I can barely make my bed

This is a series about what we can do for ourselves as actors.

Today, I want to make a case for something that doesn’t feel creative at all.

Organizing your acting life.

Don’t stop reading! If you’re like me, this is where a voice in your head says, “No chance in hell,” and you duck out.

I can barely make my bed in the morning.

On the other hand, I love coming up with epic new ideas and starting them.

A one-person show.

A new film.

A new class to coach.

But creating folders, renaming files, sorting footage, cleaning up my desktop?

That can wait until tomorrow.

All of these tiny tasks unfortunately don’t disappear.

They quietly accumulate until they become mental drag.

You can’t find the self-tape you wanted to send.

You know you have a great clip somewhere, but it takes twenty minutes to locate it.

You spend more time hunting for your headshots than updating them.

You avoid reaching out to someone because you know your materials aren’t quite where you want them.

And if you’re me, you suddenly freeze because of the overwhelming number of small tasks competing for attention in your head. This is often when I reach for whatever compulsive distraction is en vogue in my life at that moment. Anything except the thing in front of me.

None of this has anything to do with your ability as an actor.

But it has everything to do with your ability to move forward.

I’ve started to notice that every time I clear away a little of that friction, I feel lighter.

More prepared.

More professional.

More available.

Not because I’ve booked anything.

Because I’ve removed one more excuse not to act when an opportunity appears.

We often imagine that momentum begins when the audition arrives.

I think it begins much earlier.

It begins when we quietly prepare ourselves for opportunities we can’t yet see.

That’s another way of “polishing over here.”

Today’s Practical Task

Set a timer for 15 minutes.

Open the folder on your computer where your acting materials live—or create one.

For the next fifteen minutes, do nothing except organize.

Rename files.

Delete duplicates.

Group your headshots together.

Put reels in one place.

Create the folder you’ve been meaning to create.

When the timer goes off, stop.

Don’t try to organize your acting career today.

Just reduce a little friction.

Fifteen minutes is enough.

See you soon,

Lucas

Open Studio Acting, NYC
On-Camera Training • Self-Tape Coaching • Actor Development
NYC & Hudson Valley • Zoom Worldwide
IG: @openstudioacting