Holidays for the artist.and family.

Happy holidays guys!

As always I hope this message reaches you in good health and spirits. I hope you all had plenty of family and food around you at thanksgiving. On a personal note, I have just hired a new manager to help me get my career moving forward. Ken, I am excited to work with you. For all of you readers, stay tuned for a revamp of my blog and website.

My parents gave me so much wisdom. I believe my fundamental advantage in life is not having movie star good looks :) or being tall..its that I had a mom and dad who cared about me. They care about me and support me to this day. Its something I don't appreciate enough some times. The holidays can be tough on us not so famous artists. Why? Because you answer more questions from family that you know, and love, regarding the lack of your name on the Box Office. First of all, to all those families out there, it is COMPLETELY FAIR for you to ask those questions. If the starving artists cant deal with that part of the game then they have bigger issues. More importantly we want to know that you care about us! Those questions about "how come you don't see us on TMZ" means you are wondering how we are doing. It makes us feel like we are not out here all alone. Your spirits and energy are with us. We can feel it..it feels great when you tap into that force. All artists should do this more often.

For the artist..answer every one of these questions. They don't expect you to be famous over night..they just want to make sure your heart is in the game. And it is..right?? Exactly. These aunts and uncles care about you and want you to live your dream. They do NOT want you to fail. When you take a moment and realize that, all the questions should get a little smile from you inside. Believe me, your agent, producer friend, manager or studio head wont ask these questions. Enjoy the love and feel the love.

I already know that my ENTIRE FAMILY will be there on my first headlining red carpet with the intent to have a ball. When that happens, ill feel all that love

Be thankful for your close people this holiday season. This is probably the most important thing I've ever said on this blog :)


Quote

"Live with no excuses and love with no regrets"

Thanks for reading guys! Hit me on twitter

Ahmad

@moviestarahmad 

It can ALWAYS be better or worse & staying positiv

Happy Fall gang!

Good to speak with you all. If you have any friends and family on the east coast, I hope they are all safe. Today I'm giving away one of my biggest keys to staying positive.

Recently I picked up a new friend on facebook. I realize this isn't exactly a news flash in 2012. I have been friends with this person in real life before facebook (which might be more of a news flash) and recently I saw them for the first time since becoming FB friends. As we were parting company she asked me "How the heck do you stay so positive on facebook?" Thanks for giving me a great blog post idea..

Life perspective of Better and Worse

Being positive comes from within..like all your magical powers (we all have them) and is a formula comprised of many things. One specific key that helps me stay positive is a statement my long term friends have heard me say many times.. "It can ALWAYS be better/worse".  No matter what happens to you in any moment, you can look at the situation and remind yourself of that undeniable fact to help bring some perspective to your short term success, failure, trouble or triumph. When things aren't going so well it is easy to see how this can help. When some crazy driver smashes into your brand new bright red Ferrari..and you are screaming at them and cursing your luck, remember, it could always be worse. You could be looking at your smashed Ferrari from a stretcher being carried by paramedics. Lets not even think about how much worse that scenario could get for you. Those times when you don't have quite as much money as you want, need, or deserve..could always be worse. Someone else is probably doing unspeakable things in order to get that money. The kind of things that you can never get away from in your own mind no matter how good the money might be. That you aren't doing those things can help calm your mind, relax and keep going in a positive direction with your actions and thoughts. For us actors, that time you didn't book that part and you see another actor get the guest-star role on ABC that you wanted definitely sucks. At the same time, it could be worse, there is some person who isn't even in Hollywood who watches that show and their heart breaks because acting is what they know they should be doing. You guys get the point on how it helps when times are rough...

How can this help me go from positive to MEGA-positive? No matter how good it is, it could always be better. Some time from now, Sony pictures will be paying me 7 figures to film an awesome movie in an exotic and great location. Sounds great right? Heck yeah it does. But It could always be better... I could be doing the same thing except its a film I wrote and I am an executive producer on the project. EVEN BETTER. When you realize that a good situation could be better you do 2 things 1. You validate the work and steps you have taken to get where you are and 2 You realize that there is more work to do and you can do EVEN MORE THAN YOU THOUGHT BEFORE. Sure, celebrate a little bit along the way but for you to reach your greatness, you have to keep pushing your talents and self to new limits. Doing so with a positive attitude will make your work light and your journey FUN! That's what I'm in this crazy life for...to have fun.

