START AGAIN MONDAY

Find Comfort in the Chaos

Principle #4: Find comfort in the chaos

Here’s a question…

Do you want a life with no storms?

Or

Do you want to be able to ride out the storms?

There is a bottleneck in this industry 

Actor’s who can handle the storms of pressure move through the bottle neck

Stop

I really don’t like the sentence I just wrote

Do I think it’s actually true?

Nope

I have gotten main roles on TV shows when I literally was shaking in the audition in front of the director

So overwhelmed with nerves 

And sometimes I haven’t even made it past the first round of casting when I have felt I was the coolest cucumber to grace the planet

So what are we actually talking about here?

Back to the biggest bad ass of the 80’s

Mike Tyson 

Here’s some footage of him feeling terrified and crying before a fight (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKjK95aRrhc)

Now, what was that famous thing his coach said?

“The hero and the coward both feel the same thing, but the hero uses his fear, while the coward runs. It’s the same thing, fear, but it’s what you do with it that matters.”

How can I still go play and give my best work even when I’m feeling under pressure?

Let’s boil this down to one fundamental concept: Notice & Bring it back

Notice what?

Notice the dissonance 

Dissonance = A lack of harmony in the mind/body 

You know that moment when you’re feeling nervous and your body and mind start doing different things?

(Tight throat, sweaty palms, stiff neck, raised heart beat, cloudy mind, negative thoughts popping up, woozie tummy, etc etc)

Basically, when we start to protect ourselves from a perceived threat to our survival…

Let’s put them under the umbrella of “dissonance”

Side note

There is a requirement here

In order to notice the dissonance

You have to listen to your body

Obey nature

She will always win in the long run

So listen to her 

What signals is she giving you?

Listen to them

Notice the dissonance 

Then what?

Bring it back to process

What process?

Well

What process do you want to have?

Make it up!

You get to choose

Whatever you want

Try different things

See what works for you

I’ll point you in a direction to get you started

One: Shift your physiology 

Work outside in

Do something physical to affect your brain chemistry

Move

Shake

Jiggle

Stretch

Dance

Sing

Pray

Bath

Jump in the ocean

Walk in nature

Exercise

Sweat

Sit in an ice tub

Have a cold shower

Do a breathing exercise

Yoga Nidra

Breath of fire

Wim Hof

Doesn’t matter what it is

Pick what works for you

What’s important is you shift your physiology

Two: Acknowledge & Accept where you are (give up on where you think/feel you should be)

I find Roy London’s Personal Inventory exercise really helpful

90 seconds of saying…

“I feel x, I feel y, I feel z”

Say what is so for you

Remember, it’s not what you’re feeling that causes issues

It’s judging those feelings which allows problems to arise

Ie, “I’m feeling nervous, and thats a bad thing”

There’s another important fundamental here of replacing a fixed mindset with a growth mindset

Fixed mindset: “Good, bad, right, wrong”

Growth mindset: “Curious, what is this telling me? What can I learn from this?”

Three: Clear your RAS (Reticular Activating System) 

Help your brain help you

Be clear about what you want

2 simple questions to help you get clear

One: How do you want to feel at the end?

(Example: I feel proud of myself)

Two: What’s one action step to help you sustainably get there?

(Example: I am honest)

Okay

If I don’t stop now I will go down 23 more rabbit holes

I’ll leave the rest for the EBook

But to summarise

Create your own process for handling pressure

Turn it into a ritual

Freaking out in the trailer and only have 10 minutes before you’re needed on set?

Know your call to stage is happening in 5 minutes and feeling like you’re about to vomit? 

About to step into the producer’s room for the final casting meeting and feeling yourself doing the fakest smile ever witnessed in the history of all mankind? 

No problemo

Notice it

Then bring it back to process

1. Shift your physiology (mooooooove)

2. Acknowledge & Accept where you are (give up on where you “should” be)

3. Clear your RAS (help your brain help you)

Then go do you booboo 

Hope this helps 

Feel free to send me any questions as this is a massive topic that I love discussing :) 

x

Sheasby 

P.s. Let me know how it goes ;)

———————————————

Email: info@michaelsheasby.com 

Articles: www.michaelsheasby.com/articles