Are you overwhelmed with all you get to do in your acting career? Feeling like you sometimes don’t know where to start?
A client of mine in my Artists’ Mastermind Group, I’ll call him Dave, was feeling pretty overwhelmed last week. He had A LOT he wanted to accomplish but was feeling kind of stuck.
I challenged him to look at every possible project he had open and to brainstorm out the action steps with each project.
Why did I do this? Most people think in terms of projects not tasks. When you JUST focus on the project, of course, it’s overwhelming! You can’t do a project, but you can do a task.
For example, have you ever written “Get a Haircut” on your to-do list? Inevitably, this line item will keep getting rolled over and rolled over. Why? Well, because “Get a Haircut” is not actionable! Unless you plan on cutting your hair yourself ☺️
What is the action to be accomplished to get your haircut? It could be many things: check your schedule, call the salon, research new hairstylist, etc. See what I mean?
This way of thinking is problematic because projects are not actionable, only tasks are actionable. If something isn’t actionable it becomes daunting and it will not get done because you don’t know the next action to take.
This was EXACTLY where Dave was. So, he took my challenge and spent the time (with much resistance I will add) breaking down his projects.
We had our mastermind meeting this week and Dave was on fire! The overwhelm was gone. Clarity set in. His priorities became clear and he knew what he needed to do next. All by breaking things down into their smallest task. Go, Dave!
This is why it becomes imperative to break down your projects into tasks and become masterful at doing so. It boosts your mood, productivity and efficiency.
Let me ask you this….ever write, “Get Headshots” on your to-do list? Yeah, how’d that work out for you? What a HUGE freakin’ project!
Let’s look at a potential breakdown of all the projects/tasks associated with Getting Headshots:
- What’s my budget?
- Solidify Brand
- Research Photographers
- Interview Photographers
- Discuss discounts/barter options
- Schedule session
- Know your colors
- Create shot list
- Update wardrobe (go shopping!)
- Take pictures of yourself in clothes
- Get haircut/hair colored
- Choose makeup artist
- Choose music
- Take care of yourself
- Healthy night before (no Chinese food!)
- Go to shoot
- Have a great shoot
- Get proofs back
- Look at pictures and ask advice of trusted individuals
- Decide on headshot
- Retouch
- Reproduce
#phew
So… does it make sense now as to why “Getting Headshots” rolls over and over on your to-do list? There are a ton of things to do to get your headshots done!
With a project, it’s important to give yourself a time frame and timeline to accomplish it. How best to do this with headshots? It usually starts with money.
- What’s your budget?
- How much are headshots?
- How much is retouching?
- How much to reproduce your pictures?
- How much to update all your casting profiles?
- How much for clothes?
- How much for a makeup artist?
- How much for your haircut/hair color?
Of course, there are many variables, depending on who you shoot with and where you live, but let’s say you’re spending around $1,000 to complete this entire project. Can you afford that in one month? Three months? Six months? If you do decide to get your headshots done immediately and put it on your credit card—how are you paying it off? Remember, you’ve got to have a reason, purpose, and strategy. Click HERE to read my article about that 😉
Once you know the length of your project, give it a completion date. Then, you work backward from that day and assign a date to everything you can. No one is going to give you a structure for your business. That is up to you.
So, I invite you to follow in Dave’s footsteps. Your mind, and career, will thank you for it.