Motivational quote of the day

"Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go"

Thanks guys for reading. Hit me up with any questions

Ahmad

Moviestar on the rise

Twitter: @MoviestarAhmad

Your Art and comfort..no relation

Greetings everyone!

Happy end of summer. Time to get into the gym because next summer is right around the corner and I know you all want to look your best :)

Ill keep it short this week guys. Largely because its October and there is still time to re-focus on what you want to accomplish this year and make major progress towards it. That sort of refocus will help set you up to blast through your goals and change your life next year!! Yes I said change your life. That's for another post, but that's how I think every year. The work I put in this year can and will CHANGE MY LIFE :) All that said, let me get to the point..

Art and comfort do NOT coexist

Being an artist is great on many levels. Its a big challenge, a noble pursuit, a way I can express myself and help others. It requires me to use all of my energy and makes me constantly improve myself. On that level I have gotten more out of myself than I ever imagined. One thing being an artist is not..it is NOT comfortable. Nor is it supposed to be.

To create..to focus on the art of something means you have to leave some of the comfortable aspects of life behind. Sometimes that means not eating while I am pouring through a script and trying to understand a character. Sometimes that means night shoots that require you to be mentally and emotionally fresh at 3am. Painters, sculptors and music producers can all share experiences where it got uncomfortable while they were pursuing their art. Its part of the game. The positive thing is that as you are getting more UNcomfortable, you are freeing yourself and getting ready to create art. Said another way, when you start feeling uncomfortable you are closer to expressing the artistic truth that you are searching for. To do something artistically real and honest you have to put art first..ahead of comfort. You can be comfortable afterwards.

You guys already know my thoughts on this..EVERYONE is (or can be) an artist in their own realm. There is an artistic aspect to teaching or being a personal trainer or whatever you do. If you pursue what you do and put it first, above your own comfort, you will see all the rewards that come with being one of the best artists in your respective field. I cant speak for you but that's what I want to be.

Don't worry about comfort guys. Not when you are doing your work. Just pursue your type of art with all your might. While you are training, acting, cage fighting, painting, teaching or working in the lab..put your work first..and it will put you first down the line!

Motivational quote of the week....

Enter every activity without giving mental recognition to the possibility of defeat. Concentrate on your strengths, instead of your weaknesses… on your powers, instead of your problems.



Thanks for reading!

Ahmad
@MoviestarAhmad

Hone YOUR warrior mindset!

Hey guys!

Hope all is going well for you this summer. Its almost over so go get your time in on the beach while you still can! Ramadan went great for me and I am feeling as invincible as I ever do during the year. Eid Mubarak to all, whether you fasted or not.


We all need motivation. Like working out, motivating yourself is something you have to do regularly in order to keep yourself at a good healthy level. There are certain things that I constantly feed (and re-feed) my mind over and over again to keep my mental focus high. When I first started studying acting professionally my teacher and the foundation of my acting technique, Milton Katselas, gave all his students a book that covered various things about acting and life. One thing in that book that I constantly read is what I'm going to share with you. It may not be one of the literary classics but I had never seen or read it before. Its called The Warrior. Its basically a collection of statements about how a warrior operates in life. Some of my favorite warrior statements are listed below. Take a read...because I'm sure some of it will apply to what you believe or how you WANT to be. **for you ladies out there, please replace "He" with "She" :) If you want a copy of the whole thing, let me know and I will send it to you.

