So, I’m working on my next book, Have Fun; Don’t Suck! I go to do a “save as…” on a doc so I can both preserve its original version and have this updated one under a different file name. An ERROR MESSAGE flashes across my screen. It’s one I’ve never seen before. I’m not really stressed out about it. I know my way around a ‘puter and I just try again. Same ERROR MESSAGE. Hmm.
I again read the message and realize it’s not written in any format that *should* make sense to me, so, I Google the exact phrase and series of letters, numbers, and symbols to see what wisdom the Internet has about what to do when facing this particular error.
Ah… a bunch o’ descriptions of what leads up to this error, a few suppositions of what might stop it from ever happening again, and my favorite of the items listed out on the Google search results previews: “Rebooting fixed it for me.”
Awesome. Reboot. THAT, I can do. Because I actually don’t give a crap about the WHY when a computer glitch happens — unless it’s gonna happen again and again — I just want it to stop happening. Reboot fixes it? Done. Reboot.
All better.
That got me thinking about our creative careers in this glorious industry of ours, and how many times we get stuck with one little often nonsensical thing that holds us back from moving the whole dang project forward, whether that project is getting a demo reel edited, doing submissions to agents, or finally heading over to that networking event that you keep saying you want to hit.
Sometimes, all you need is a good reboot. It’s not meant to reset *everything* to zero; just whatever is glitched at the moment. As Wendy Stevens says, “Sometimes it’s easier to create new birth than to resurrect the dead.” If there’s something that’s causing you immense stress — say, an overflowing inbox perhaps — try declaring email bankruptcy. This is where you sort by FROM, take everything but the most recent email from a particular person, archive it (I don’t care *how* flagged it is because of something that needs your response — if it’s been ages and it’s still sitting there begging for your attention, it’s just costing you psychic energy at this point and you can file it away), then write back to only the most recent message. Better still, start a brand new one. Even say, “Starting over. What were we discussing that still needs our attention?” if you have to. But *not* getting back to someone because it’s been so long? That serves no one. It moves no goal forward.
Feeling like crap because it’s been months since you opened that awesome productivity app you installed on your gadget last year? Uninstall the dang thing. Reinstall. Don’t restore from backup. Just start over. Either those old, stale tasks that never got done will make it back onto the list because they actually are important and do need your attention today or they won’t. And if they don’t, it means they weren’t that important anyway. Aren’t you glad you stopped feeling like a failure for what you didn’t get done? It wasn’t even important enough to make it back onto the list. Why all that stress? Ah… sometimes rebooting is so much better.
Rather than saying there’s no hope for your website because you don’t have the stills from the set of that last film you shot, launch the site. Reboot the concept you had in mind and get the site up without those stills. Trust you can add a page to your gallery later and just get your site launched. Or, redirect your URL to your Actors Access profile or your IMDb page. Reboot the entire concept of having a well-branded website while you at least have something out there Googleable and directing people to what you *do* have.
If you’re the type who decides the day is shot if you don’t start it off with a good breakfast, a workout, and meditation, find a way to reboot at noon. Don’t let the fact that you got caught up in the nonsense of someone else’s “urgent” email or a survival job’s drama or bad traffic or anything else derail your day. Twenty minutes is all it takes to refresh, reboot, and decide it’s morning again — even if it’s 4pm. Every moment is a choice. Choose to call it new and do better. Right now.
Finding you’ve fallen out of love with the agent you so adored a year ago? Reboot. Ask for a meeting. Not to fire him. Not to lecture him. Not to grill him about what’s working and what’s not. Just to get back on the same page. To reboot. To discuss how best y’all can jam so that midseason is better than ever anticipated. To plan the work you’ll both do going forward to make better connections. To get reconnected and firing like the superteam you know you can be.
Uninspired in craft class? Reboot. Try something you’ve never tried before. Get into a standup class. Revisit longform improv. Check out stage combat. Master Meisner. Come at the same thing from a different angle and learn that it’s not about muscling through blocks sometimes but instead just firing on all cylinders but in a different way.
How do you reboot? I’d love to hear from you! The ol’ email address is just below. 🙂 Use it!
Bonnie Gillespie is living her dreams by helping others figure out how to live theirs. Wanna work with Bon? Start here. Thanks!
Originally published by Actors Access at http://more.showfax.com/columns/avoice/archives/001962.html. Please support the many wonderful resources provided by the Breakdown Services family. This posting is the author’s personal archive.