Episode 292: Accountability & Discipline

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I'm going to talk about something that has truly changed my life. There are two things. One is discipline and the second one is accountability.

So the first one is accountability. When I started this work nearly 30 years ago, I can't even believe it's been that long.

I really cannot believe it. It sometimes feels like it's so much longer than that, and sometimes it feels like it's, I don't know, like yesterday. 

But when I started this work out, I had to be accountable. And I was accountable to my coach and I was accountable to a group. 

And this group I was accountable to them every week. So I worked with my coach privately, and I worked with my coach in a group setting. 

And it taught me a lot. And basically what it taught me was, is the number one person who I needed to be accountable to was me.

That if I said that I wanted to be a working actor, that I had to put my money where my mouth was, where I had to put my energy where my mouth was, that if I said I was going to do something, I really needed to do it because I did not want to show up to that group and say, I didn't do it this week.

Because of that I decided to make a difficult decision. But I think a very important decision, which was to open up my Weekly Accountability Group. To all actors. 

So what I'm offering is a free class.

The class is on Fridays at 12 p. m. EST. 

Not only do you get that class, but you also get my core work class, which is the weekly adjustment after that, because I want to teach you to be accountable to you, to be accountable. And a lot of people have been asking me about this and saying, would you open it up to the public?

And finally I decided yes. 

One of the things that you need in order to be accountable is discipline. 

Now, the funny thing is that I did not used to be very disciplined. As a kid, I would always look for the easy way out.

The funny thing is, though, if I think of some of the two most disciplined people I know on the planet, they're my parents. 

So how did these two incredibly disciplined people bring up this kid who is not that disciplined? 

One thing is they made life very easy for me, which I would manipulate out of them. 

I was an only child and yeah, I was brutal. 

When I wanted something from my daddy, I would open my blue eyes wide open and I'd go, “Dadsky” and he'd melt. Anything I wanted, he'd give me. 

And my mom, the mummiest of the mummies, I call her. She also would, give in to my let's just put it this way, adorableness.

And I'm saying all of this with a big smile on my face. 

But when I got older, I started to realize that they really were quite the example for me. 

My father is now a retired corporate pilot. And I remember that man could pack a suitcase and he would have everything packed and everything ready.

And this is when you flew with maps, okay, not with GPS. 

He was so organized. and so disciplined. 

And if my father said he was going to do something, he would do it. 

And if my father said he would meet you at six o'clock, he was there at 5:45. 

Not only that, he was physically very disciplined.

When he retired, he started walking 10 miles a day, and that was in his sixties. My dad is 84.5 years old. and walks four miles a day. 

My 84 and a half year old father is still physically disciplined. 

Now let's talk about my mom. My mom is 85 now. She wrote her 10th cookbook. on her 80th birthday. She finished her 10th cookbook on her 80th birthday.

This past week, she told me that one television series and one film reached out to her, both documentaries. My mom is a food historian and they want to interview her about Dutch historical food because she's a Dutch food historian. 

My mom, I would watch her sit down at the computer and for hours work at writing her books.

The mental discipline that my mother has, is mind boggling to me. I don't have it. 

My mom is also an avid reader and has been known to read a book a night. Again, I don't know how she does it. I wish I'd gotten that gene. That one I didn't. 

The point is that these two people were phenomenal role models to me.

And even though I didn't learn it as a child, ultimately, I taught myself and used them as examples to become quite disciplined myself. 

I'm going to give you even a further example, one that applies right now. I realized I didn't have a podcast this week. And then I texted Rose Marie, my right hand woman, I said, we don't have a podcast this week, do we?

And she went nope, and I went, she said, can you get me one tonight? And I went, yep. 

But here's the thing. I didn't want to do this podcast, but yet that quiet voice inside of me said I've done like a hundred and ninety weeks in a row. A hundred and ninety weeks. There's no reason I couldn't jump in the booth and do this podcast.

And that is discipline. 

Discipline is doing something when you don't want to, yeah, and discipline is what you need to be held accountable to the most important person in the world that you need to be held accountable to. 

So look, here's the deal. Free class. It's the Weekly Accountability Group.

You've got nothing to lose. Try me for one class. That's all I'm asking. One class. Totally free. No obligation whatsoever to continue. And if you want to continue, We keep it affordable for you. 

Are you going to be disciplined and sign up? I hope so. 

And as I get older, I learn, the more I work for myself, the more I have regrets that it took me so long to do it. 

So if I can convince one of you out there to show up for yourself just even one day earlier, trust me, it's gonna be worth it.