The Warrior (Guerrero)

A Warrior leaps into battle

A Warrior knows but one position to face life: frontally, or some other way he believes will be effective

A Warrior adopts aggressiveness as a stance towards life that rouses, energizes and motivates

A Warrior is not stuck with one way. He is flexible 

A Warrior maintains a flexibility of strategy that comes with razor-sharp evaluation

A Warrior is constantly improving communication skills

A Warrior never holds a grudge

A Warrior knows his days are few, which leads him to an intense experience of life that is unknown to others

A Warrior fully understands celebration

A Warrior knows every act counts

A Warrior knows there is no time for hesitation

A Warrior doesn't try to be right, he just fixes things in his working and personal relationships

A Warrior is definitely the guy who walks through the threshold, if the threshold needs walking through

A Warrior is willing to confront, or not, by his own decision

A Warrior does not know how to spell flinch

A Warrior will only destroy what needs to be destroyed so that something more valuable, more effective can appear

A Warrior masters the techniques of his craft -and his life- through continuous study, discipline and stretching the boundaries

A Warrior is like a pro. He gets things done. NOW

A Warrior doesn't think too much. Thinking leads to doubt, doubt to hesitation, hesitation to inaction, inaction to losing, losing to death

Powerful stuff? Yeah I think so. We are all warriors within guys. Its not about conquering nations and destroying armies. Its about CONQUERING YOURSELF and living life to the fullest while you are here.

Motivational quote of the day..

"One way to keep momentum going is to have constantly greater goals"

Enjoy guys! Let me know what you think and thanks for reading

Ahmad

@MoviestarAhmad

"Making it" is tough..quitting is MUCH tougher

Hello All,

As always, I hope life is treating you and your loved ones well. I'm finished with my 11 days of Ramadan so I am feeling pretty darned cleansed. As a result, I'm gonna keep it short and sweet today :)

Sometimes, people call summer the "dog days". Usually its one of the fun times of the year, especially when we are in our school age phase. As a rising (read: not established) actor, the summer time can be the dog days because it is probably the slowest time in the business. Actors spend more of their time looking for work than actually working year around. In the summer that time spent looking for work can get more agonizing because there are less auditions and less opportunities to work. The dog days indeed are a part of our reality. All careers and industries have slower than usual periods. There are times when you just are NOT seeing the forward career momentum that we all want. What should you do? There are a few things that we can do for our respective careers when the primary thing is going slower. That comes later. The first thing is actually something you can NOT do..

You just CANT QUIT!! PERIOD...END OF STORY

First and foremost you have to burn that belief into your mind. If you have made the decision that "this" (whatever it may be for you) is what you want to do with your life and put your energy towards, you have to see it through all the way to the end. You cannot give up! You have to keep going forward no matter how slow your forward progress may be in that given moment. You can never let yourself be defeated by the short term obstacles that life has put in your path. Those things come and go..they will reappear later on in your journey towards your personal gold medal. You can't let yourself be beaten by things that you can overcome with a little bit of persistence, desire and hard work.

Ive been on hundreds of auditions since becoming an actor. In the coming years that number will be in the thousands. As you can guess more often than not people say no. That is absolutely no reason to tapout on the career and life that I am willing to walk through the fire for. Some of you have been rejected by grad schools, some of you have seen your business slow to a crawl because of the tough economy we came out of, some of you got knocked out by an opponent that you thought you could best. Fine..it happens to us all. What is most important is to look at your current situation and look past it to where you can be IF YOU DON'T GIVE UP AND KEEP GOING FORWARD! I can be a series regular on a network TV show in a couple years. Does it change the fact that I am dead broke with a dead end job right now...No. It doesn't. The point is that my current situation DOES NOT prohibit me from becoming that series regular. People who get frustrated and give up often do not make that connection. They often let the current rough times dictate that there will be nothing but rough times going forward. This is not the case guys. You can always turn it around..you just have to stay in the game

So what kinds of things can you do when you hit those career valleys? Of course specifics vary from career to career..but there are a few general things that can help save your sanity

1. Hone your craft: What kind of skills do you have for your career? What skills can you improve upon to give you a competitive advantage?

2. Clear your mind: What hobby, pursuit or thing can you do that takes your mind totally off your career?

3. Realize whats good: It could always be worse. What things are going on in your life that you are thankful for? Sometimes we ignore these when works not going well. don't!

4. Connect and Re-Connect: You should be there for your friends..and they for you. Call one..especially one you haven't talked to in a while. I promise you will feel better after catching up

Its tough out there guys no matter what you do. I don't promise much to anyone...but I do promise that quitting will hurt you far more than anything going on right now. Keep fighting guys...and don't give up

Inspirational quote of the day

"It's always too early to quit."

