The Changeup: Why recalibrating the meaning of success and managing expectations are essential to avoid burnout as an actor.

Baseball is one of my obsessions. I grew up playing the game, still follow the sport daily and even watch most of the spring training games which don’t really mean anything and are essentially practice games. Throughout my career as a talent agent, I have found many similarities between a baseball player and an actor’s journey to success through their triumphs and struggles. Each career path is a bumpy, nonlinear road where outside circumstances are tremendous factors. On this road to success, it’s often hard to track progress and define what success looks like if that ultimate finish line of global stardom and recognition isn’t reached. One of my favorite examples of redefining success is the career of a record-holding major league baseball player whose name is likely unfamiliar to even the most avid baseball fans. And don’t worry, no actual baseball knowledge is required to follow this story.

When you ask a young baseball player what their dream is, it’s hitting a walk-off homerun in game seven of the World Series. Hitting that home run and being mobbed by teammates is the pinnacle moment of that sport. That vision plays over and over in a player’s head during every practice to get them to push themselves just a little bit harder…