4 Tips for Making the Most of Your New Year Goals

Supporting Young Actors
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4 Tips for Making the Most of Your New Year Goals

With the first month of the year come and gone, many people are likely considering (or re-considering) the goals they set at the start of 2019. The beginning of a new year is the time when everyone has grandiose plans, but unfortunately, many of those plans fall through all too quickly. The new year holds new possibilities for young actors, just as it does for everyone else. Auditions, roles, networking, and more—whatever you are striving to achieve this year, there are a few things you should remember if you want your goals to stick.

If you’ve come to the end of the first month of 2019 without having made much progress, the reason may be that your resolutions aren’t specific or practical enough. Here’s how you can combat this problem:

Make Goals Concrete and Measurable

The key to action is focus. if your goals are too general, it’s no wonder you haven’t committed to them. Deciding that you want to audition more this year, or land more roles, is not going to help you take any practical steps toward actually getting those things done. Be specific. How many auditions are you seeking? How many roles do you want to land? Answer those questions first, and then figure out how you’re going to do it. Unless you can measure the concrete steps you plan to take, there won’t be any way to track your progress.

Stay Realistic

You’d be hard-pressed to find an actor who doesn’t dream of winning a Golden Globe, but if you’re just starting out in the industry, a goal like this isn’t realistic. Another vital aspect of goal-setting to consider is what you are capable of achieving, given your skill level, age, location, and ability. If you’re a newcomer to show business, think on a smaller scale, and don’t get ahead of yourself. There’s nothing wrong with dreaming, but dreams are long-term commitments.

Map It Out

Hand-in-hand with keeping things practical and measurable is drawing out a roadmap of the actions required to get there. It’s important to outline the what, when, and how of your goal. Putting pen to paper is a way of committing to your plan. Maybe your target goal is for the end of the year or maybe it’s just a month down the road. Day by day, week by week, or month by month—however you choose to map it out, plotting the individual steps takes the guesswork out of sticking to a plan.


Get Accountability

Sharing your goals with someone else—a friend, a teacher, a parent—is another way of committing to them. They can check in on you and encourage you to continue making progress, while also making sure you aren’t growing complacent. Accountability isn’t all about someone cracking a whip at you, demanding that you get to work. Whoever you chose to keep you accountable can also celebrate the victories with you, and keep you excited about your plans. This encouragement is invaluable and highly motivating.

The new year can be an intimidating time, especially when a month has passed without progress. But this doesn’t have to mean the entire year will be a failure. Having specific and reasonable goals, as well as measures in place to make sure you stick to them, is the best weapon against giving up. Keep these points in mind, and you’re much more likely to achieve everything you set out to do this year.


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