15 Bad Habits Actors Should Avoid Immediately

By: Eddie Ramos | January 17, 2022 6:30 AM

These are the 15 bad habits actors should avoid immediately or they will regret it for the rest of their career

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Actors are creatures of habit. Developing good habits are a great way to correct behavior and stay happy. From our daily routine as an actor to our habits on and off set, they can help us stay consistent and perform effectively. Yet, actors can form bad habits as well. There are habits that diminish growth and get us into big trouble in the long run. Here is a list of 15 habits all actors should avoid like the plague.

Here Are The 15 Bad Habits

1. Comparison

Comparison is enemy #1 for an actor. Surround yourself with good people who encourage you to strive for more but don’t fall into the trap of comparing yourself to others. Accept where you are and understand that everyone grows at their own pace. When you understand that every second spent focusing on someone else, is time wasted not working on you — you will make significant personal progress in your life.

2. Getting Stuck On Failures

Failing is inescapable. If someone hasn’t failed before then they aren’t trying something new in their lives. There is no one who hasn’t failed at something at least once. However, if you find yourself failing at more than you’d like that may be an indication that you need to put more effort into that thing. The key is to not get hung up on your failures, but keep pushing despite them.

Failure is part of life. Realize that you are not a failure at everything. Don’t lose hope. Celebrate the little wins and learn from your failures. Often times the factor to achieve success is right under your nose. Experience it and master the art to rise above it.

3. Waiting For Motivation To Strike

The most difficult part is to get started. Everybody likes to be comfortable. So just get started. Action inspires motivation. Defined by the dictionary, motivation is a noun, and discipline is a verb. So the key here is to let motivation inspire you, but focus on building discipline to keep you going. Let go of perfection, because it will numb you.

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Make sure to rest and take care of yourself. Another piece of the puzzle is to love what you do. The empty motivation such as the ones used on cattle to tend to a farm may be the same experience you are having at the office or in your career. It’s a struggle to get things done if you’re only motivated by the fear of failure or some other foolish benefit. Find meaning and purpose in what you do, that will be your ultimate driver.

4. Dreaming Too Small

Abundance matches porportionally to your desires. In other words, when you aspire to achieve higher in life, your conciousness and vision expand accordingly. Everything from your lifestyle and behavior will correlate. Thinking small is a product of our fears and negative self-talk. Don’t let that define you. Do take risks and put yourself out there. Believe in your dream and work hard for it. Most importantly, keep these big dreams to yourself. It’s often the people closest to you who do not want you to achieve more in life.

5. Procrastination

Procrastination is a nasty habit that has nothing to do with work. It has everything to do with you and how you see the things you need to do. That being said, it’s most helpful to rephrase the work and ask yourself what am I going to gain by doing what I need to do, and what will I lose not doing what I need to do? If you actually write down those tasks that you think you should accomplish, then you will be able to see if they are worth your effort or not. Most people procrastinate to do work when they don’t see the value in it. So it’s a complete you problem. Our minds tend to naturally follow what we value.

6. Not Learning More

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One reason actors stop learning more, is because they believe they know everything there is to know about their business. Once they’ve “figured” it out, their reason to learn more is useless. You can’t think this way.

There is always something new to learn about acting and the business of acting. Learning is a process. It can be daunting to learn something new, because in the beginning the thing we are trying to learn seems like a massive undertaking.

The reason most of us don’t like to learn new things is because we don’t break it down into smaller parts. But if you are a person with a set goal in mind then you’re always learning in one way or another.

Take it one day at a time. Be a learner first, a master second, a student always.

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7. Expecting Things To Change Without Any Effort

“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” We’ve all heard this statement at least once in our lives. Yet, so many people out there aren’t taking the time to let it sink in.

There is a huge difference between the person grinding the pavement and seeing no major success after a long period of time. That person painstakingly chopping at the tree until it eventually falls. To them, I say keep going. You’ll be the “twenty-year overnight success story.”

However, this is not to be confused with the person expecting a handout from a rock. Rocks don’t give out handouts. These types of people put the blame on others or the “industry.” They live in a state of victim mentality. Therefore, nothing ever changes for them.

8. Empty Scrolling

Also know as doom scrolling. Simply put this is the act of obsessively scanning social media and news that trigger stress hormones that can affect your mental and physical health. In other words, no bueno.

