Deliverable

It’s the first day of February, 2006. I’m finally over (knock on wood) the bout of flu (or whatever the hell it was) that knocked me out of the last 3 days of January. I wanted to capture some thoughts about how January went before posting my February “things I will complete” list.

It’s nice to have the objective record of what I did and did not accomplish in January. It shows that I am slowly but surely working towards my stated goals for 2006. As I look back on January I realize that my focus was almost entirely on the “create a nurturing home environment” part of my 2006 goals. There was no conscious decision to focus on the home stuff. At some point I suppose I’ll have to determine if focusing first on the home stuff was me intuitively realizing that I must have a nurturing home environment if I am to make all these other things happen… or if I was just putting off the inevitable work on my book, acting, music, etc. out of fear. We’ll see how that shakes out.

One thing that I did notice as I was creating my goals was that at times I wasn’t specific enough about the goal. There were times when I listed a large goal like “sell the bike” when what I really needed was the “next action” (fill the tires on the bike, clean it up for sale, take pictures…). I’ll try to work with that in my February goals by breaking things down into parts more.

I also think that I underestimated the whole “paint the apartment” thing. Had I thought it through a bit more I might have realized that if I wanted it done right I’d have to do it myself, which would necessarily take more time than having the super et al do it. I started the process later in the month and then things kinda went to hell. Lesson learned, I hope. February is 4 days shorter than January so I’m not going to waste any time in getting started on these things.

One thing I want to be aware of in February is how to better balance my work on my home with work on my music, acting, teaching, etc. I felt like the balance was way off in January. Something to think about. Overall though, I like the process. I like being able to point to my blog and say “I did this”. It’s a good feeling.

By 1/31/06 I will complete the following:

