When we think of words begin with the letter P which refer to an actor we may conjure up words such as Poise, Perception, Performance and maybe even Perfection. 

But being an actor requires much more than the nouns mentioned above. It’s a form of creation that has facets and layers all intertwining and coalescing into one which are eventually spat out into existence for an audience to admire. 

It may seem haphazard but an actor is required to follow a system, basic tenets that if followed correctly and observed properly will eventually do justice to their craft. 

And these are the seven P’s of acting!

Every great actor or actress that has ever lived would’ve followed these seven p’s and it requires each and everyone of us to do the same. 

What are these 7 p’s? Let’s find out. 

The first P stands for Practice – it all starts with this, the importance of practicing our craft. Whether it’s picking up an actors book to read regularly, learning monologues repeatedly, or exercising our vocal chords religiously, nothing will maintain our core inner strength if we don’t practice our acting craft. But the practice can not sustain itself without the second P which is – 

Persistence – keeping at it, day in day out, no matter what mood we’re in. Our persistence is the measure of our belief in ourselves. We have to persist past our problems, past the troubles that inflict us on a daily basis. And as we persist we will begin to see the third P divulge which is – 

Progress – it’s those little things we do on a day to day basis which will make us get better and see gradual improvements, in the long run. Step by step we’ll get ahead but not necessarily in fast spurts. Which means we are going to need tons and tons of the fourth P – 

Patience – yup, it’s a marathon not a sprint. It may take weeks, months and maybe even years to get to where we want to get to but as long as we’re willing to accept that fact and stick with it for the long run then and only then we will get there. It’s really about making practicality and patience sexy! And that is the –

Process – the fifth P that each and every one of us has to go through in order to achieve what we desire in our lives. And once we’ve scaled that mountain, when our ship enters the harbour and the train arrives at its destination then and only then can we embrace the sixth P which is – 

Pat ourselves on the back – for we should accept the reward of achieving what we were after. And this reward should stand out not as a self satisfying selfish way but a way to congratulate ourselves hitting our target, and reaching our goal, which should be compensated with either a great meal, a relaxing spa in the country or maybe even a weekend getaway abroad. We just have to be sure that the reward is big enough to complement our achievement.

But, we don’t end there folks, we have yet to meet our seventh P since we can’t rest on our laurels just yet. And that is to – 

Pursue – our next goal, next challenge, next adventure because there’s always more to learn, more to achieve, more to aim for, to grow taller and to excel. We’ve come full circle but now there’s an even bigger circle to encompass. Challenges are what makes life interesting; overcoming them is what makes life meaningful.

An Actors life is all about having a meaningful one so lets traverse wisely through the seven P’s.