Boldly go where no woman has gone before

It’s a funny old thing, the word ‘bold‘. This week I was chatting with a pal on email about being bold and making bold choices and this word just stuck with me. I couldn’t shake it off.

BOLDLY go where no girl has gone before.

How can you be bold? What makes you bold? Bold bold bold. What a funny word!

Being bold to me means taking steps towards doing something you typically wouldn’t. It is about being courageous.  It is about not being afraid to take risks in order to move forward. Making the most of opportunities doesn’t always work, but what have we got to loose. You can either sit watching life go idly by, or you can direct your attention and energy towards channeling positive career outcomes. Rather than say ‘why’, say ‘why not’.

Here’s a list of 10 little things you might want to try this month as you step into Autumn and set yourself up to be acting all the way through winter. Remember, no one wants a part time career!

1. Get out and buy a new acting book to get you inspired. I suggest checking out the range in Foyles.
2. Find out what your top five all time favourite directors are working on at the moment. Use IMDB Pro, google, blogs, other actors, anything…. and then find out who is casting for their next projects (remember you are being bold not boring).
3. Find your goals from the beginning of the year and spend 30 minutes sitting down to review how you are tracking against those goals. Haven’t set goals yet? Well it is never to late to do it. Here’s a little blog about visualisation for goal setting, and another by a fellow writer about the actual task of setting goals. 
4. Write a list of your favourite TV shows. Now work out who casts them. Is there a Casting Director workshop coming up where you can meet that relevant CD? Some companies who offer courses and workshops with CD’s include: Actors Guild, Actors Platform, Fuse London, and even occasionally the UK Actors Tweetups.
5. Go to an improv class. I can’t even begin to tell you how much better actors performances are when they regularly partake in improv. 
6. Read a new play. The National Theatre and BFI have great libraries with many new plays. Why not get familiar with new works and writers.
7. Plan and get along to one of those many acting networking events that you keep meaning to attend.  
8. Surround yourself with like minded, crazily successful awesome actors who are doing better than you.  Don’t know any…time to find them. 
9. Scout twitter and ask for a coffee date with your favourite actor, writer, producer or director. Be bold!
10. Call an actor friend and tell them your top goals for September. There you go – now you’ve boldly committed out loud to working on some of your bold acting goals.