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Hello fellow actors.

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Welcome back to casting actors.

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Cast today's episode is called, the

best secrets of every successful

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actor.

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And I want to start by disappointing

you just a little.

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There is no secret handshake,

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there's no magic agent,

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no single audition that changes

everything.

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But

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guess what?

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There are patterns.

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And after decades of watching actors

succeed,

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stall, disappear,

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return, rebuild and thrive.

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I can tell you this,

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successful actors don't do different

things.

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Guess what?

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They do the same things.

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Consistently,

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let's talk about these things.

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This is casting actor's castle.

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Well, hello, and welcome to today's

episode of casting actors.

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Cass.

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As I said, I'm Jeff drysback.

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I'm a casting director with macorical

casting in New York.

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Nice to see you.

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Hope you're having a good day.

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I'm having a good day.

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And I love doing these podcasts.

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I love teaching.

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I love getting

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an opportunity to talk to actors about

what it is to be an actor.

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And I think this episode is a long time

coming.

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When we talk about the success model of

those actors that I've worked with,

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whether they be superstars or whether

they just be constantly working actors,

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I think that there are some patterns

that we can kind of pull apart and

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discuss.

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And I think that you possess a lot of

these qualities it's just a matter of

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drawing attention

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to them for yourself.

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But first, this is that moment of the

podcast where I get to say thank you

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for tuning in to this patio, this

podcast.

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Video, casting actor's cast, because

we're also similcasting this on

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YouTube.

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The YouTube channel is casting actor's

cast.

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If you go to the website, casting

actress cast dot com, you'll see all

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kinds of things available on the

landing page.

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One is a form that has dive into the

talent pool, filling that form out.

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It opens up some freebies for you.

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One as a book and doing voice over

work.

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The other is a video called casting

secrets.

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What they don't tell you also, you're

going to see.

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My new book is out now and doing very,

very well.

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I would love you to take a look at it.

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It's also an audiobook, and I do the

audio narration of the book.

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So that's been really, really a fun

project.

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Love for you to check that out as well.

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And then there's, of course, on

auditioning,

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amazing audition technique,

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of course, that you can't sign up for

right there on the landing page.

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So I hope you do check that out.

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And now here's my shout out to my good

friends at actor's connection.

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Also, I just want to say it's been an

absolute pleasure being on the Broadway

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podcast network.

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Wherever you get your podcast, it would

mean the world to me if you could leave

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me a thumbs up, a, like, perhaps even a

review.

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Especially on iTunes, I tune seems to

be like the holy grail.

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And if you enjoy the content here,

would you please consider letting me

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know that?

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Because it helps me, but it also helps

the podcast in general.

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And I love doing these patios, as I

said.

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So keep me

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happy.

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Keep me moving forward.

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Will you?

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I hope you do.

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Thank so much.

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All right, we've got to talk about

those successful traits that I see in

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successful actors.

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And so there are some secrets we have

to reveal here.

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Secret.

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Number one,

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they manage their energy,

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not just their talent.

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You see, successful actors,

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they understand something very, very

early in their careers.

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They know that talent gets attention.

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But it's energy

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that builds careers.

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Here's some examples.

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They arrive grounded.

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They respect time.

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They

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listen fully.

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They don't dump their anxiety into the

room,

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right?

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remembers how you felt

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to be around.

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I'm going to repeat that.

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Casting remembers how you felt to be

around

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if you just like this other person,

even if it's hard to define what that

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feels like.

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You remember that,

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because it's a feeling, it's an energy.

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And so you can manage a career with

energy,

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but you can absolutely

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have the energy in the room

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to feel

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successful and consistent at the same

time.

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So here's a call to action.

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Before every audition, I want you to

ask yourself, what energy am I bringing

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into this room?

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See, that matters to me much, much more

than a perfect audition.

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Because guess what, there's no such

thing.

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One tip I have is,

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and I think that this is so useful is,

I would love for you to just take a

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nice deep breath before, if this is a

live audition or a zoom

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audition, just take a deep breath.

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And I just want you to imagine this

nice, bright white

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shining through your chestbone to the

other people.

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Just have that imagery,

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know what that feels like, and you're

going to find that there's something

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really remarkable that happens as a

result of where that energy is placed.

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Secret number two,

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successful actors, they detach

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from outcomes

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listen.

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This one is huge,

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because I know this to be true.

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Successful actors.

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They prepare deeply,

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they spend a lot of time on their

material.

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And when they perform, they are 100 per

cent fully committed.

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So they perform

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fully, for lack of a better way to say

it,

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they also let go easily.

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Let me tell you a quick story

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about an actor.

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And I believe I've mentioned this in a

podcast several years ago, probably.

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But this actor, I just love this actor

so much.