• Bathroom ceiling fixed and bathroom repainted. (completed 1/10/06) Hallelujah!
• Closet doors replaced in front and back living room. (changed: 1/27/06 / see below)
• Arrange a time with the super to come in and fix the closet doors. (forward to next month: see update below) It’s taken abit of doing to keep the super on top of this. The doors are supposed to be in on Tuesday, 1/31/06. I’m supposed to call him on Tuesday to make sure the doors have arrived and to set up a time to install them. Looks like this might not happen until the first part of February so I just wanted to notate that here. (update 1/31/06) – The doors haven’t arrived at the hardware store yet, so no doors in January. I gave it the college try, but should have started earlier in the month I guess. Will move this to my February list of things to finish.
• Bathroom sink fixed. (completed 1/10/06)
• Kitchen sink fixed. (completed 1/10/06)
• Call the management company and have the apartment repainted. (I split the project into it’s various parts: see below)
• Call the management company – re: want my apartment painted (called and left a message: 1/9/06) – I needed to break this project down into parts and acknowledge the completion of this first step that I’d been putting off (calling my management company).
• Speak with property manager and negotiate the painting of my apartment (completed 1/11/06) Spoke with him today. He’s coming by on Saturday to look at the aparment. Details to follow. (Update: 1/14/06 – Property manager looked at the apartment and gave the go-ahead to paint. Will call me on Tuesday to work out the details.)
• Work out a time with the super to paint the apartment (completed 1/18/06) The super will be here next Tuesday to begin painting the apartment. This means I need to get any sanding and spackling that I want done before then. Details of the completion of this project to follow. (Project update: 1/27/06 / see below.)
• After the painting day debacle I’ve decided to paint the place myself. As of today, Friday January 27th I’ve finshed 3/4 of the back living room. I’m going to do as much as I can over the weekend and the first part of next week, but the “paint the apartment” project might run into the first of February. I’m going to break this project into it’s smaller parts and update them as I go. (see below)
• Finish painting the back living room.(forward to next month: see update below) (Burgundy wall painted. White paint touched up on ceiling. Window vacuumed. Windows washed. Window redone with privacy film & molding ala kitchen. Window area painted. (update: 1/31/06) – I’ve had the flu or some other damn thing for the past two days so the painting didn’t get done. Will move to February.
• All furniture restored to back living room with the exception of the brown bookcase and the black bookcase. (forward to next month: see above) (These both will probably be trashed, but I may find a place for the black bookshelf in the front LR for a bit.) Store books beneath side table and/or desk until the new bookcase is set up.
• Redo/reorganize the area beneath my bed. Any remaining detritus gone (especially old cassettes and VHS tapes). Organize the memorabilia box. Prepare the space for my new bed. (Complete for now: 1/8/06) At this point the space under the bed is as organized as I can make it. I have 3 boxes of video tapes under there that I’m not sure I want to part with, but I also have no other place to put them. Ideally these should be accessible in some sort of media storage cabinet. Ditto with the T. Robbins tapes. I did eliminate a box of audio cassettes and I organized the memorabilia box. What I have left is a future “someday/maybe” project entitled “Purchase new media storage cabinet / Reasses VHS tapes under bed. What I’ve done will do for now.
• Assess the content of the file boxes in the top of the front LR closet. Toss as much as possible. Make note of what the rest is and label the box. Likewise with the small “junk drawer” as well. (changed: 1/31/06) – I did manage to trash a bag of papers from the brown bookshelf that was in the back LR. It’s related because the remaining papers that I need to go through are the same type that are currently in the file box(s) in the top of the closet. In a nutshell: I still need to go thru the file boxes in the top of the closet, but the only things that will go on the Expedit bookshelf are books that I want there. No more detritus on visible shelves in the apartment, and the remaining detritus is confined to one and a 1/4 file boxes in the top of the closet.
• Purchase a new bed. (completed 1/6/06) The bed was delivered yesterday (Saturday 1/7/06). It was a big purchase so I’m just keeping my fingers crossed and hoping that I made the right decision. (updated: 1/22/06) I’ve exchanged the bed I got for another one that’s firmer. It’ll be delivered Thursday evening.
• Purchase new bed linens for new bed. (mostly completed 1/12/06) I’ve got most of what I want… have to decided if I’m going to keep what I got. Stay tuned.
• Purchase a new lamp for the bedroom (completed 1/15/06)
• Sell the bike. (modified: 1/22/06) Making a time based statement like this relies on things that are out of my control… like whether or not someone wants to buy my bike. I’ve broken this down into parts. See below.
• Fill the tires on the bike. Clean it up for sale. Take pictures. (completed 1/22/06) Haven’t really cleaned it up that much. The pictures look decent enough “as is”, and I figure whoever buys the bike can clean it up themselves. I may wipe some of the grease off the wheels if anyone comes over to take a look at it.
• Post an ad on CL for the bike. Create “bike for sale” flyers. Post aforementioned flyers in the building lobby and around the neighborhood. ( mostly completed 1/22/06) Posted the ad on CL and made a flyer.
• Sell the bike

The bike has been sold!

• Research and assess the following purchases: Wardrobe. Bookshelf. Nightstand. Sofa. Chest/end table solution. (changed: 1/27/06) A new wardrobe is beyond my budget for the time being, but I did research it. I’ve also taken a look at sofa’s but new ones are kinda pricey. I haven’t seen a night stand that would fit my new bedroom yet, so I’ll continue to keep my eyes open. Haven’t dealt much with my chest/end table idea so that will push forward into the “Someday/Maybe” category. See below for one of my bookshelf solutions. (I’ll eventually need another for my front LR.)
• Research bookshelf solution for back LR

(completed 1/27/06) – I’m going to purchase the 31″ Expedit from Ikea.

