Long term

I think everyone should warm up their voice

January 1, 2026

At drama school, the idea of warming up the voice and body was very normal. Before that, I think I’d only heard of warming up in the context of sports.

There is a bit of a belief sometimes that if someone is warming up they aren’t good enough to just do the thing.

It would be great if we didn’t believe that.

Actors warm up to free and flex their voice because they are about to use it.

The reason I think we should all have voice warm ups is because we all use our voices to do things in the world. Sure it’s not in the context of a performance, but we still use it.

Your voice warm up doesn’t need to be fancy. Here’s a really easy way to warm your voice up:

Step 1: Choose your favourite song

Step 2: Do a lip trill along with your song. Follow the melody as precisely as you can.

There you go- you’ve warmed your voice up!

See it to see it

December 25, 2025

Visions work the same as film scripts.

To see it… you have to SEE it.

In order to realise the production of a feature film, the screenwriter has to build the script page by page. Each word adding to the tapestry. The script is a written vision.

“Here, this is what it will look like.”

Years before the projector shines the the magical lights of a movie on the silver screen, the movie existed only in someones head.

And it was just as vivid as you’re seeing at the cinema.

Before anything exists it first has to be a crystal clear vision.

To see it in real life, you have to see it in your head first.

Don’t skimp on the script. See it first, so we can too.

Why you need to break your flow state

November 26, 2025

We should all take breaks when we work. You might think this is because you need to rest; maybe the work is difficult or not particularly enjoyable, so you have to stop to get some respite, right?

But you also have to have take breaks when you’re enjoying the work.

“But I’ll break my flow state!” you say.

I believe it’s detrimental to stay in it.

Set a timer to work and a timer to rest. Honour both.

If you don’t rest to break up the deep work, you’re more likely to burn out and get to the point of diminishing returns.

It won’t feel like it at the time, your brain will tell you “No! It’s going well, I’ll just do this little bit more!”

That’s a sure sign to take 5 minutes.

If you do take that 5 minutes, you’ll be ITCHING to get back to work AND you’ll have the benefit of a short break.

The 5 minutes you take off of the enjoyable work acts like a sling shot, pulling back the rubber band and building your excitement, anticipation and so the passion you can bring to your next work chunk.

Take breaks when it’s hard and take breaks when it’s fun.

You’ll get more out of yourself over time.

Everything happens perfectly

November 21, 2025

Here’s a belief to try on for size:

Everything happens perfectly.

“Everything” because it encompasses all events of your life, whether ‘good’ or ‘bad’- it’s the whole enchilada!

“Happens” because it was in the past, it’s now and it will be in the future.

“Perfectly” because it’s like it’s by design. It was all needed to elicit growth in you and usher you directly to where you are now and where you are going. It couldn’t (and shouldn’t) have been any other way.

Everything happens perfectly.

Let it free you and let it empower you.

Unusual results require unusual actions

November 16, 2025

If you want something not a lot of people get, you have to do things not a lot of people do.

If people look at you strangely for the things you do, you may well be on the right track.

Or not…

But of course you can’t know unless you try.

Let everyone else do what is normal; they are running millions of experiments for you that you are welcome to observe and learn from.

While they’re doing that, you may as well run some experiments of your own.

What remarkable result do you want to create in the world?

And what is the thing you will do that people will ‘remark’ upon? (Whether they are being judgy or not in their remarks doesn’t matter- it still fits the definition of remarkable!)

Dare to do things vastly differently and you will have a life vastly different to anyone else.

Overchunking Medusa

November 5, 2025

These aren’t just two random words I put together, I promise.

There’s a balance we have to strike between dreaming big and actioning small. It’s a tricky one to get right.

If we spend all our time focussing on the giant goal- or even the just big task for the week- we can freeze. A bit like Medusa has paralysed us.

This is called over chunking. It’s looking at too many chunks of information or tasks at once.

It’s being daunted by the giant elephant, the whole mountain or the entire dissertation…

I think back to some monumental tasks I’ve undertaken in the past and I’m almost certain I’d never have even started if I knew all it took now.

So when we are at the foot of the mountain, we have to simultaneously know about the peak while just taking one proverbial step at a time.

Get this balance right and I’m pretty sure we can do anything.

Playing for keeps

October 30, 2025

It’s not what you achieve, it’s who you become in the process.

This is one of the most valuable lessons I’ve ever learned. It seems like a cute concept, but in practice it’s powerful.

For me it’s the idea of playing for keeps.

That means when you go after a big audacious goal, face your fears or push yourself beyond what you thought was possible, the real treasure at the end is who you are.

The person who tries and fails 1000 times is a cool person.

So is the person who has hundreds of difficult conversations.

Who you are on the other side of the big scary impossible is the thing you want, not the big scary impossible itself.

Playing for keeps makes you undeniable to yourself.

Playing for keeps is stepping up to a new challenge, looking back to all you’ve gone through to get here and thinking to yourself “this challenge ain’t seen nothing yet- it hasn’t met me”

This is all just for you, by the way.

Playing for keeps isn’t for others, so don’t bother trying to tell them. It’s about what you think about you.

And you get to keep it forever.

20 years to be an actor

October 28, 2025

One of my tutors at drama school said something that shocked me.

Here we were, 20 young actors in our first year of training and he said “It takes 20 years to be an actor”

What!? But this is a three year course!

I didn’t get what he meant at the time, but 10 years into that journey I’m starting to understand.

Of course we were actors then and we still are. But I think what he was actually saying was much less controversial:

There is always more. Always.

The simplest acting exercises yield infinite and new learning across the years.

You re-meet the old with the new that you have now and the old becomes new.

And it keeps going like that.

I’m glad it takes 20 years, it’s the ride of a life time. I’d like to sign up for another 20 after that too.

There is always more- how good.

Don’t forget the victories

October 17, 2025

What was once a dream that is now part of your every day life?

We’re really good at forgetting good stuff.

It might be because of the insatiable human appetite for progress. Forgetting milestones probably serves us well in our pursuit of more and better.

But that’s a bit of an empty existence- success without fulfillment.

It might seem like a silly example but when I first started acting I remember how an audition would rule my entire day.

Well, to be perfectly honest I’d get the audition through and I’d question whether I could get anything else done that week…

If I was auditioning at 2pm on a Tuesday, nothing else existed until after that audition. Even then I probably took the rest of the day to gather myself and recover.

These days I can pack a full day around an audition and still have a great time.

This is progress- I’ve grown a LOT since the old days. I found myself lamenting that I wasn’t getting enough done recently and I suddenly remembered where I came from.

That I once couldn’t have imagined having the types of days I’m having now.

But of course now it’s just an ordinary day.

I think we’d do well to remember it wasn’t always like this. To give ourselves some credit and celebrate the things we forget to celebrate.

What is in your life now that was once a dream?

Connect the then to the now

September 6, 2025

Focussing on the big goal can immobilise me or make me confused and overwhelmed.

Instead, I’m trying to connect it to the action; figure out what the actions are toward a goal.

And every time I feel the looming overwhelm of the goal- I convert it into the action and put all that energy into the laser of focus that comes when you have a specific task.

Reroute the vision of the end to the task at hand and keep doing that over and over again.

JUSTIN ROGERS

Post Category: