Moving on to Success

This is going to be an interesting item.  I just finished editing the final installments of the first 100 blog entries and have published them in booklet form; three parts that cover the gambit.  All the while I was editing them; I found the thoughts still interesting to me but editing was necessary to make them more cogent and possibly less personal; by that I mean I took out references to people by name.

The entries accomplished their intended purpose, i.e. to help me work through some uncertainty and put some structure to my thinking.  The one thing that kept coming through to me was my uncertainty.  Often the entries were an attempt to explore an idea and they came off as being somewhat timid, somewhat fearful, somewhat uncertain, overly critical of me, and generally namby-pamby.

The answer to this criticism is, “Yes;” that was the whole purpose of the entries in the first place.  The thoughts that produced them came out of those very feelings and the only way to deal with them was to explore them in writing and confront them.  So, if I sit here now and woe the fact that I was honestly expressing my feelings, I would negate the process and repress my feelings; neither of which is productive.  “Expressing my feelings forthrightly, I am assertive.”

In an effort to be objective, however, I want to express something that also came through the writing.  Often I would write about a feeling of inferiority, or disadvantage, or losing, or being less than a full fledged citizen of the world but upon objectively examining those feelings I could see that these were exaggerations of the truth.  Almost like self-pity in a way, giving in to feelings that are only marginally true but dwelling on them in order to examine them.  The examination proved constructive and the feelings abated to their proper insignificance.

The best analogy that can be made is having an irritating hangnail, one keeps toying with it until he grips it and pulls it off, only to wince in pain.  Now the pain is insignificant but if one dwells on it, it becomes an object of obsession until one looks up and sees that there are indeed many more important matters with which to deal than this pesky little problem.

The utility of the entries was understood at the time they were made but a more significant appreciation of them came about as a result of editing them for publication.  Some of the notes, especially surrounding mom’s death, were especially thought provoking after the fact.  The journey to decision about acting was likewise illuminating.  I didn’t realize how significant that was until later.

Reading my reluctance to jump into agency, head shots, auditions, and the business of acting in general was surprising to me.  From the vantage point of being here now and looking back, I’d forgotten the mental barriers that were in place to get going on it.  They didn’t stop me nor even slow me down but they were there just the same.  One reading the entries might get the opinion that there was a lot of trepidation, even to the point of causing the effort to not be made.  No, it wasn’t that way at all; the efforts were made in spite of it all.

It may have been pointed out during the course of writing that when a disadvantage was identified, almost every time the opposite of it was quickly identified and it was seen to be false.  This has been a hallmark of my actions; push on according to plan.

Often my writing would spawn a course of action that would result in a plan.  The planning process that is contained in Leadership Training for Managers is one of many effective planning processes and one that has been used often to exceptional results. 

Much of what is being written here is to get the point across that however dire the situation seemed to have been in the writings, the option to sit back and do nothing was never taken.  The opposite is true, whenever a situation seemed to be dire, a desired end result would be stated and plans to achieve it put in place, either a formal, written plan or an item in the Planning Evolution file but always some goal, strategy, and plan to alleviate the situation.

All of this is interesting but there is another avenue of thought that I want to traverse.  It has to do with attitude, confidence, and winning.

Attitude is an advanced concept.  Some motivational types have been heard to say, “The only thing you can control is your attitude; so maintain an attitude that supports your success.”  This is all well and good but it is not such a simple thing to do.  One can delude oneself into thinking he/she has an attitude of confidence and success but an independent observer sees the performance for what it is.

I’ve talked about this before in these writings and have adopted the philosophy of having a good recital and an objective report.  In other words, work on my performance of skills to constantly improve them and 

avoid talking about it except to modestly report factual accomplishments.

It is too easy to fall into the trap of talking a good game but not having same.  Spectators, fans of sports, do it all the time; they vicariously participate in the sport and begin to identify with the actual competitors.

One works to experience the feeling of confidence, even anticipation of success,  that descends on a player when he is in the flow of his game.  It allows the continuation of successful performance: stage acting, competitive golf, competitive pool, or judged performance on a horse.  This feeling only comes from repeating the activity in real life, on stage, on the course, at the table, and in the arena, and building on successful experiences to the point that the feeling happens.  You know it when it does.