• Be on the first bus (10 a.m.) to Ikea on Sunday, 1/29/06. Purchase 31″ Expedit bookshelf. Bring it back to apartment. (completed 1/29/06) – Ok, I didn’t make it on the first bus, but I was on the 2:00 p.m. bus. Back on the 4:30 bus and in my apartment by 5:45. Woohoo!
• Research and assess possible curtain solutions for living room.(changed: 1/27/06 / see below)
• Research window treatment options for the window in the back living room. Price them out and decide which one I like the best. (completed 1/27/06) – I’ve decided to do the same thing to the window in the back LR that I did in the kitchen. It’ll be cheaper, easier and look better than the privacy film I was considering. I’ll do a simple piece of fabric draped over the top of the window. Also cheaper and will fit the window better.
• Migrate current website from MT to WordPress. (started… more to do) – I did create a subdomain for the new blog and did indeed port the old site to WordPress. The problem is that I’m still not convinced WordPress is the way to go. Version 2.0 has some bugs in it that weren’t anticipated. I like the way you can change themes with WP easily, but there are still some things that can be a pain. Then again, MT also has some really stupid things that they haven’t fixed. I’ll move this into the “to be continued in February” column.
• Assess current book outline and create a “next actions” list. (broken down further – see below…)
• Scan current outline into computer for safe keeping (completed 1/9/06)
• Organize 4 individual .pdf files into one document (completed 1/9/06)

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Mo’ Stuff – 1/4/06

• Create an A-Z system for my music drawer in the studio (completed 12/4/06) – Ok, I’m totally conscious of the fact that I’m using the “clear and organize” thing as a way to avoid the larger issues I need to face (book, teaching, finances… you name it…). Rather than beat myself up I’m just going to remind myself that I’m clearing space for new things and that these new things will flow to me when I’m ready for them.

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Mo’ Mo’ Stuff – 1/9/06

• Purchase Voodoo Pad (completed 1/9/06)
• Mail the zip drive to my dad (completed 1/11/06)

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Book Stuff:

• Find original 1st draft of the book on the Archive HD. Copy to Main HD (completed 1/10/06) – This is pretty big. I thought that I’d completely lost the original copy of the book that I did forever ago in Quark. Apparently it was on one of the zip disks that I transferred to the Archive HD back in December (as part of my detritus clearing). I always suspected that I had it somewhere, but just wasn’t sure where it had ended up.
• Add details/flesh out original outline for “trombone specific” book (somewhat complete) – I need to continue working on this in February.
• Add details/flesh out original outline for “notereading” book (not complete: forward to next month)
• Create a del.icio.us bookmark for music publishers

(completed 1/10/06)

• Put all of the songs for the book (the appendix) in one place in .pdf format (mostly complete: see below)
• Arrange songs from above in alphabetical order in a single .pdf document using Acrobat (mostly complete) – I have a mostly complete appendix now. I took the songs I had on hand and put them in .eps format, then added them in alphebetical order to an InDesign document. I still need to augment this with some other songs and make sure I have all the songs I want for the book. (Thus the “mostly complete” designation).

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We’re coming up on the end of 2005. Though I don’t know the exact dates, I think that I began reading David Allen’s “Getting Things Done” back in January of this year. I set up my 43 folders. I started to clear the clutter from my life. In April I made my first post on Deliverable. What this process has shown me is that I do much better when the detritus is removed from my environment and I have the proper buckets set up to capture all of the input in my life.

With that in mind I’ve decided to set some agressive “de-clutter” goals for the remainder of the year. I really want to start 2006 with a space that will support me in the quest for my dreams. This past year has taught me that one of my greatest strengths can also be one of my biggest weaknesses. I tend to think very randomly, making leaps from on thing to another very quickly. This is a really cool thing… I think I make associations that others do not at times. However if there is clutter in my work environment it can be difficult for me to focus. At times I will literally walk in circles if the disarray is bad enough.

So here they are. I’ve got a really busy schedule this month with traveling and the holidays, but I am committed to achieving these things.

