It is commonly known that as an actor you must expect rejection and develop a tough skin to survive the industry. But inevitably taking negative criticism for the first time can be crushing and hurtful. How can you take the sting of failure and negative feedback day after day? The skill is to apply your experiences to opportunities to get better at your craft.

It’s okay to make mistakes. We forget that everyone who has had success has also experienced failure. In a recent rare interview with Oprah, JK Rowling, author of the Harry Potter books, opened up about her failures.

“Failure is so important and not spoken about enough. Failure is essential to life unless you are a person who is so cautious that you might not have lived at all. Failure is the catalyst for taking risks.”

It is argued that one of the reasons we don’t talk about failure as much as we should is the intense self-esteem building we’ve gone through as a generation. Success is an expectation because of the praise we receive when growing up. Jake Halpern, author of Fame Junkies, spoke about a ‘self esteem’ movement in the 70s and 80s which revolutionised parenting.

“The idea was that there were no winners or losers. Praise, praise, praise kids and they’ll grow up with buckets of self-esteem. Our parents were ‘seen and not heard’ whereas we were the centre of our parents’ universe.”

Unused to the real world, the frankness of feedback is a shock. It’s tough getting to grips with an industry that doesn’t care about you, unlike you supportive guardians or drama teachers. It takes time! Current society is fast; there’s fast food, fast fashion, and more importantly, fast fame, which certainly does not reflect the reality of the industry.

‘Failure must be my fault’, is simply a statement heading towards self destruction. As YouTuber Blade376 would say, there’s a lot of power in those words, but that power is an illusion – they’re only going to damage you as much as you let them.

“There is no such thing as failure; just experiences, and your reactions to them.” Tom Krause