Tuesday 4 February 2014

The fear of failure leads to the joy of success

When I was co-director of Anna Scher Theatre I used to have a sign overlooking my desk.  It read '99% isn't good enough.'

Nobody's perfect, so that's a good motto, but the fact remains that, in a competitive field, performing arts, success can never be guaranteed.

Is that a reason not to try?  Emphatically, no!

Because ...
You will learn so much along the way, from performing arts, that you will be equipped to do many things apart from acting.  It's a win-win situation: you either succeed at acting or else you succeed at something else.

Believe me I've seen both arms of the win-win many times and it's true, both are labelled 'win.'.  We're a happy, happy crew.

But if you don't put the work in then you can't expect success.  Think about it.  You won't win any prizes.  You've hardly begun and already you've given up.

Better by far to have put the work in.

The fear of failure leads to the joy of success

Charles