Seizing the moment

So if ever there were a day for setting objectives, whether in one’s personal life, or one’s professional life, today’s it. January 1. The first day of the New Year. 

Many of us will be approaching today having had a little bit of an extended break over Christmas. A great many people will be in the middle of what will probably be the busiest period of work in their year - two shows a day and weighed down with glitter and sparkle.  At such times it can be hard to think ahead to the fact that in a week or two, you may be facing a cold bleak and possibly unemployed January.  Similarly those of us who have just been taking the Christmas period as holiday, shouldn’t rely too much on everything kicking off within the first week or so. The year, as indeed our careers, are a marathon and not a sprint. If you have not worked by the end of January, you’ll probably be in the majority, and it doesn’t mean to say that the rest of the year will find you similarly unoccupied.

But what it does mean is that this is a good time for setting objectives. Exactly what would you like to have achieved by the end of 2017. Objectives can be set in many areas; financial, number of days in front of a camera, number of evenings on stage, number of mentions in “The Stage” (!) - you have the joy of setting them. I’ve written about this on several occasions previously. Scroll back through my blogs, check out articles in The Stage, or look at the chapter in my book “The Working Actor” if you want more detail.

All I would say is do it. This year, with the joy of a bank holiday on Monday, 2 January, we have even more time to find just an hour to sit down and work out exactly what it is that we want our working lives to bring.

For me, I’m going to ask for some challenges. I haven’t been on stage for nearly 9 years and that’s something I’d really like to achieve in 2017. I’d like to spend 6 to 8 days filming something that will be transmitted nationally or shown in cinemas,  and I'd like to create a new piece of written work, perhaps an e-book,  from my blogs and columns. I’d also like to achieve four holidays, and that’s an objective that I’m definitely going to work hard on.

 Whatever 2017 brings you, I hope it can bring you happiness, whatever you term as success, and lots of fun