How to Move Forward When You're Feeling Discouraged

1. First, confront the reality of the situation. It takes courage to be brutally honest about what' troubling you. But it is only from this place that we can begin to maximize future opportunities. 

2. Develop a plan. When you know what the barriers are you can begin finding ways to get through, over, or around them. This requires a flexibility in your current approach and thinking, which are both attributes of an open-mind. When I conveyed my frustrations about the lack of roles and opportunities available to me as an actor, my friends suggested I write and create my own material. How can you honor the artist inside of you while facing adversity? Keep exploring with an open heart, bold mind, and devoid of self-judgment. 

3. Create a community.  Remember, you are not alone. You are part of a movement of people facing their own struggles within a highly competitive industry. Successful people know the importance of leaning on friends and family. Surrounding yourself with an army of individuals who love and support you is the most indispensable force imaginable. A strong personal foundation is crucial to lasting and meaningful achievements. 

4. Don’t quit. It’s tricky to talk about the importance of not quitting without falling into some type of cliché, or platitude. Still, it is perhaps the most important component of any type of success in life, especially amidst the great challenges you will undoubtedly face. If it's important enough to you, you'll find  a way to carry on. 

On to the Next One

"Shattered hopes of success must be transformed into the joy of new achievements." 

Nothing in life works according to plan. For some people, that reality has the potential of irreparable harm. Because their life has not lived up to some vision they developed for them self long ago they've lost all bearings, focus, and plan of attack.

In some ways, I fell into this trap. I'd basically wanted one thing since the age of 11 and when that dream was not realized exactly the way I'd hoped I felt quite lost.

The solution was slowly cultivating the belief this setback was an opportunity to find other ways to utilize my talents and offer value to the world. It may not have happened precisely as I'd originally hoped, but I realized my new pursuit had the capacity to be as, or even more fulfilling.

Don't give up on yourself. Your talents and abilities to serve others far exceed what you may believe to be possible. The trick is getting started and knowing through patient experimentation you will eventually stumble upon the next thing. 

Use the Right Metrics

Last night I took a class called: Digital Marketing 101. Now, I'm a far cry from being a tech whiz, a coder, or a marketer for that matter. Hence, the reason I sat attentively in the last row of that makeshift classroom.

The instructor however was a seasoned marketer with an impressive resume that included the names of companies we're all very familiar with.

The mark of a great educator, as far as I'm concerned, is the ability to take complex ideas and break them down into bite size pieces. Thankfully, our teacher was able to that masterfully.

Towards the end of class, I followed up with a question on a topic he'd touched upon earlier in the evening. "How many companies do you think fail because they don't use the wrong metrics for success?" I asked. He smiled before admitting there were many.

It got me thinking, how many actors quit because they're not using the right metrics to gauge their success? How many of us going exclusively by what others think it means to "win?" How many of us are comparing ourselves to the rank and pulse of busy IMDB pages of those famous and not so famous?

I think we'd all get a great deal more joy out of our crafts and creative pursuits if we changed the lenses through which we viewed our achievements.

Figure out what success means to YOU and then implement the right metrics to measure growth and success.

It'll make all the difference.