The Success Formula

Aug 15, 2010 by     No Comments    Posted under: Attitude, Guest Post

A lot of times people say things far better than we do. Sometimes we re-post those things. Enjoy the post below that came our way via Amy Lyndon.

I’d like to share with you something called the Success Formula. When I worked as a marketing consultant for an international consulting company, this formula provided a clear visual way to measure both how to achieve success as well as how to measure oneself in one’s journey to success.

 

SUCCESS = A (LTV + D + E/T)

A = Attitude
LTV = Long Term Vision
D = Discipline
E/T = Effort over Time

Let’s break down the creamy center, shall we?

Long Term Vision is the mindset that you’re committed for the long haul. You’re not seeking immediate gratification, you’re seeking an established success, something that has intrinsic worth and provides the momentum to do and be more. It’s being able to look at your career and recognize that you’re in it for the long haul because the love of acting goes deeper than fame and money. This passion will sustain you through the hard times. There’s nothing wrong with fame and money, but as concepts they won’t sustain you when you don’t work for 3 years and your agent drops you and all you can afford is a scone and Amy’s book.

Discipline is just that: discipline. You’ve got to be working on your acting every day. Classes, working on your marketing materials, workshops, whatever – set aside an hour a day devoted to your Office Hours. Work that hour, then walk away.

Effort over Time picks up where Discipline left off. As your work habits build, you can commit more time and energy to your goals, but remember that consistency is much more important than quantity. I also teach guitar and piano, and I tell my students that practicing five minutes every day on their basic scales is better than a half hour once a week. The ones who actually put this into practice are my best students because they’ve developed the habits necessary for success. So develop the habit of being a working actor and you will find that, soon enough, you can be nothing but a working actor.

Finally, the great multiplier: your ATTITUDE! You can have all the talent, vision, discipline, consistency and connections in the world, but if your attitude sucks, you’re never going to make it for two reasons. First, you will constantly sabotage yourself. Bad attitudes breed laziness, apathy, procrastination and the inability to celebrate and gain momentum from the success you do have. Second, nobody will like you and you won’t have any friends. Seriously. Ask any working actor and they will tell you stories of people with bad attitudes on the set. Everyone is uncomfortable, it takes twice as long to shoot a take, and the pros are all sorts of pissed off because they are trying to do there jobs while Mr. Snarky is busy taking his sweet time being, well, snarky.

On the flip side, a positive attitude can be the multiplier that takes even mediocre talent, vision, discipline, etc and propel it to the heights. We all know those types of people: whether shy or extroverted, positive people are magnets and attract positivity to them! Crappy headshots and decent reads are overlooked because everyone just likes being around Mr. NotSnarky.

I hope this article has proven helpful and motivational to you! Feel free to email me directly with your comments. lyndonmarkdir@gmail.com

Take care!
Justin Giddings
Actor. Funny Man. Cheese Connoisseur.