I think that if you challenge yourself, then you're going to get your best performances, and every time I go out there, I challenge myself to be better than I was last time.
What I think I know about dating is that you can't take back something you say in a date. You can't lie, and you can't pretend to be someone you're not unless it's not going well and you never see them again. It never works if you try to make yourself seem like someone you're not, and you want to keep dating them. Be yourself. Don't embellish. It will always come back to get you.
I always think that trying to push yourself as an actor in a direction that you've never been before, developing characters which are more difficult to get into the head of, or are more interesting and further away from yourself, is always a challenge. But, you want to take up that challenge and try your best.
Let somebody insult you and see that that you do not answer back. Just see it, not to get into temper. Try that your ego doesn't react. That can be achieved very easily if you try in the mirror, look at yourself and laugh at yourself, make fun of yourself.
If you swap it about, do television, theatre, film, you can go on surprising yourself. The problem is you get employed to do something you've already done. They want something from that sheep pen of performances they've seen you do.
Try something new when you feel great about yourself! Try something new because you have been dying to try it, thinking about it for weeks, and have had multiple discussions about it. Do not make brash decisions because you feel ugly and think this will be the answer.
It's hard to always challenge yourself, coming up with new ways to make your life difficult, so when you make something, it becomes more interesting.
Everybody knows what they were kind of drawn towards or what they're gifted at and it's more of courage and looking at yourself and saying, "I'm going to try something and move back in that direction." So it's less of an intellectual problem and it's more of an emotional problem because as you get into your 30's and 40's you get addicted to a paycheck and a comfort and you delude yourself into thinking this is what my life is and you lack the guts to be honest with yourself and to make that change.
What I want to tell you today is not to move into that world where you're alone with yourself and your mantra and your fitness program or whatever it is that you might use to try to control the world by closing it out. I want to tell you just to live in the mess. Throw yourself out into the convulsions of the world. I'm not telling you to make the world better, because I don't believe progress is necessarily part of the package. I'm telling you to live in it. Try and get it. Take chances, make your own work, take pride in it. Seize the moment.
Figure out what you want, how you want to feel, whatever your motivation is, you have to figure it out. That's step one: where do you want to be? The next thing is just trying to get there and cutting yourself some slack along the way. You're going to have days when you veer off your path, then just get right back on. We all have cheat days, holidays, or celebrations, whatever or period when we can't work out as much as we like, and just do the best you can and when you can get back on track, get back on track.
Be willing to use yourself to get out there and put the company on the market. If you have to make a fool of yourself, make a fool of yourself, but make sure that you end up on the front pages, not the back pages. In time, it's possible that your company will stand out from the crowd, and you'll be successful.
You try to take advantage of taking control of the game when you know you may have guys on base and counts aren't in your favor or whatever. You just try to figure out ways to slow the game down to get back to the pace that you want it to be at, to try to get the momentum back on your side.
I'm the kind of guy that if I go to a concert and hear something that knocks me out, I don't want to be left out of that. I'm going to try to get into that, and I'm running back home to practice.
If you try anything, if you try to lose weight, or to improve yourself, or to love, or to make the world a better place, you have already achieved something wonderful, before you even begin. Forget failure. If things don't work out the way you want, hold your head up high and be proud. And try again. And again. And again!
Just slip out the back, Jack, make a new plan, Stan, you don't need to be coy, Roy, just get yourself free. Hop on the bus, Gus, you don't need to discuss much, just drop off the key, Lee, and get yourself free.
When a friend puts out a new album and it's really great, it makes you want to do something that great and it makes you get yourself in gear. It's healthy competition that helps make some great music.