Mantras, The Secret, The Pull and The Push.

It seems that every generation a fad sweeps through the Los Angeles acting community promising to deliver its believers from anonymity and into stardom. Actors seem especially succeptible to these memes. Perhaps it's because they believe in the imaginary for a living ("I'm MacBeth!") and cling to the thought that they will be the exceptional actor that succeeds lest they collapse into a quivering mess in response to the futility of it all.

In the 80's the fad was having a mantra. There was a belief that if you chanted "I am famous, I am famous, I am famous," it was impossible for you not to become famous. This was cleverly captured by Woody Allen in "Annie Hall." In a scene at a Hollywood party, Jeff Goldblum's character is on the phone and clearly distraught "I forgot my mantra!"

This generation's version of this phenomenon is something called The Secret. The thought being, that if you think long and hard about what you want, you will get it. Lambourghini? Yours if you just think about it. The Universe, you see, is duty bound to deliver one to you. Just be careful how you think about it, because that Lambourghini may be "attracted" into your life in the form of a head-on collision.

There is some good to mantras and The Secret. Thinking about what you want to achieve is the first step in getting there. Concentrating on your goals can help you break the icy paralysis that is self-doubt. The failure of both philosophies (at least as they are commonly practiced) is that they remove the need for personal action: all responsibility is placed in the hands of "The Universe". Left unchecked, these philosophies can lead to a self-righteous narcissism and sense of entitlement that is despicable; an attitude that pervades much of Los Angeles and serves as justification for NorCal's general distrust of all things SoCal.

An actor turned casting director I met once said:

"I had the pull to be an actor, but I discovered I didn't have the push. Once I figured that out, I got into casting."

That phrase really stuck with me. It's not enough to have a desire to be successful. Anyone can want to be a successful actor. The "pull" is the easy part. Where most people find themselves lacking is in the "push" column.

Do you have the strength of purpose and drive to do more than just give it "the good ol' junior college try?"

I know that I have the pull, but I vascillate daily on whether I think I have the push. Am I actually working as hard as I need to to get what I want? Or am I the moral equivalent of a sucker sitting alone in sweatpants mumbling "I am famous, I am famous, I am famous..."