Thank you so much for your column, Always Learning!

I am a 67-year-old retired broadcaster/news director in radio and television who absolutely hates the thought of “retirement.” My wife and I moved to Texas from Southern California six years ago and I decided I wanted to continue working in the industry. I have been in acting off and on for many years, but never pursued it seriously, other than a few classes. Most of my work has been in voice.

My kids and grandkids were surprised to learn that I had enrolled in an intensive VO workshop recently. Why would I spend all that money learning something that I made money in for so many years? I told them that the day I stop learning is the day I will stop living. And, the fact is that the workshop helped me get rid of decades of bad habits. Plus, it was fun!

Whether I get a good role or not, I am still learning and having fun!

Get a puppy!

“An expert is someone who doesn’t want to learn anything new, because then he wouldn’t be an expert.” — Harry Truman

As always I read with interest your articles. Interesting that the brain itself stops developing if you do the same ol’ same ol’. As we try things in different ways, our brains literally stay more agile and “fire” on more cylinders. Go figure. (I’m no doctor but I played one on TV once.)

After not being in an acting class for a long while (though always working on stuff), about six months ago I decided to go back to study; the task was a little daunting. (I’m a little older and was a teacher for many years.) I came up with a simple rule as I audited classes: Unless the person running the class said or did something I wouldn’t have thought of or was really ingenious, pragmatic, or just plain cool about it, I would dismiss him from my list. Also he had to put people off guard (without being a tyrant about it).

“If you’re going to play tennis, play with someone better than you, that way you’ll always play at the top of your game.” — my mom, Hazel Schwartz

I checked out a few and found that I settled on one that sort of shocked, challenged, and scared me. Why? I think he challenged me to think differently than I had in a long time about both my work and myself as an actor (as far as casting myself and process). And he then gave me those scenes which I would never had picked for myself. AND I am having a great time with them! (BTW, my teacher is Doug Warhit, who is a great acting teacher and stand-up guy.) I keep finding that safety on the freeway is a good thing, in art not so much. This is easier said than done. It’s all about EGO.

What have I learned — or keep learning — or was finally ready to learn? Simple yet complex. We alone continually limit ourselves with limited thinking or belief that we actually know more than we do. Ego is a spark but also a death knell to creativity. As soon as we are “settled,” we settle into our (intellectual) grave. As Lily Tomlin so eloquently put it, “What is reality, anyway? Just a collective hunch!”

“Focus” puts your laser-like vision on one thing to the exclusion of all else. BUT if we intertwine our convictions — what we (think we) KNOW — with our egos, then being right is more important than the goal of succeeding. And needing to be right can make me fall back into my intellectual grave. If I allow myself to be wrong, then I have a chance to learn something new. Or to argue or discuss it. Acting is based on a concept of “What if?” right? If that concept is abandoned then we’re lost to the ego’s refrain of “‘Cus I say so, bee-otch!!” IMHO, it’s cool to be wrong.

“Better to win than to be right.” — my friend’s dad, Ronnie the Bookie, 1984

I also keep learning that if I ever knew it all, man how BORING it would all be. Okay, they’d put on the tombstone, “He was right.”