My algebra teacher insisted that we not just write the answers to the problems, but that we show our work. She wanted to see our solution. As an actor I used to think I had to ask the right questions from the right people to get The Answers. But now I am working out the solution.

Pursuing The Answer might have been more like my copying off of someone’s test. But doing the work and putting in the hours to run my business as an actor {X} hours a week has resulted in the forming and fine-tuning of a solution. I get a lot of help with the planning and implementation from a certified coach, but the work and execution of the plan lies on me.

“The professional understands she will wake up every day facing the same demons, feeling the same resistance, the same self-sabotage, the same tendencies to shadow activities, and amateurism that she has always faced. The difference is that she will not yield to those temptations. she will master them and will continue to master them.”

Steven Pressfield, Turning Pro

***

For a long time it seemed like the working actors were hand-picked, like getting an owl with an invitation to join Hogwarts School of Magical Wizardry.

I spent years looking for the entrance to the pathway that leads directly to work.

Improv, on camera classes, theater, L.A., NYC, pilot season, voiceovers, commercials, ‘the right agent,’ a manager, an MFA, conservatories, workshops, voice training, Shakespeare, musicals, Broadway Dane Center, YouTube, indie film festivals… my list is long.

Maybe I haven’t arrived at The Answer yet. But I do know this: I will always be an actor. I can’t go back in time and un-act. I can’t un-train. I am going to value the process, the path, and the working of the solution and broaden my focus beyond the results.

Even this part of my career today is as valuable as August 2014, when I have set a goal to begin production on my pilot. Between now and then, I am working what solution I have built so far, starting with reading scripts and staying on schedule. I am getting down and dirty with all things fear-inducing.

So how do we set the intention to carve our own path that doesn’t try to hinge on others’ Answers?

I think that it might be more useful to ask working actors, producers, directors, and writers how they arrived at their solution – by what means of introspection and inspiration did they decide what to spend their perspiration on. How did they arrive at the most important decisions of their business?

I have begun asking for ten minute phone calls with people that I admire, so I can ask specific questions about their process, that journey, and what they’ve uncovered that they enjoy sharing. Most importantly I am uncovering this: I can stop looking for answers now because I am working on my solution. No white owl required.

So here’s to 2013 and refining the solution. What path are you carving towards work? Click to Tweet