As an actor I open myself to rejection and failure every time I audition for a job and for every job I do book there are hundreds I’ve failed to get in between. A wise person once told me that the only way to truly fail is by giving up. Dealing with the rejection is still a bit of a challenge but I look at it like a garage sale. Many people will pass over an item until that one person spots the item and says YES, that’s exactly what I’m looking for! Wrap it up, I’m buying! ❤️
A wonderfully honest, funny and heartfelt examination of an experience we all go through but few of us like to talk about. How have I dealt with failure? I've gone through all the stages of grief, spending more time in some than in others, but sooner or later I work my way back to hope. I decided a long time ago I'd rather die an optimist, because even if pessimism turns out to be the correct approach, I'd rather be upbeat as long as possible before being proved wrong than spend all my time being miserable and correct.
I've never been much of a winner. Failure is all too familiar. I made a promise to myself long ago not to let it define me. Not to let the negative feelings turn into negative actions. (I do those on my own time anyway without any help.) Funny thing is, failure seems to be the key to getting good at anything. The more at bats the better you get, the better you get. Doesn't mean you win all the time but odds are, if you don't let the failures define you, you'll get damn good at smacking the ball. The wins, I think, show up later just as a byproduct. So swing away Merrill...
I’ve always felt that if you fail-there was a lesson to learn. It’s hard to fall into that mindset at times because you then can make up a ton of reasons why it failed and none of them are the least bit correct. But if you can take anything, big or small, away from it and be a better person and use that for the next thing, you’ve gotten on step closer to where/what you should be doing.
Unless it’s with woman. Then they are always right and you won’t learn anything but agreeing with them is always the right..
When I was first starting out in New York I worked with a photographer on what I thought was a test (practice) shoot. Little did I know he was shooting for a cover try for a magazine. I was not ready for that kind of a close-up photo work and would never have done the shoot had I known his intent. The photo did not turn out great and he didn’t get the cover. He was so pissed he screamed at me ‘Get out of the business’! I was crushed!
I still haven’t learned how to deal with failure or rejection properly and without taking it super personally. I get oh so sad and it hurts oh so bad. The only thing I have going for me is my terrible memory- and so eventually, even the memory of the pain goes away and I try my luck yet again.
As an actor I open myself to rejection and failure every time I audition for a job and for every job I do book there are hundreds I’ve failed to get in between. A wise person once told me that the only way to truly fail is by giving up. Dealing with the rejection is still a bit of a challenge but I look at it like a garage sale. Many people will pass over an item until that one person spots the item and says YES, that’s exactly what I’m looking for! Wrap it up, I’m buying! ❤️
at least we get a weekly blog post...
*checks notes*
without fail
A wonderfully honest, funny and heartfelt examination of an experience we all go through but few of us like to talk about. How have I dealt with failure? I've gone through all the stages of grief, spending more time in some than in others, but sooner or later I work my way back to hope. I decided a long time ago I'd rather die an optimist, because even if pessimism turns out to be the correct approach, I'd rather be upbeat as long as possible before being proved wrong than spend all my time being miserable and correct.
I subscribe to the theory you only learn by failing. That said, I'd like to start using all I've learned to start succeeding.
I've never been much of a winner. Failure is all too familiar. I made a promise to myself long ago not to let it define me. Not to let the negative feelings turn into negative actions. (I do those on my own time anyway without any help.) Funny thing is, failure seems to be the key to getting good at anything. The more at bats the better you get, the better you get. Doesn't mean you win all the time but odds are, if you don't let the failures define you, you'll get damn good at smacking the ball. The wins, I think, show up later just as a byproduct. So swing away Merrill...
I’ve always felt that if you fail-there was a lesson to learn. It’s hard to fall into that mindset at times because you then can make up a ton of reasons why it failed and none of them are the least bit correct. But if you can take anything, big or small, away from it and be a better person and use that for the next thing, you’ve gotten on step closer to where/what you should be doing.
Unless it’s with woman. Then they are always right and you won’t learn anything but agreeing with them is always the right..
When I was first starting out in New York I worked with a photographer on what I thought was a test (practice) shoot. Little did I know he was shooting for a cover try for a magazine. I was not ready for that kind of a close-up photo work and would never have done the shoot had I known his intent. The photo did not turn out great and he didn’t get the cover. He was so pissed he screamed at me ‘Get out of the business’! I was crushed!
I still haven’t learned how to deal with failure or rejection properly and without taking it super personally. I get oh so sad and it hurts oh so bad. The only thing I have going for me is my terrible memory- and so eventually, even the memory of the pain goes away and I try my luck yet again.