How I had my best audition year ever

The first most successful audition year I ever had was the year I got married.

Now, I’m not suggesting you get married. Or even search for the perfect relationship. Far from it.

While a good relationship can do a lot to augment our lives and even our happiness, my success that year actually had little to do with the relationship itself and everything to do with how focusing on my wedding caused me to show up in an entirely different way in my day-to-day life.

Here’s what I did differently:

1. I had clear priorities.

I recognized that I couldn’t do everything and made choices about what to show up for and what to pass on.

The fixed dates of my wedding (and honeymoon) and my sister’s wedding (yes, she 100% got married the same year) made it easier for me to discern what auditions to attend and which ones to skip. If I wasn’t available, I didn’t go.

This meant I had more energy for the auditions I could attend. I was able to get more specific with my audition material. I was both more confident and more rested.

This was a huge contrast to how I had been showing up before. I was definitely that girl who went to every audition I could. Sometimes that meant 3-5 open calls a day. Going to that many auditions made me feel like I was doing something. It also gave me an opportunity to practice auditioning. I got to work on my material and work on my nerves. But at the end of the day, I was also exhausted.

2. My priorities shifted from being reactive to focusing more on long-term goals.

When you are in the middle of a crazy audition season, it can definitely feel like you are at the mercy of a bazillion situations outside of yourself. You find out about an audition for a role you’d love to play. Then you discover you don’t have the right audition material, which sends you scrambling to put something new together. Meanwhile, you have all the auditions already on your calendar, your classes, your work, etc.

Having more space gave me time to look at the big picture. I was able to focus on more than the current auditions at hand and what was right in front of me. I stopped showing up as a human doing and allowed myself to be a human being.

3. My priorities included work-life balance.

I was making time not just to plan my wedding and spend time with my husband but I was also making time for friendships. My self-care habits were on point. I made regular time to exercise and rest. For the first time in my life, I was not constantly making the excuse, I don’t have time. It was a really fun year!!

How it all ended

Now, I’m sure you are wondering how my audition season ended. Did I get callbacks? Did I book?

I ultimately didn’t book a single job that season, but my callback ratio went way up, I got to build real relationships with people in the industry and my personal life, and my quality of life improved. Since my callback ratio went up, I ultimately decided that there was no way I would have gotten better results if I had tried to do things the old way.

And I felt good about my journey and the progress I had made in a way that I had never felt before.

Since being an actor (and an artist or entrepreneur of any kind) can be a long game, with lots of trial and error, feeling good along the way is what is going to keep me ON the path.

So, I used this kind of prioritization as an organizing principle in future years.

Now, it’s your turn

Clarify your own priorities by journaling about the following questions:

1. Are you saying yes to everything? Going to every audition? Or trying to launch 3 programs all at once?
2. What is one long-term project or goal that you can use to organize your time and make decisions?
3. How can you create more work-life balance?

Tell me about what you discover in the comments below.

I can’t wait to see how this shifts your experience of ease and flow in your life!

Much love,
Natalie