A very influential mentor once said to me, "Be where you are." Just a few months earlier, the late great Philip Seymour Hoffman came to speak at our school. He said something similar, telling a class of wide-eyed young actors, that if he wasn't "feeling" it before a play he'd some how incorporate those sentiments into his performance. "I don't want to do this play," he once mumbled before his entrance on stage for, Jack Goes Boating.
What these two men were trying to convey was you can't simply will yourself to feel a certain way. It's important you acknowledge where you're at emotionally, spiritually, mentally, and physically instead of trying to motivate yourself to feel the way you perceive you're supposed to.
Honesty in one's craft begins with honesty with one self. Once you've taken personal inventory you can then navigate how to best approach the work.
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