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You would know who this is, by the way.

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But this actor, when he comes in,

let's, say, it's a movie audition, and

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we're doing it in person, whatever, and

we're filming the audition.

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The actor has his sides in front of

them.

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The actor does a fully committed job.

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Really interesting choices are being

made.

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And when the audition is over, the

producer or the director or the casting

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director says, gosh, thank you very

much.

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That was great.

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In other words, the audition's over

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that's code.

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This actor, and I'm not making this up,

this actor literally grabs the sides

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and rips them up in front of us, zip,

zip, zip, and then tosses them into the

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wastebasket on his way out of the

audition room.

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Now, I know that sounds kind of harsh,

doesn't it?

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But you know what?

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I admire that so much,

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because they're done.

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They like, gave what they had to give,

and then they move on.

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In other words, they don't relive the

audition in their head for weeks.

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They used that physicality, that that

ripping of the sides and throwing them

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away as sort of a rights of passage for

the next best thing.

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Now I'm not suggesting you do that

necessarily.

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It works really well for this actor,

because that's the kind of person this

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actor is.

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But I do love the metaphor for that,

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hanging on to an audition.

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I mean, I was an actor who, for a long

time, was reauditioning in my head on

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the way home after every audition.

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It was exhausting.

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But the actor I'm talking about, those

successful actors,

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they don't need closure.

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They move forward.

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And then what I discovered finally is

that detachment

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is not indifference,

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it's professionalism.

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So here's another secret.

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Successful actors build community,

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they don't build competition.

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Those actors who have long lasting

careers, let me tell you, they support

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their peers.

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They share information freely.

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They celebrate others wins.

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They don't isolate.

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They create community

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because isolation literally just creates

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fear.

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And so those actors, and I'm not

talking about being gregarious,

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I'm talking about those actors, are

just genuinely in the business, fully

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and completely.

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So here's a call to action, something

to consider along those lines.

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I want, once a week, I want you to

connect with another actor.

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Just connect with another actor that

you know, maybe somebody you worked

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with a while ago, maybe somebody in a

class.

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But I want you to connect with that

actor with absolutely no agenda.

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Just wanted to say hello,

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see what that feels like.

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Understand what that can do for you.

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To me that's career insurance.

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All right.

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Let's move out on to secret number four,

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successful actors.

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I know this to be true.

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They invest strategically

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not desperately

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successful actors are thoughtful.

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They're thoughtful about gosh, just

about anything, anything and

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everything.

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They're thoughtful about classes.

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They're thoughtful about their coaches.

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They're thoughtful about the materials.

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They allow timing

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to be part of all of their work.

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They don't chase every opportunity.

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What they do is they chase alignment.

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I love that.

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As seeker.

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Number five, successful actors,

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they accept the cycle.

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Actors who last, they stop saying,

what's wrong with me?

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That's not in their vocabulary.

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If that's not in their lexicon,

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they start saying, which phase am I in?

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You see, that's growth,

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that's visibility,

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that's plateau

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that's reset.

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All normal

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and all survivable.

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I've got secret number six coming up

right after this.

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Welcome back to secrets

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of successful actors.

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And we're now up to secret number six.

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Successful actors, oh my goodness, they

define success internally.

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Now this may be the most important

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of all of these steps.

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I think

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actors who last,

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they don't outsource

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their worth.

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They don't wait to feel legitimate.

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They don't need permission to belong.

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Successful actors act because it's who

they are, not because someone approved them.

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Does that make sense?

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I love that,

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because it really does speak to that

core

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success model.

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You don't have to show anybody.

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But it's so personal,

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and it is so private, and it is so

coming committed to who you are,

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that that makes it really, really

exciting.

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Plus

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casting, they sense that

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they understand the depth of that

emotion.

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And that counts for a lot.

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So here's a call to action.

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Write down your own definition of

success.

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What does success mean for you?

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Now I'm talking about outside of your

credits.

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But when do you know you're successful?

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Are you successful?

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Now,

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when will you know you're successful?

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Please do yourself a favor.

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Take a minute and analyze that.

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Take a look at it.

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Write it out.

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Journal that, if you can.

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Because once you understand that, that

is such great insight

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for projecting

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how you are being perceived by the rest

of the world.

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And guess what?

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That keeps you sane.

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So here's a final thought.

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Successful actors are not fearless.

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They are committed.

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Guess what?

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Successful actors?

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They show up, they adjust,

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they endure, they stay curious.

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Gosh, that's the real secret.

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So if this episode helps you,

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pass it on.

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That's how this community grows.

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I'm Jeff dryesbach.

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Remember to prepare smarter,

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act better and book more.

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This is casting actor's cast,

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and i'll see you next time.