Stop looking for information, stop seeing what other actors are doing, stop looking for answers in your life where they don’t exist. Instead, get out and create. Make something worthwhile—something meaningful. Spend more time with loved ones. Spend more time living.

Read more: Social Media For Actors: Here’s The Truth

9. Fear Of Rejection

At 30 years old, I’ve been rejected a lot. Most of my wins have come after hundreds of no’s. It wasn’t always easy to take rejection. The fear of rejection messed with my confidence and self worth.

In fact, I don’t think you get used to it—you learn to focus on other aspects.

Mainly, you can’t and will not book every role or be liked by everyone. The second step, is knowing that your self worth doesn’t come from external validation like an award. It needs to come from within. You need to love and respect yourself regardless of how the external world sees you.

The final step, is to see the word “no” as “next opportunity.” Step out, get rejected. Your world won’t collapse and the fear will be broken.

10. Not Saving For A Rainy Day

Money saving habits should start early. Too many actors subscribe to the curse of being a “starving artist.” The amount of money it takes to be an actor between classes, head shots, publicity, etc isn’t small. Most often, actors don’t plan ahead for these events and find themselves unable to pay for these services or amassing tons of debt to do so. Here’s the rule of thumb. Try not to let debt accumulate and always have at least $1,000 rainy day fund available. I’ve seen too many of my friends give up their dreams of acting because they couldn’t afford to pay their rent.

11. Defining Yourself Way Too Narrowly

We all have limiting beliefs about who or what we can become. Humans are hardwired to play it small and “stay in their lane.” We also tend to be easily satisfied with the status quo. That’s fine for a season.

However, it’s important for actors to constantly think about how they can expand their business. How can they increase their reach? Maybe it’s finally directing, or getting on TikTok. Actors are always being pigeonholed or typecast. That’s how we put food on the table, but you leave a legacy by taking risks.

It’s important to be aware of the negative self talk when you start to think bigger, but don’t suppress the itch to do more in this life.

12. Too Much Name Dropping

Why does someone name drop or brag? Simple. They want to feel important and special. No one cares that you brushed shoulders with Miles Teller once. We certainly don’t want to hear that same story every time we hang out with you. Don’t be this guy or gal. Stay humble. That is all.

13. Being Rude

Rude behavior towards any staff member on set is not condoned. Reputations are essentially an echo of who you are, passed around by others. If you build a reputation for being a jerk or difficult to work with that will decrease your chances of being hired in the future.

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Building a reputation is like building a sandcastle, one bad wave and it’s gone. Your reputation is something to always work on and reflect about. How you treat someone on the crew says a lot about you.

Anybody who’s worked on a film production knows, gossip travels lightning fast on a film set. So avoid giving the hair and makeup dept. something bad to say about you at all costs. Start with working on yourself and ask what kind of person do you want to be remembered as?

14. Not Taking Care Of Their Health

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If your health fails that can overshadow everything else in your life. In an industry where long hours are the norm and the occasional wrap party will leave you feeling like the bear in the picture, it’s critical not to lose sight of your health. Both physical and mental health play a huge part in long term success as an actor. I don’t want to overlook mental health, because that is far more important than it’s perceived to be. The best actors never go without enough sleep, proper exercise, and a balanced diet.

15. Overthinking

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Overthinking is a dream killer. Not only that, but it will kill your happiness and productivity. We’ve all been victims of overthinking.

I remember overthinking my first kiss and I overthink whether I should post that selfie on Instagram or not. At its worst, thinking too much results in paralysis and constant rumination about something is plain frustrating. Most often that thing is a story made up in our heads and is completely untrue.

One way to look at overthinking, is like chewing a piece of gum. In the beginning, the gum has flavor and can be enjoyable. After a while the gum becomes stale and you spit it out. But sometimes you don’t.

Now you’re rolling this stale, flavorless, unwanted piece of gum in your mouth. That is overthinking. Rolling unwanted thoughts in your head when you should have spit them out.

The Whole Point Is To Avoid These Immediately

So above I listed out the 15 most common bad habits actors should avoid doing. The good news is that you can quit them all.

Call out your own bad habits and take my suggestions to quit them. Then you’ll discover a life with more purpose and be happier overall!

What bad actor habits did I fail to mention? Drop them in the comment section below!