Have you ever been in situations where you can’t “see” something even though you’re told it’s staring you in the face? Or maybe you’ve heard the term “it’s like wallpaper”.
If you haven’t heard that term before... it’s not a good thing. Imagine this: When the wallpaper was new, it was exciting and you loved it, but now that you’ve seen it a gagillion times, you don’t even notice it. And voila, “It’s like wallpaper”.
Boring.
No one wants to be like wallpaper – especially in our industry!
A couple of weeks ago I met a friend for a stair climb workout (in the actual outdoors! 🌳). At one point we saw a deer on the stairs. My friend was so excited that she took a photo.
I was amused.
We live in an area filled with deer – they are everywhere, including in yards and median strips. For me, the deer on the stairs was like wallpaper and I couldn’t imagine why she needed to memorialize it.
But then, I realized, my friend is from Australia. For her, a deer sauntering on the workout stairs was novel and exciting. Much like if I moved to Australia and saw a kangaroo in my yard. That would definitely be worthy of an Instagram “Look! I’m really in Australia!!” post to my US friends.
This got me thinking.
This whole wallpaper concept is a bit like our own unique strengths and personal talents.
Our core talents are so much a part of us that we don’t even notice them (or even know they’re there in the first place), or appreciate them. And most actors certainly can't articulate what they are.
Can you?
Wouldn’t it be fun to really understand who you are and why you do what you do? The bonus with this knowledge is that it opens the doors to understanding what makes other people tick, which is invaluable in this industry of constant networking and relationship-building.
Well, guess what?
There IS a way to discover your natural talents, how these talents have served you in the past and then harness the power in those talents to achieve future goals.
It’s the Magnetic Actor Method which was inspired by 40+years of scientific research designed to identify your unique gifts. And I have a FREE download for you that will get you started. You can grab it here.
It’s called the Magnetic Actor Method Action Guide and it’ll help you bring a little kick-ass to your acting career because you’ll become obsessed with who you are (in a good way!) and that knowledge will light up the audition room.
And who doesn’t want that?
I gotta say, it’s pretty freaking empowering to know exactly who you are and how you’re unlike anyone else.
It’ll bring you a self-certainty that will ground you and will probably explain A LOT. Maybe things like why you get super annoyed when people don’t follow directions, why you put already-done-things on your list just to cross them off, and why you’re so gosh-darned glass-half-full optimistic all the time.
And if you already know your talents, awesome! Then, I challenge you to “catch yourself in the act of being you” every day. Notice things you do. Understand why. Notice things about others, too.
Surprise and delight yourself with the awesomeness of being you, every day.
And for the love of all things deer related, don’t be like wallpaper. Be like "This is Us" except be like "This is You".