So many of us sit around the house during the week wondering if our opportunity will come. We submit every now and then off of backstage, nowcasting or actors access and wait for the call to audition.

Some of us even go to bed at night thinking "tomorrow is a new day, I'm going to get my butt in gear". But then tomorrow happens and things come up. You start to focus on making money to make ends meet, finding time to rest after work, and what will happen on the next Nip/Tuck.

Look, I've been there- hell I am still there at times. But you can't honestly feel that you are doing everything you can to obtain your acting goals if you are not giving your focus to fundamentals.

I know money is tight some times (for others all the time), but you have to go that extra mile to be resourceful. You have to want it THAT BAD!

#1) Are you only going over sides when you have an audition? If so you are doing yourself a diservice. You wouldn't use your company time at a professional job to learn how excel works when a report needs to be done in an hour would you? No, you get the job done and then practice on your own time.

Well here is a great solution. Go get sides from the internet and practice on your own. If you have the Actors Access membership you have plenty of sides to chose from. So what if the character is out of your age range the key is to practice for yourself. Face it, you can't expect someone to hand you a line if you are not ready for it.

#2) "My job is really demanding and I just don't have time to take acting classes". Well, if acting is what you are wanting to do then perhaps a new job would be more beneficial. Ask yourself, do you want to work and make ends meet and half way yourself around this business or do you want to have your mind clear to work on your training and be confident in your abilities? If acting is what you really want then bite the bullet and cut your loses. Take a pay cut if you have to or lessen your hours if possible. Find areas in your daily life that you can cut back on. Maybe you have a $500/mth car payment that you feel like you have to have. Or your centrally located loft is costing you a fortune. Guess what, you may need to proiritize yourself a bit better to make your money stretch further.

And just because you are limiting your hours a bit to be more flexible doesn't mean you still can't make money on the side. Extra work is always an option. There is also audience work for tv shows (that may pay little but once a week for a few hours could pay for those acting classes). There is also temp work and unemployment. Find a way to make it happen.

Seriously, it is all nice and dandy to be at home dreaming of that opportunity to say an actual line on a hit tv show or blockbuster film. And perhaps one day the opportunity would fall in your lap. But, if you are not ready to handle that line then it will slip right through your fingers leaving you questioning yourself for weeks on end. Was it me? Should I have been bigger? Did I really do something wrong?

The more practice you put yourself through the more confident you will be when that "lucky" break finally hits. Acting is a profession- not a hobby. You don't want to be a part-time actor do you? Then why only do part-time preparation. This is not just your job, but it is your life. One moment can suddenly jump start your career like a rocket. All it takes is you keeping your eyes open and being ready when that moment comes.

This might sound preachy, and by no means am I eliminating myself from this post. I to have fallen in the same traps that many actors find themselves in (especially after a few years of hustling). And there are also some of you that are kicking your own butt in gear and working it out. But for those who this really hits home to, "Go that extra mile". Don't let another opportunity pass by without questioning why you are letting it.

Because the opportunities are out there. They aren't really hard to find if you constantly keep your head up. But it is what you do with those opportunites that will forever define your acting career.