Written by Douglas Taurel
One way you can help yourself to have a super strong audition is to focus on your audition. Shut out every single distraction and focus all your energy and thoughts on the preparation for the audition. Shut everything else down.
This biggest challenge we all have today in this modern technological world is the insane amount of distractions. You could be in the middle of Nebraska and still be distracted by everyone and everything. We have so many distractions today with social media and our cell phones, it’s a wonder we can concentrate for five seconds.
When preparing for your audition, don’t check your emails, don’t check your text messages, don’t take breaks by watching TV, and do take your home phone off the hook. Create an environment of complete silence that is free of distractions and allow yourself to concentrate for 45 minutes on nothing else but working and learning your audition. Working for periods of short, concentrated intensity is great for learning and remembering, but the trick is to really focus and concentrate for those 45 minutes.
When you shut out all the distractions, your memory improves because nothing is interrupting your thoughts. With solid concentration and no distractions, the connection between mind and body gets stronger, you absorb the material more easily, and you’re able to recall it more easily as well. Concentration is a valuable skill to develop. To get better at concentrating, all you have to do is one thing: practice, practice, and practice at concentrating.
Some suggestions to better focus on your audition:
- Go over your material right before you go to bed when the whole house is completely silent. Turn every single device off and do not take breaks by watching TV or checking email and messages. Help the mind focus on what is you want it to learn.
- Wake up early and go over your audition. Again, turn off all distractions and be sure that every device is off when you wake up. Don’t check your emails before you start working. Stay focused on the task at hand.
- Take breaks. As you work on your material, focus on the material for 45 minutes and then take a 10- or 15-minute break.
- Turn your phone off! As you walk to your audition, switch your phone over to airplane mode so that you won’t get text or email interruptions.
“You’ve got to be super focused like a laser to get anything worthwhile done.” —James Cameron
Follow Douglas on Twitter: @DouglasTaurel
