Spring Clean You
by Jodie Bentley
Yay, spring is here! Other than the daffodils blooming, I am reminded of spring's arrival by the barrage of spring cleaning newsletters in my inbox. Yes, I know I am writing one as well, a little ironic, but before we can 'spring clean' our outer worlds I believe we need to look to our inner beings.
How many times have you re-organized something only to watch it slip back to disarray a few weeks later? Or created a weekly schedule where you got a lot done and kept organized, but you ended up burning out? It is vital that we look at how we think about things and our patterns and clean away those cobwebs first. If we can refresh our mind, body, and soul - the rest will follow.
Mind. We have to remember that thoughts are things. By having thoughts that don't support you, you are doing yourself a disservice. That's where self sabotage is formed. Self sabotage is so common in our business, whether it stems from fear of success or fear of failure. It is time to determine those undermining beliefs that don't support you, get rid of them, and start the work of creating new supportive beliefs and thoughts about yourself.
How do we do that? Start by keeping a journal of every negative thought that comes in your mind. You will start to see what you really think about money, auditioning, relationships, etc. As you uncover something that you want to change, create a declaration around it. For example I believed for the longest time that I couldn't make money on my acting, that it wasn't right. I created this declaration for myself -" I choose to have a successful acting career and I deserve to be rich." Say your declarations aloud daily.
Body. Your body is your instrument, it needs to be healthy. A violinist keeps their violin in top shape and a tennis pro never plays with a faulty racket. Your body must be treated in the same way. It's not just your body, however, but your vocal health as well, no matter if you do musical theater, TV, or voice overs. As actors and artists, we rely on our bodies as a whole to support us so let's do good things for our body.
How do we do that? Everyone will have different needs to keep their body healthy. It is important to determine what your body and voice needs to sustain health. Then you can create a weekly Health Checklist. I am a huge fan of checklists, they keep me focused and on track. And when it is a weekly checklist you can plan out your week without getting stressed when last minute things coming up. Just move it to another day! Some checklist examples - Workout 4x a week, Vocal exercises 5x a week, Yoga 2x a week, Take vitamins and eat oatmeal 6x a week, etc.
Soul. There are be-ers and do-ers in this world. And it is the do-ers that really need to do spring cleaning of their soul because we don't give it enough attention usually. I did say we, because I am guilty of being a do-er. It is vital to be in touch with what your soul needs and nurture it. If we nurture our souls we will refrain from burning out. Discover what it is that nurtures your soul.
How do we do that? Well, what makes you happy? That is really the question. My friendships make me happy, so I schedule coffee once a week with a different friend. I also have a date night with my husband once a week. Both those things keep me going. What also keeps me going is taking my dog to the dog run, hanging in Central Park, and drinking a really good glass of wine! In spring cleaning your soul, it is really about finding what makes you sigh and feel content. In the daily grind of NYC, it is so important to do that for yourself.
So, before you clean your desk and closets of clutter, or organize your marketing tools, take the time to give yourself an internal scrubbing first. The sense of positivity, rejuvenation, and peace you will derive from it will make all the other organizational stuff you need to do for your business seem easy. That's what we are all about at The Savvy Actor, helping make your business easier! Happy Spring!
