Long term

Magic moments

August 1, 2026

You MUST track them. Write them down, take note, reflect, record, remember.

It might not feel like you’ve had any ‘magic’ moments this past week, but I guarantee if you take 5 minutes to ask the question, you’ll find some.

That unexpected moment with a stranger.

The smile from your friend.

That moment you cracked up laughing.

If you don’t track them you’ll definitely forget them. But the moment you’ve noted it and remembered it, your perception of your life begins to shift…

Suddenly you see it’s full of these little moments you love. And after all, a life well lived is nothing more that a collection of a million little moments you love.

Don’t short change yourself.

Record your magic moments.

Acting is a tapestry

July 27, 2026

I’m preparing for an upcoming play and part of that process is to examine every line with a fine tooth comb.

In doing this, I realised that so much of my job as an actor is this part: it’s having an intellectual, emotional, visual and three dimensional understanding of the words.

The words infer an entire world of this character. As I work with each one; taste it, see it, try it and live it… I’m building an intricate network of threads that will eventually make up the whole piece.

Acting is this tapestry. It’s not showing up on the day with all your might and pushing a performance out. It’s weaving it and investing time, energy and heart into it in the lead up.

Then when you show up, you merely wear the tapestry you’ve created.

But you can’t wear it elegantly without putting the time in on the front end.

I wonder where else we mistake giving our ‘all’ on the day with simply doing the work before hand and letting the complexity live?

Magic and mechanics

April 16, 2026

There’s the magic and then there’s mechanics.

The magic is what we’re always trying to create. The thing that drew us in in the first place.

You want that ‘wow’ moment when the curtain comes up on the show you’re writing.

You want the flow of an electric classroom where students are fizzing and learning is bouncing in all directions.

You want that feeling of presence in the scene where the audience forgets they’re watching two actors.

This is the magic.

Then there’s the mechanics. There’s the hours of drafting, re-drafting and editing the play. There’s learning the editing software. There’s drilling the acting technique. It’s boring. Its laborious. It’s unforgiving.

But it’s necessary. You can’t have one without the other.

The trick, I think, is to keep the magic alive while you’re in the trenches.

Keep the vision alive of the curtain coming up when you’re reworking a scene for the 37th time.

If we can do that, we’ll get through the mechanics and one day (soon) you’ll get to pop the champagne.

The goal and the prize (they’re different)

March 21, 2026

It’s not what you get it’s who you become.

It’s nearing the end of March which means we’re a good chunk through the year now. That also means it’s a good time to re-look at those goals you set over new years.

Goals can get us trapped in the idea that we have to ‘get’ a ‘thing’.

Get a deadline, a certain amount of money or some status symbol…

What I’m being reminded of this time around is that the ‘thing’ you get in pursuit isn’t even the real prize.

What really matters is who you become.

You don’t really want to win the Oscar- you want to become the type of actor who could win the Oscar.

You don’t want to run the marathon, but become the person that can.

The accolade or the toy isn’t the thing, but who you become is.

Set the goal, sure. But know the real prize.

How you do anything is how you do everything

March 13, 2026

If you just throw your clothes on the floor or leave your dishes in the sink that extra night, what is that communicating to yourself?

It’s saying “this doesn’t really matter.”

And in some ways maybe it doesn’t matter. A little mess here, forgetting about something there…

But what happens when we want to do an outstanding job at something?

We can’t just ‘turn on’ our best work. If you are mostly throwing things aside and forgetting about the details, do you really think you’re suddenly going to be impeccable?

If you want to be outstanding, you have to be outstanding.

How do you do your dishes to your best standard? What is it like to take world class care of your things?

If you want to be outstanding, you have to be outstanding.

Ouch, growing!

February 28, 2026

Isn’t it a wonderful trick of the universe that growth requires resistance?

For a muscle to grow, it needs to meet something that is too heavy.

As teachers, the hardest days are the ones that form us.

As actors, the hardest audiences make us the strongest.

It’s easy to say this, of course. But it really counts when you’re in it. And if you’re in it. Know that you are growing.

Be directionally correct

January 31, 2026

I’ve just started a business accelerator program for Online Kapa Haka. I’ll be coached and taken through training across this year and one of the first things they talked about is to not worry about being perfect- but just to be directionally correct.

One of our tasks in the program is to create various content assets for the business. So with that we don’t have to make each one perfect, we just need to ensure we’re in the right direction.

So as long as I’m talking about education and culture and not dinosaurs I’m doing okay.

Though I bet I could make dinosaurs connect somehow…

Don’t be perfect! Let’s just move in the right direction!

Course correcting pilots

January 13, 2026

Goals are great… when you remember them. Something I’ve noticed is I’m great at setting goals and feeling that initial enthusiasm. As I’m sure we all are. But it can be tricky to find effective mechanisms of follow through on the day to day. An inefficient way to get to any destination is to only check in a few times across the journey.

I like the image of a pilot needing to constantly course correct across the span of a flight. Did you know they are off course between 90% and 99% of the time? Pilots have to constantly course correct to get to their destination.

The same goes for our goals and I’m using a super simple daily question to help me do that. In my journal every morning I ask myself:

How can I course correct today?

It allows me to look at yesterday, what I did, didn’t do and how I spent my time. If I lived a day like that again would I get to where I want to go? If not, what could I do slightly differently today?

It’s nice to know we can be off 99% of the time and still get there.

It just requires a little course correction ✈️

Resourcefulness follows commitment

January 5, 2026

Said another way: If you’re committed you will find a way. What does it mean to truly be committed? Well I think it means there is no other option. If you’re hungry you’ll find a way to get food. So the magic doesn’t actually come from the ‘how’ but from the commitment. Let’s not look for resources before we commit. We don’t need to vet our commitments. We just need to decide this is the way it will be, ensuring it aligns with higher human values of love, generosity and growth and we will simply find a way. With commitment comes resource. Don’t worry about the level of your resource. Concern yourself with the level of your commitment.

All the kings horses

January 2, 2026

Mark Duplass has this great speech he gave a few years back to aspiring film makers.

He warned us about waiting for the cavalry. That as creatives we can fall into the trap of thinking that the cavalry is coming and that any tiny incremental improvement we make in our work might trick us into believing that.

Big breakthroughs make us think the cavalry is coming. Those small wins can be intoxicating too.

Mark says the cavalry is not coming. It might feel like they are and people will tell you they are. But they’re not.

And Mark says this isn’t something to be sad about. The truth is, you don’t want the cavalry to come and save you.

The truth is, you get to a certain point of success of your own creation and the cavalry kinda is coming. Massive career changing opportunities come to you. The cavalry!

But when that happens, you don’t want ‘career changing’

You’ve worked hard for this career, thank you very much.

They came too late and you’re not interested in all the kings horses.

Because you are the king of your own castle now. And you are your own cavalry.

Mark is pretty on to it, I reckon

JUSTIN ROGERS

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