Making Your Existence Recognized By Showing Up – The Secret To Enhancing Your Resume
I find it interesting to listen to achievement stories shared by middle-aged and older people. It never fails that there was always some choice bits that I would walk away with. Now that I am “one of those folks” I see that looking back into my “bag of tricks”, I have a lot of accumulated wisdom that could probably aid those that are starting their walk into the doors of the entertainment business with a resume in hand. It does not matter what your dreams are; whether you desire to be a successful actor, director, producer, writer, agent or any one of the many other positions that exist in this business, this is true for everyone. I call it the “showing up” theory. It is easy and works nearly every time.
There are a lot of opportunities like meet-ups and networking opportunities that you can get hold of when you live in large cities like Los Angeles and New York which is the reason why it is important to have a resume. You will notice that your business card collection and your address book starts to fill whenever you attend those kind of gatherings. If you are smart and keep in touch with those who you’ve met, then your circle of business associates is ever-growing and therefore your chances for success have widened. But how did you arrive to this position? Well, you can put yourself in that kind of postion by using the principle of “showing up”.
One of the most ignored principle of wisdom is the theory of Showing Up. Take the Friends sitcom for example, I’m sure you are very familiar with this sitcom. Nevertheless, are you aware of how this principle helped on of the cast in this tv series?
The tale goes like this, there was an extra who got fed up of working small time acting jobs, but despite this he still made a decision to show up for work one more time. He was getting tired with his current part, but he liked the job and so he made a decision to show for work one once more. Fortunately, that day he decided to show up changed his entire life and profession. While he was at the back room the movie director of “Friends” started looking for someone who knows how to operate a cappuccino and machine, this extra raised his hand despite the fact that he actually has no idea how to use the machine and he became part of the scene. That extra person soon gained the character name of Gunther, who owns the infamous coffee shop and he became a regular on one of the most popular TV shows of all time. Just what did he do? He merely reported to work and showed up even if he doesn’t want to anymore.
The Showing Up theory is one that everyone can take part in, almost everywhere. Be close to those that are successful in whatever you are pursuing. As long as you can do it then you attending classes, events, film festivals, and premieres while having a resume at hand all the time may work to your benefit. It is a proven technique and I myself have experienced it. Who knows, may be your life will transform just because you showed up.
