LUCK: When Preparation Meets Opportunity

So, we’ve all been there. Auditions can come at inopportune times. We have a full day planned with our significant other, we are supposed to go into our food serving shift, or we wake up feeling bloated and unattractive. Without fail, it is this day that we get a call from our agent-“you have an audition today at 3:30pm”. This happened to me last week and the experience brought a lot to light.

Wednesday, I woke up early after having a wonderful meal of Japanese food the night before. Unfortunately, the salt from the soy left me feeling a little bloated and my face a bit puffy. I commented to my boyfriend, “Thank God I don’t have an audition today!” Well, that must have been the trigger. I went to my cell phone and sure enough my agent had called 20 minutes prior with a message that I had an audition later that day. Not only was it an audition, but a really important one, the kind you pray your agent calls you for.

The audition required a lot of preparation. They wanted a cooking demonstration, a fully developed introduction and told me to come prepared for interview questions from the producers.

All sorts of voices filled my head. “There is no way you can prepare in time”, “Surely my agent can reschedule”, “Oh, my face, I’m so puffy!”, “Do I really want to drive to the valley in traffic hours?”; “I probably won’t book it anyway”. Here I was trying to talk myself out of an amazing opportunity! I got my agent on the phone and my stronger self came out. “Yes, can’t wait, I’ll be there at 3:30pm.

I raced home and because I only had 3 hours to prepare, I didn’t have time to second guess myself. I trusted my instincts on what to cook, what to wear and even decided to use my puffy face as good comedic material in the audition.

I got to the audition early and entered the room with a “nothing to lose” attitude. The audition couldn’t have gone better! I was in the flow. After my audition, the Casting Director said she thought I’d be perfect for the job and would be touch. Who knows what will happen, but whatever the outcome, I left feeling fantastic and invigorated.

I knew that the spontaneity of the audition combined with my powerful action of going when I didn’t really want to, were the key ingredients to my success.

Always trust the process and remember; if you are always in a state of “preparation” with your craft, when you meet opportunity, you will find “LUCK!”