TO CONTROL OR NOT TO CONTROL

BY JODIE BENTLEY

writer bio for Jodie Bentley & Kevin Urban (The Savvy Actor)

One day it’s 80 degrees and the next it’s 40! It is spring and it should be 60 degrees. I don't know about you, but first of all that freaks me out a bit. It also it makes me feel…well…. out of control. (Because I never know what to wear.) 

It’s the same thing in our careers. One day we feel on top of our game as actors and the next we don't. That can feel disempowering and chaotic. What you thought isn't so... or is it?

Control. This word can mean a lot. Actors either want to control their careers or they feel completely out of control.  Some actors feel they aren't in control at all, especially when casting directors are viewed as gate-keepers and agents as the answer. They give their power away and look at everyone else as an authority figure, and forget to look at themselves.

For other actors, control means always trying to fit a mold and giving people what they think they want. They lose themselves in the process and seem to work REALLY hard. They’re forcing things to happen and shutting people out in the process.

In sports they say great players let the game come to them. Mistakes happen when athletes try to force a shot or a throw. The same holds true for actors. I see actors consistently self-sabotaging themselves as they try to make their career happen or listen to everyone else’s ideas about their career. 

So how do you feel in control of your career but not controlled by your career?  How do you allow for your career to happen and play the game but bring some of your own rules?

How about trusting in this.

1. Owning who you are and what is uniquely you.
2. Believing that you are enough.
3. Accepting it’s never going to be ‘perfect’.
4. Knowing what you value in your life.
5. Letting go of the result.

Here’s the thing, ultimately, there is no control. All we can do is put ourselves in a position to be ready when the opportunities present themselves. To have done the market research and all the goal work to get where you want to go and to know what is special about you in this business –  then let it go. And trust.

The result will be better than what you ever envisioned. Or what you were trying to control in the first place.