ON ACTING: Yourself as Textbook

Actors are severely limited in their understanding and acceptance of a character’s objectives in a scene when they are unable to understand and accept their own objectives in everyday life.
To address this possible self-knowledge gap, I recommend actors ponder some recently completed events in their life, and ask themselves: “What did I fundamentally want from that person I was just speaking to? What basic purpose made me do what I did with that other person? What was the intention behind my basic words and actions? What aim did I have that made me feel good or bad when I did or did not achieve it?”
When actors can understand and their basic everyday life goals more fully, they will be much more able to understand and accept their characters goals and actions in a performance endeavor.