By 12/31/05 I will complete the following

• Island of obsolete technology gone from my kitchen. All of the pile will be given away or dumped. (completed 1/1/06) Ok, it took a couple or so hours of 2006 to get this out the door, but it’s gone. I still have to decommission the old hard drives (they’re not as easy to take apart as one would think) but the rest of the junk is gone! Woohoo!
• Camera and cases will go back to VA. (completed 12/22/05)
• Top left kitchen cabinet w/junk cleared & organized (completed 12/7/05)
• Boxes under microwave cleared & organized (completed 12/30/05) – For maximum organization I could use one of those boxes that hold little nuts and bolts and such, but the jar/ziplock solution that I have in there will work for now.
• Extra set of dishes purchased from BBByond (completed 12/7/05)
• Create a shelf next to sink for dryer and toothbrush (changed: see below)
• Purchase a wall mount hair-dryer. (changed: see below)
• Where the heck do I put the darn hair dryer? M. makes some good points, mainly about the efficacy of said wall mounted hair dryer and the fact that it would take up just as much space as a simple basket. I may go back to the whole shelf idea. Stay tuned. (see below)
• Attach hook for hair dryer (completed 12/30/05) – I opted for the simplest route. Hopefully the hook will stay attached, but we’ll see.
• Closet by my room: Assess. Junk gone and better buckets for whats there (completed 12/30/05)
• Closet in living room: Assess. Junk gone and better buckets for whats there (mostly completed) There are a couple of file boxes that I’d like to go through to see if I can throw away more stuff. I’d also like to label what’s in the small boxes as well. I’m learning that any detritus that’s hiding in my apartment weighs on the brain even if you’re not fully aware of it. I plan to set this as a project to complete by the end of January.
• End table drawer cleared (completed 12/7/05) – I’m making way for the chest that I will build in 2006 for this space
• Living room desk: Zen space for morning writing – Junk gone. Chargers relocated. Simple pen holder & stapler there. (completed 12/20/05)
• Studio: VHS tapes. Keepers to a box and stored beneath bed. The rest trashed or given away. Shelf clear for binders and supplies. (completed a while back, not sure of the exact date.)
• Drawers under phone – Contents organized into smaller boxes for easy access. Want to know what’s in these boxes and have one place to go for all of my office supply type things. (completed 12/7/05)
• Under bed: Organized. I want to know what’s under there and be able to easily access things. Cords all to one box. Eliminate the multiple bag solution I’m currently using. (mostly completed) Here’s another task that I’d like to revisit by the end of January. It’s a heck of alot better under my bed than it was when I began, but I’d like to clear and organize it even more. Especially since I’ll be moving a new bed in there within the next week or so. Stay tuned.

I feel really motivated to complete these things. I believe that I can do it. I will find the time.
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12/7/05 – Mo’ Stuff

• Organize the shelf above the sink – Trash what I don’t need, organize the rest. (completed 12/7/05)
• Organize the shelves above the stove – Trash what I don’t need, organize the rest. (completed 12/7/05)
• Organize the silverware drawer – Trash what I don’t need, organize the rest. (completed 12/6/05)
• Organize the cabinet beneath the sink – Trash what I don’t need, organize the rest. (completed 12/7/05)
• Drop off headshots to be reproduced (completed 12/7/05)
• Approve test headshots and give go ahead for printing (completed 12/9/05)
• Pick up my headshots (completed 12/19/05)
• Clear the space next to the refridgerator. All junk gone. Sweep up broken glass to right of fridge. (completed 12/8/05)
• Set up my voicemail correctly on the home phone (completed 12/10/05)

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12/10/05 – Mo’ Mo’ Stuff

• Clear the frames near near the bike (completed 12/10/05)
• Clear the top of the bookcase in studio. (completed 12/22/05)
• Prints from the top of bookcase to frames. (completed 12/25/05) – gave to K. to frame… he’ll mail ‘em back to me.
• Purchase and set up new bills binder (completed 12/20/05)
• Completely clear detritus from HD’s (completed 12/31/05 – 12:37 a.m.)
• Set up studio so that it’s good to go w/ W (completed 12/11/05)
• Purchase hooks & hang bass & guitar in Studio (completed 12/11/05)

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12/21/05 – “Almost there” Stuff