Thanks for reading.. and hit me up on twitter

Ahmad

@MoviestarAhmad 

AVOID emotionally transmitted infections

Greetings Summer Stars,


As always I hope that everything is going well in your world! For those who observe the fast, Ramadan Mubarak and make sure to drink plenty of water at night. Also...don't be afraid to train a little during the day. As an Olympian once told me "training during Ramadan makes you tough".

Over the years, I have cut plenty of people out of my life out of what I believed to be necessity. Most times they were completely unaware and they certainly weren't consulted on this change in our friendship status. I just stopped calling and hanging out with them among other things. Seems cold but I don't lose a bit of sleep over it. Why? Cutting those people keeps me emotionally healthy. The logic is summed up like this....

AVOID the unhappy and unlucky



 There are people who are no longer in my life because they are always unhappy and/or unlucky. There..I said it. You can die from someone else's misery. You may feel you are helping a drowning man but you are only precipitating your own disaster. People who are unfortunate and unhappy can draw misfortune on themselves...they can also draw it onto YOU! Fitness and health are important things to me. The reality is that emotional states are as infections as diseases. This is a way to protect your emotional health so that you can be the absolute best YOU that you can.

Fundamentally, at the core, people are either positive or negative. The reality is what it is in a given situation. The positive person will look for the upside no matter how the bad the reality may be and the negative person will always find the tragedy no matter how good the reality is. I am a positive person and continue to represent that philosophy throughout my life. When its a one on one situation, my positive super-powers can easily vanquish 1 captain negativo. What about when its 1 vs 3..4 or more? Positivity can keep you healthy but if your constantly hanging with 3 negative people, you are bound to be the fourth. All the complaining they do..all the woe is me talk..they will eventually infect you with that unhappy disease and before you know it, you are just as negative as them. Seeing that as the path of the negative-ites, I choose to stay positive and to stay away from those people I deem too negative to stand. AKA people who are radioactive with their negativity. Those people are gonna be unhappy

Those misfortunate people among us who have been hurt by situations beyond their control deserve our help and sympathy. There are others who are not born to misfortune or unhappiness, but who draw it upon themselves by their destructive actions. It would be great to raise them up but more than likely you will be the one brought down. Humans are extremely susceptible to the moods, emotions and thoughts of those we spend time with. Which is why you must be so very mindful of who you hang with. Understand that in the game of life, the people you associate with are critical. The risk of associating with these infectors is that you will waste valuable time and energy getting free from them. These toxic people are tricky. They don't always introduce themselves properly and honestly. Nobody says "Hi, my name is Bruce and I am an energy drainer and constant complainer." Since I like to be solutions oriented lets answer the question you're about to ask... How do I protect myself from these emotional infections and the people that transmit them?

Its not simple but if you look critically you can protect yourself. First, judge people by the affect they have on the world and people around them...NOT by the reasons they give for their problems. Beware of victimism. We have all been victimized in situations in life. If someone is ALWAYS telling you about being a victim over and over again, you should be concerned. Turbulence in their relationships and career can be a give away. I'm not saying that every ones life should be perfect with no rough times. Those people who are intent on success go through those rough times and correct their actions with the idea of moving forward. The other people don't change and constantly want to wallow in their rough times never moving past them. The constant complainer is also a big red flag. Being critical isn't the problem. Its that the constant complainer is never happy. Very soon they will spread their unhappiness on you.

Time for good news...The infection can go for the positive!! There are people who attract happiness by their good cheer, positivity and intelligence. Those folks who believe that difficult things can be done as opposed to can't. Be one of those people and hang with more to bring success to your whole circle. BE gracious, charming, witty, and courageous. Be the type of person that others want to be around. So long as they come in peace and positivity, the more the merrier. 

I realize that this is something similar to what your parents told you many years ago. You are judged by the company you keep. This isn't about the outward appearance. This is about your INNER appearance and hanging with people that match either where you are and where you want to be. Protect your emotional health guys! If its in a bad place..IMPROVE IT. If you are a negative person 1. Congrats for reading my blog. You will be more positive if you keep reading 2. Go find a group of 5-6 people where you are the only negative person. After a few times you will find yourself looking forward to seeing them. You wont know why..you will just be happy :)

Inspirational quote of the post

"Only generous souls attain greatness"

Thanks for reading guys!

