What are the most important ingredients in having a career?
Many things contribute to having a career that spans several decades. Some artists have their fifteen minutes of fame and others have a lifetime. So what essentials are needed for that lasting career?
- Drive/Desire
- Work Ethic
- Perseverance
- Determination
- Vocal Quality
- Acting Ability
- Raw Talent
- Stage Presence
- Charisma
- Appearance
Boris Goldovsky, a great educator, conductor, stage director and lecturer, used to tell us that at least a bit of each is central to having a career.
He said that, if you assign each indispensable element a number on a scale of one to ten, you do not add them to determine the total, you multiply them. Therefore, if any one is zero, the total is zero.
So what does that mean?
If any of the indispensable elements is absent, all the rest are canceled out after multiplying by zero. One zero destroys the whole thing! Conversely, an artist who is perhaps not the most attractive physically, but who has great vocal ability, great stage presence and tremendous desire, may construct a wonderful career for himself! As Mr. Goldovsky said it’s not important to be the best in every department, but it is crucial to have to have at least a little of everything!!
Perhaps, the single most important factor in beginning the journey to achieving your goals is Desire.
How big is your desire? How badly do you want “it,” whatever “it” is? What are you willing to sacrifice to achieve “it?”
Some talent is a given, but talent alone is not enough. What are you willing to do to accomplish your goals? Are you willing not to go to the movies with friends because you WANT to practice? Are you willing to get a day job to support yourself while you’re developing? I baby-sat to help pay the various costs of lessons, demos, coachings, travel to auditions and meetings, etc.?
And are you determined, whatever some people might say, to keep going toward your goal?
Birgit Nilsson, one of the most famous operatic sopranos of the 20th century, was told by a well-known conductor that she would never have a career. He advised her to go home and learn to sew! She was determined and she proved him wrong! What are you willing to sacrifice to achieve your goals?