• Clear final pile of paper from living room (completed 12/31/05) Ok, technically I spent about 10 minutes tonight before bed taking down the last little bit of the pile but I’m still gonna call this “completed on 12/31″. The larger achievement is that I can honestly say that the entire pile is gone. That little “10 minutes left to do” has always been the spark that in the past becomes a raging forest fire. It’s outta here!
• Seal AC area (completed 12/20/05) – Not the elegant and neat solution I’d intended, but I think it’s functional for a while at least. I’ll reassess periodically to see if it’s keeping out as much cold air as I’d like.
• Sort thru old clothes in chest, wardrobe and closets. Bag for donation to the church. (completed 12/20/05)
• Donate those clothes to the church. (completed 12/29/05)
• Install spice rack over sink (completed 12/30/05)
• Install kitchen wrap organizer (completed 12/30/05)
• Attach velcro to desk (completed 12/30/05)
• Install cord snake beneath desk (completed 12/30/05)
• Hang light catchers (completed 12/30/05)

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1/1/06 – 8:42 a.m.
Though it might look like it from the time stamp above, I’ve not spent all night finishing up my 2005 tasks. Got in late from a job and had to see my friend off to a flight, so it’s really only been a couple or so hours spent in 2006 on this. I seem to have knocked out everything that’s on my list above. It feels good and I think I’ve found a process that I can “rinse and repeat” each month. Time now for bed. I’m really looking forward to setting some goals for the end of January 2006!

Honor self promises. It’s a phrase I picked up from Body for Life by Bill Phillips. I struggle with this one, especially when it comes to practicing or other things that I want to do for longer periods of time. Consistency is essential if you want to increase your skill level or gain a certain level of mastery at a thing. I want to improve my skills as a guitarist. I want to improve my skills as a bassist, as a trombonist, as a pianist, as a singer, and so on. These things take consistant practice. How does one do this? Do you set daily time based goals for yourself? (Eg.”I will practice for 2 hours a day for five days” Is it more important to build the habit by setting realy really achievable goals for yourself? (Eg. “I will practice at least 10 minutes a day for 7 days”) The concept being that the most important thing is the habit, and not the amount of time you give to the instrument.

The reason for the rumination above is that I’m considering setting myself a practice goal for guitar for the rest of the month. I’m considering making a promise to myself that I will practice guitar for 30 minutes a day from today till the 31st. I’m hesitant because I’ve made such promises to myself before and not stuck to them.

As I finished typing the paragraphy above I looked above my desk and saw my “SMART” post-it note. Maybe what I need to do is make this goal SMART. Let me take myself through it.

My goal is to play guitar for 30 minutes a day for the next 11 days (from July 20th – July 31st)

• Specific
  

  Specific is the What, Why, and How of the SMART model

  “WHAT are you going to do? Use action words such as direct, organize, coordinate, lead, develop, plan, build etc.” / I’m going to practice guitar for 30 minutes each day from July 20th – July 31st.

  “WHY is this important to do at this time? What do you want to ultimately accomplish?” / I want to become a better guitar player so that I may one day perform on stage as a singer/bandleader/soloist. These skills that I develop as a guitarist will also help me as a songwriter.

  “HOW are you going to do it? (by…)” / I will make practicing in the morning my top priority. If for scheduling reasons I am unable to practice for 30 consecutive minutes, I will break it down into either 3 sessions of 10 minutes each, or 2 sessions of 15 minutes each. On heavily scheduled days I will make a point of getting up 30 minutes earlier to play my guitar. (This is the thing that has thrown me in the past. As I’m taking myself through this process, I realize that this is the part of the equation that I’ve skimped on.)

• Measurable

“Establish concrete criteria for measuring progress toward the attainment of each goal you set. When you measure your progress, you stay on track, reach your target dates, and experience the exhilaration of achievement that spurs you on to continued effort required to reach your goals.” / I will track my daily practice on the calendar next to my desk. Each day when I complete my 30 minutes I will place a little red sticker on that day. My goal is 11 little stickers by July 31st.

