The Man Who Flipped Everything I Knew About Hustle On It's Head

One cold winter morning I met a man who’d flip everything I knew about hustling on it’s head. For the next several years he schooled me on the importance of living a life and not just a career. 

Every morning, come rain, sleet, or snow he’d hop on the Metro North from his home in Connecticut and commute to mid-town Manhattan. For the next 10 hours he’d audition, teach, or take classes.  Just before his late foray into acting he abandoned the peace of mind that comes from supporting a family on a well-paying and steady job.

Each time he saw me get worked up over a blown audition or complain about not seeing the fruits of my labor realized he’d remind me there was more to life than being on Law & Order. He taught me you can want something without needing it; a realization that not only liberated me but also made the work more enjoyable. Not surprisingly, the minute I stopped trying to bulldoze my way to my dreams I started to book more work. 

Over the years I saw countless plays in New York. Broadway giants like Frank Langella and Tracie Bennett left me in awe, inspiring me to push the envelope in my own work. Still, their performances paled in comparison to how this man lived his life off-stage. He beamed when he spoke about his children, took the work seriously but never himself, and always responded that he was, “awesome,” when asked about his wellbeing. But the greatest lesson he imparted was being satisfied while striving towards your dreams wasn’t a form of complacency. It simply meant joy couldn’t be postponed for some professional achievement.

The Year Ahead

Long after the ball has dropped and the confetti has been swept up, we take time to ponder the past year's wins and setbacks. Most importantly, we look to the year ahead.

If you're at all like me, you've already taken time to write out your ambitious goals for 2017; disciplines you hope to cement, habits you need to break, and achievements personal and professional you'd very much like to see come to fruition. 

Author, speaker, and former editor of Success Magazine, Darren Hardy once said, "The definition of commitment is doing the thing you said you were going to do, long after the mood you said it in has left you."

As you embark on the year ahead consider these two simple thoughts:

1. You can have high standards for yourself and hold yourself accountable without beating yourself up.

2. What will separate the people who achieve their goals versus those who don't will be consistency. Continue to put in the work on a regular basis long after the shininess of a new year has worn off.

Happy New Year and Best of Luck in 2017.

One

Everyone can agree pursuing a career in the entertainment industry is incredibly challenging. It is perhaps the least meritocratic line of work on the planet. In so many other professional endeavors hard work, expertise, and kindness will eventually offer the opportunity to advance. That formula is less flexible when it comes to being an actor.

Still, I've tried to nudge my actor and artist friends to empower themselves in the few ways they can: 

-- by creating their own work and thus opportunities

-- building a community of like-minded artists

-- and defining success on your own terms.

Understandably, there are other hurdles to getting a serious look from industry movers and shakers. As Viola Davis recently noted in an award acceptance speech, "The only thing that separates women of color from anyone else is opportunity. You cannot win an Emmy for roles that are simply not there.” 

I've had my own hurdles as an actor of color. This certainly doesn't make me unique as many of my talented and hardworking friends have to.

But, I've observed that each group that feels marginalized or underrepresented in the entertainment industry speaks up passionately for their own cause. And understandably so. We tend to talk about what we know and directly affects us. It's human nature.

But what if instead of an Asian American actor advocating solely for his own opportunities he spoke up equally loud for more female filmmakers? Or if female filmmakers voiced their concerns with how Arab Americans are so frequently misrepresented in film and media.

Can you imagine the influence we could have if we all stuck up for one another? The movement to make an "unfair" industry "equally unfair" would be less fragmented, easier to mobilize, and create unbreakable bonds in the process.

And if it could work in the entertainment industry the possibilities beyond a film set would be limitless.