00: this is the long slow exhale so this is a breathing technique
- 14:40basically elongating your exhale helps to bring your heart rate
- 14:43back down,
- 14:44SPEAKER_00: and that actually really helped.
- 14:46So now I can tell you about the rest of this and where you can
- 14:49find more of these things.
- 14:50SPEAKER_00: So I have an ebook,
- 14:52SPEAKER_00: it's called Accessing Calm,
- 14:53SPEAKER_00: and it's full of my super simple,
- 14:57SPEAKER_00: fun mindfulness life hacks,
- 14:59SPEAKER_00: tools,
- 14:59SPEAKER_00: tips,
- 15:00SPEAKER_00: tricks,
- 15:00the things that I use every day to calm down quickly when my
- 15:05stress is really,
- 15:05SPEAKER_00: really high,
- 15:06SPEAKER_00: when I feel really keyed up and anxious in my body.
- 15:10So these tools help me release stress from my body,
- 15:12as you just witnessed live right here.
- 15:15And they help keep my mind from spinning out of control with
- 15:19frustration and worry.
- 15:20SPEAKER_00: And they help with everything from the teeny tiny small stuff of,
- 15:26SPEAKER_00: you know,
- 15:26SPEAKER_00: the morning rush and getting my kid off to school,
- 15:30all the way to the big scary stuff that we see on the news that
- 15:34we're just not
- 15:35SPEAKER_00: going to go there right now.
- 15:37SPEAKER_00: But
- 15:38It can help with any time that you notice your body into that
- 15:42heightened stress response.
- 15:44SPEAKER_00: It's a quick read.
- 15:46SPEAKER_00: It includes video demonstrations of all the tools,
- 15:49SPEAKER_00: plus a number of bonus mindfulness meditations,
- 15:52SPEAKER_00: and the whole thing is just $7.
- 15:55SPEAKER_00: That's it, seven bucks.
- 15:57SPEAKER_00: So you can buy it on my website,
- 15:58SPEAKER_00: thealignedactor.com,
- 16:00and then click on the little link up in the corner that says
- 16:03Accessing Calm.
- 16:04SPEAKER_00: There are links,
- 16:05SPEAKER_00: again,
- 16:06SPEAKER_00: in the Substack post,
- 16:07SPEAKER_00: the show notes,
- 16:08SPEAKER_00: the video description,
- 16:09SPEAKER_00: all the fun places.
- 16:10SPEAKER_00: So you can go and pick it up for yourself.
- 16:13And then the last thing I wanted to let you know about is I
- 16:15have some upcoming workshops.
- 16:18SPEAKER_00: I have one in October and I have one in November.
- 16:23SPEAKER_00: Yes, October and November.
- 16:25I'm hosting some workshops for members of the SAG-AFTRA Los
- 16:30Angeles Conservatory.
- 16:31SPEAKER_00: And the workshop is entitled Mindfulness 101,
- 16:34SPEAKER_00: Empower Your Craft and Your Career with Your Presence.
- 16:38So you can come learn about mindfulness and the many advantages
- 16:41it offers performers.
- 16:43SPEAKER_00: You can experience a guided mindfulness meditation.
- 16:46explore the benefits of developing a daily mindfulness practice
- 16:50and learn some
- 16:51SPEAKER_00: quick centering tools to use in auditions and on set.
- 16:54SPEAKER_00: That's the little blurb that I wrote for the calendar.
- 16:58Now,
- 16:59the catch here is that you do have to be a member of the
- 17:02SAG-AFTRA LA Conservatory.
- 17:06SPEAKER_00: So there's two levels here.
- 17:07SPEAKER_00: You have to be obviously a member of the union SAG-AFTRA in general,
- 17:12SPEAKER_00: a regular union member there.
- 17:15SPEAKER_00: And then you also have to join the Los Angeles Conservatory,
- 17:20SPEAKER_00: which is,
- 17:20SPEAKER_00: I think it's $45 for a full year of classes,
- 17:25SPEAKER_00: workshops,
- 17:26SPEAKER_00: all kinds of stuff that you can,
- 17:28SPEAKER_00: all kinds of like career and career
- 17:32uh craft development basically that you can get as an actor
- 17:36there's tons of great
- 17:37classes it's 45 bucks for the year i really would encourage you
- 17:41to go and sign up
- 17:42for that because then you can come and take my workshops which
- 17:45would be a lot of
- 17:46fun i am planning to offer these workshops at some point to the
- 17:50more general public
- 17:52SPEAKER_00: But I don't know when that's going to be yet.
- 17:54SPEAKER_00: So for now,
- 17:55I know that you can come and find me at the Los Angeles
- 17:59SAG-AFTRA Conservatory in
- 18:03SPEAKER_00: October and in November.
- 18:05SPEAKER_00: You can check the calendar for exact details.
- 18:08SPEAKER_00: I will have links to that site,
- 18:10SPEAKER_00: the calendar site,
- 18:12the LA SAG Conservatory's calendar and their just general
- 18:15website so you can sign
- 18:16SPEAKER_00: up for that if you want to.
- 18:17SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I'll put links where you would expect to find the links.
- 18:24SPEAKER_00: Great.
- 18:25SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for joining me today.
- 18:27SPEAKER_00: I'm always delighted to be here with you and have you join me.
- 18:32SPEAKER_00: This was a blast as always.
- 18:34SPEAKER_00: So thank you for being here and I will see you next time.
- 18:37SPEAKER_00: Bye.