12 Habits to Jumpstart Your Week

It's easy to feel too busy to think, but Monday mornings set the stage for the week ahead and give you a chance to regroup and consider the big picture. Monday is the day to get pumped up about acting and your decision to make this your career. Here are things to do on Monday mornings (and some you can do every morning) to keep your acting career on track.

1. Wake up early and exercise. Not a morning person? Sleep/awake cycles are not genetic, they are set by you. Partying a lot or staying up to watch late night talk shows have to be weighed in terms of the benefit to your career. If you’re not awake until noon, you won’t be prepared. 

2. Eat a healthy breakfast. If you skip breakfast, your growling stomach will soon become a distraction. If you eat a sugary/starchy breakfast, you’ll be nodding off by 10 a.m. You want your brain to be alert and running on all cylinders, so go high protein and save the carbs for lunch.

3. Establish a routine and get started early. Review your calendar for the week and check for networking opportunities on those days when you’re not working: i.e. film festivals, union meetings, free acting seminars, etc. I’m very big on free events and the SAG Foundation sponsors a lot of workshops, casting director Q&As, and panels that are well worth attending. When you attend, make an effort to be accessible. Put a smile on your face. Introduce yourself to that person sitting quietly off to the side. You never know who you might meet. 

4.  Check your emails/texts and screen for urgent requests. Every email should get a reply, but you can miss something important if you don't first scan your inbox for urgency. Star those messages that are priorities and think quality, not quantity, in your response. But be sure to add a touch of humanity. Before you hit “Send,” read them over to ensure that they're friendly and clear. It's easy to appear curt when you're in a hurry, especially in writing. You might start by saying "Hi" and "I hope you had a great weekend."

5.  Spend no more than 20 minutes on social media. Briefly comment on what others in the industry have posted, and post acting-related information that others can use. Author Dale Carnegie said that the art of being a good conversationalist was in listening to what others had to say. The same is true of social media. The purpose is to connect with those in the business by listening/commenting on what THEY are saying. If you've acquired 10,000 "friends" and everything you post screams "Look at me!" no one will want to take you to lunch.

6. Tackle the easy tasks first. Organize your computer desktop. File receipts and compute mileage from the previous week for tax purposes. Make sure current scripts and files are easily accessible. Then if you have tougher and more time-consuming tasks, you’re ready to tackle them without having to search for what you need.

7.  Allow time for unexpected intrusions. Expect the unexpected and try to avoid scheduling anything on Monday until late in the day. That gives you time to organize your week and if someone in production found loose ends unraveling over the weekend you have time to deal with it.   

8. But if it’s not urgent, say no. You can wear yourself out trying to please everyone. If it’s not absolutely urgent, learn to diplomatically say no by offering to connect later in the day or in the week. Then be sure to follow-up.

9.  Update your to-do list and review your goals. Be sure you are current on the tasks that have to get done during the week, review your overall goals, and then set goals for the week. Even if you don’t accomplish them all, you’ll accomplish most of them.

10.  Scan one or more trade papers (Variety, Hollywood Reporter, Backstage), either online or in hard copy, to pick up on trends and TV/films in pre-production. I don’t read a general newspaper and haven’t for years because I found myself getting worked up over issues that I could not resolve. Try to stay focused and hope that the political scandals, global unrest, and environmental “crises” are being handled by those with more knowledge and influence.

11.  Take time to touch bases with actor friends by text or email. It reinforces a sense of purpose and community for everyone, including you.

12. Visualize success. You won’t know that you’ve arrived if you don’t know what it looks like when you get there. And learn to be patient. As Harrison Ford once said: “I realized early on that success is tied to not giving up. Most people in this business gave up and moved on to other things. If you simply didn’t give up, you would outlast the people who came on the bus with you.” Amen to that.