Ahmad

Twitter: @MoviestarAhmad



When good is not quite good enough...you're getting better

Happy Summer again yall!!

Its good to speak with you always. I hope you are all doing well and taking a step closer to your dream whatever it may be. I'm doing my best and I look forward to telling you all about a major TV or film appearance that I will be making. Soon enough guys :)

Today i'm going to share another emotional evening in my life as me. I do it for a good cause of course...that cause is so that we can all learn (or re-learn) from it and push ourselves to higher levels in our professional and personal lives. Also, I do love you guys and I promised to always be honest with y'all.

A few years into my acting training at Beverly Hills Playhouse I had a BIG scene coming up. My good friend Torrey and I (shout out to him, his fam and NOLA) were doing a scene from a new play that was a story based around Hurricane Katrina. The play did a month run in LA before we performed the scene in class. I saw it and had the script and the scene for a good while. I worked on this thing like never before. I really felt this was a scene that I could show nearly all my skills. Part of the reason that I worked so hard on this scene was a chance meeting with Gerard Butler a little while earlier. Total nice guy and when I asked him about getting to the big time in the business he mentioned two things 1. Just keep auditioning and 2. Put your work in on scenes in class and aim for great..not good. I agreed so I made it a point to step up all my scene prep work after his wisdom. I felt like my acting skill and technique was improving exponentially. I was so amped!

Long-ish story short we get to performance night. I'm feeling ready and open to show my art and work. The scene goes and it was not nearly as great as I wanted or expected. It was amateurish, sloppy, but with some good emotion and connection between the actors. During the critique while giving some general notes my teacher, Art, looked at me and asked what the matter was. I was nearly in tears. I let the tears go and I said "I cant work like this. I should leave this F*****g town if this is the best I can do. I put in time, hours and this was bull****. You guys (my classmates) deserve better because you put up better. I singled out (in a positive way) two of my class mates Lindi and Nick to tell them "When you guys put up a scene with this much prep time its f****g awesome..this was total high school bull***t". To Nick and Lindi, I hope that didnt embarrass you when I said that as it was meant as a high compliment. I never apologized and I do now for what its worth.

My teacher called me to sit back down as I was pacing and screaming and crying. So I did. We kept talking, I was almost inconsolable. He told me that the scene had problems but it wasnt that bad and then I uttered the mantra that drives my acting career every day..Full tears in my eyes I looked at my teacher and yelled.. "TO BE GOOD IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH WHEN YOU DREAM OF BEING GREAT". The room kinda went silent. My classmate Kristin C was in the front row and she shed a little bit of a tear as she was feeling me. Thanks Kristin!!!

My acting teacher shared some wisdom too. Nobody will be the "greatest" actor in town as its subjective. Thats very true. Its about being the best YOU that you can be. Also very true. That being said, I stand 1000% behind what I said. Good and great are different things guys. Being good at something and being great at something will leave you in two different parts of your desired field. More importantly its a choice. If you are willing to accept good...thats fine. Go for that. Others of us are only going to accept "Great". You will never be known as the greatest actor in Hollywood but you can be a "great" actor in an absolute sense. To achieve that greatness you have to shoot for that every time you perform and prepare to perform. If you have ever been good at something, you know the difference between good and great. There is a difference..and its a clear difference. You cant be great at everything to be sure. Think about the most important thing or skill that you want to develop in your life. Dont accept "good enough" in that thing. Put your energies towards being GREAT at it. I promise it will help you live the best life you can. All it takes is a little more effort and focus, consistently, to put you in position for greatness

The inspirational quote of today bears repeating..

"To be good is not good enough when you dream of being great"

The next time you start doing something relating to that thing you want to be great at..whether its acting, singing, accounting, coaching, parenting, fighting, football, basketball or painting, remind yourself of this mantra. You will find that you may not achieve greatness in that particular event but the PURSUIT OF GREATNESS with all your energy will get your juices flowing

Thanks for listening guys..Have a great day and hit me up on twitter

Ahmad
@MoviestarAhmad