• Action based / I originally learned SMART with “Action Based”, the page I reference above uses “Attainable”, which seems redundant to me. Action based to me simply means “There are definite actions you can take consistently. Those actions are:
  • Schedule time to practice, especially on busy days.
  • Place my sticker on my calendar after finishing practicing.
  • Assess the process after the 11 day period.
• Realistic – I feel like I can do this, though I’m nervous about actually setting the goal.
• Time bound – I have a clear timeline for this goal.

Going through this process has been helpful to me. Specifically the “What, Why, How” part mentioned above. I think that once I go through this process with more goals it will become quicker and more second nature. I think I’ll also read up on SMART from other sources to get different takes on it.

–Update: 8/5/05–
Just a note to this post. I successfully met my goal. The tracking the red dots on my calendar was extremely helpful. It’s also helpful to know that I can set goals for specific numbers of days or amounts of time, depending on my schedule.

I’ve been meaning to update this for a while. As I mentioned in the update to my previous post, my monologue class was cancelled. This sorta threw my month into a tailspin. This thing that I’d been building up in my mind that I thought I’d be focusing all my energy on was cancelled. Oi! What to do now?

As I’m gathering myself up now and assessing where I am with the month (14 more days to go), I think it’s good to take stock of the things that I’d hoped to do in my original post that weren’t related to the monologue class.

The thing that I wanted to focus on this month was acting. I wanted to take “massive action towards furthering my acting career” this month. To be honest, so far it’s taken alot of hand wringing and alot of overcoming fear just to take a few small steps forward. There has been alot of time wasted. Alot of time spent vegging on the couch doing nothing. I don’t want to focus on that, but focus on the small steps forward that I have taken. To that end:

Things I have done:

• I met with TM. This was a really successful meeting and he really helped me clear my head about how I want to approach my acting. In a nutshell: The acting is the most important thing. Get out there and do it. Be seen. Get in things. You get work from work. Even if it’s bad you’ll be good in it. Also, it’s ok to go out there and be bad at an audition. It’s a process. The most important thing is to get yourself out there.
• I redid my resume and put it in an “acting format”. I’d been lamenting the lack of theater credits on my resume, and had even been told by folks to make up theater credits in order to get called in to audition. (The old catch twenty-two. They want someone with experience, but how do you get experience if you’ve never done anything?). Ultimately (again, thanks TM) I rejected the notion of faking my resume, which turned out to be a pretty powerful thing. I’m much better going into any situation from a position of “Here is the experience and the training that I have. Like it, don’t like it, call me back or don’t, but fuck it, this is who I am. I’m not going to represent myself as something that I’m not”. I also noticed that by not watering down my resume with fake credits, it makes the credits that I do have much more impactful. For me this is a philosophical and principled choice to make, and I feel like I’m sending out better Karma into the world.
• I finally mailed my headshots/resume to the extra’s agency. I’d been obsessing so much about my headshots (which I’m not crazy about, but that aren’t awful) that I wasn’t taking any action. I was so fearful of screwing up this contact that I wasn’t taking any action. I finally made the call this past Friday, and the woman was very nice and remembered my friend who’d recommended me. She should receive my package in time for me to have an orientation with this company this week.
• I purchased Ross Reports and have read through it, but I don’t yet know how I’m going to use this resource. I cancelled my Backstage Online subscription and have resolved to just purchase Backstage each Thursday when it hits the newstand. (The dead tree option is so much easier to use in this case). I purchased copies of the Theatrical Index ($14) and the Hollywood Reporter ($6) on Saturday afternoon, which I promptly either lost on the 2 train on the way home, or had lifted by the disgusting homeless guy on the 1 train . . . I’m not sure which. Either way I guess God didn’t want me reading said publications this week, cause I’m now out 20 bucks.
• I’ll attend my final mask class this coming Thursday. I think I got a lot out of this class and enjoyed it a good bit.

As I look back over what I’ve written above I realize that this is good stuff. It’s not the daily “massive action” that I envisioned when I set that goal at the first of the month, but these actions took alot of doing to finally get off of my ass and do them. In the sense that these actions are “large and will have positive effects” then they are definitely massive, if not daily.

Let’s look at some of the other things I wrote down:

• Daily voice speech work/daily singing practice – This got sidelined by the lack of a weekly monologue class and my subsequent descent into the doldrums
• Create a master contact list and an action plan for working with that list – This is something that I’ve worked with some, but haven’t come to a final answer about how to do. Probably the best thing is to just do this imperfectly at first and a better way to do it will come along.
• Read (define #) plays/screenplays by the end of the month / See at least 3 plays/readings/performances by July 31st – I never defined the number of plays that I wanted to see, so the two that I’ve seen so far (Rain & Aloha, Say the Pretty Girls) will count towards the unknown figure. (Hell, let’s go ahead and make it “three”. Just as a note, I never did see OTMA before it closed). I’ve not read any plays yet so far this month, so I need to get cracking on that goal.

So, as I look forward to the next 14 or so days I’m feeling better than I have in a couple of weeks. I’ve got the “extra” work to be hopeful about. I have an updated resume that I can send out to things I might see in Backstage. I now have a cover letter (the one I sent to the extra casting person) should I need it. I have some play reading to do, but that seems doable. I have at least one more show to see before the month is up. I need to find a way to motivate myself to work on my craft (voice/speech/singing), and I want to put the monologue that I started for my class up on it’s feet.

There’s probably a larger lesson to be learned here about being farther along that you thought you were, or not seeing the forest for the trees but I’ll leave that for another day. I’m hungry and need to get some dinner.

I’m trying something new here. I’ve done a good job at establishing strong habits that will support my creative process. (Regular exercise, eliminate/police my home hotspots, new evening/morning routines, better tracking of my finances thru Quicken, weekly assessment of goals/actions, etc.). It’s time to begin setting out short term goals, and then to assess my progress on them. To that end I’ve set up a “Monthly Goals” category. The idea is to take these new habits and use them as the foundation for realizing my creative ideas. I’ll begin modestly, taking this month to month. Baby steps.

I want my focus this month to primarily be on my acting. This doesn’t mean that I’m giving up on my other projects. It means that this month I will take massive action towards furthering my acting career. I will assess this process on July 31st, and post again then. Any time that I spend on other projects (Book, September dance project, songwriting) will be considered an added bonus. (Great if I do, but I won’t beat myself up if I don’t.) Any time spent on projects other than acting will be time that I choose to spend, just as the time I’m spending on my acting is time that I choose to spend.

“These things I will focus on for the next 35 days. I will assess this process on July 31st.”

Overall Goals

• Make each goal SMART
• Give 100% of myself to my monologue class. see update 7/1/05 below
  • Memorize my monologue completely and have it down cold

• Warm up my body and my voice before class each week. (Reason: I want to be completely open and able to give my best during each class.)
• Spend time (define the amount of time) each week practicing my voice & speech (Reason: I want speech that is crisp and clear and completely within my control.)
• Spend time (define the amount of time) each week singing. (Reason: Strengthen my voice/build endurance.)
• Create a master “Acting Contacts” list. (Definitions: People that I’ve met who are in the industry that I want to keep up with/build better relationshiops with/learn from.)
• Create an “Action Plan” for regularly contacting/learning from/interacting with the people on my “Acting Contacts” list.
• Read (define #) plays/screenplays by the end of the month.
• See (define #) at least 3 plays/readings/performances by July 31st.

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Plays I will see this month:
OTMA – Atlantic Theatre Company
Aloha, Say the Pretty Girls – Victory Hall (Jersey City)

–Update: 7/1/05–
Well, my monologue class has been cancelled. She offered a truncated make-up seminar on Saturday’s but that time will not work for me. So I am left pondering the meaning of this and I’m suddenly left with a hole in my schedule.
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