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Artist Motivation with Ira Cross

Ira Cross
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Insight, motivation, and just general hypeness from my point of view as an actor and artist. iraterrycross.substack.com

  1. FEB 11

    “Quitting happens once.”

    Quitting is easy. You just decide, “I don’t want to do this anymore”. Then you don’t. What’s even harder for me is living with the fact that I quit. I will admit that quitting while you’re ahead in some things is not the same as quitting. If you are in a difficult relationship (difficult because everything you’ve tried isn’t working), that’s different than just quitting a relationship because things got hard. Quitting something because you realize the effort you’re putting in is not being valued makes a lot of sense. However, that’s not what I see in this quote. What I see in this quote is quitting on a dream. I’m sure if you’re reading or listening to this you’ve seen the image of two miners digging for treasure. One realizes that the other has found a diamond and then quits because he thinks there’s no more. He doesn’t realize that he was one or two pick axe swings from more treasure himself! Don’t quit on what you are dreaming of. Make those dreams a reality by being too stubborn to give up on them. Seth Rogen once said, “If you don’t quit, you might make it. If you do quit, you definitely won’t.” If you never stop, you always have room to improve. You always have another chance at it. Quitting happens once, but growth happens every day as long as you work for it. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit iraterrycross.substack.com/subscribe

    2 min
  2. Happy New Year! 2026

    JAN 7

    Happy New Year! 2026

    “Motivation is great, consistency is better.” Happy New Year! It’s that time of the year when everyone is making resolutions they know they’re going to break. It’s that time of year when people write and talk about how you can make sure you don’t. This is the time when so many people are motivated! Make sure you keep going as it gets harder to stay motivated. Don’t stop until you get there. I have to be honest with you, I despise New Year’s resolutions. I’m firmly against them. However, I love setting goals. So this is all about goals and sticking to them. I hope that you’re motivated this year! Motivation is good, but not the best for accomplishing things. For any accomplishment you need consistency. When motivation wears off, and it will, consistency should take its place. When it doesn’t, that’s when people fail at their goals. Keep going when it sucks, especially when it sucks. That time when the motivation is gone and you have to rely on discipline and consistency is when things really start to sink in. That’s when the skills start to actually become part of you. That’s the part most people don’t get past. If you don’t hit your goals in the time you set, adjust for the next time period. I really feel like there are a lot of people that don’t hit their goals and give up on them. Let me give you some game, your goals are accomplished on your time. You make the rules in your life. The people that are successful don’t have some magic secret. They just don’t quit. Create goals rather than resolutions. Working through the pain of consistency after motivation wears off is worth it. Don’t stop until you achieve your goals. Even if it takes you a little more time than expected. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit iraterrycross.substack.com/subscribe

    2 min

  3. 12/31/2025

    Enthusism

    “All it takes for something extraordinary to happen is one person with enthusiasm.” – Richard Coraine Enthusiasm is often dismissed or even discouraged. People are afraid to take risks. People are afraid of embarrassment. Being embarrassed or wanting to be celebrated is focusing on things outside of your control and ultimately a fruitless venture. We live in a society where passion and enthusiasm sometimes come across to people as “cringe”. I sincerely believe this is because people are afraid to take risks. Taking a risk means there’s a chance you might fail. The focus is heavily on failure and not the chance to do something great. Something I’ve heard in so many iterations is if you knew you couldn’t fail, what would you do? I’d like to offer two of my own versions of that to help those that can’t get by the “cringe”. The first one: if you knew you wouldn’t be embarrassed, what would you do? The second: if you knew you would be celebrated, what would you do? Both of these are much better than focusing on what could go wrong. However, they should not be the end. There should be no end in working toward what you are passionate about. You should consistently move toward working with the energy of someone that knows they can’t fail. Only working with the mindset of thinking you’ll be celebrated or not embarrassed is putting your fate into someone else’s hand, giving up control. Working with the mindset of someone that knows they can’t fail is freedom. As an artist, I firmly believe that you cannot afford to be embarrassed. YOu have to be willing to put your work and yourself out there for others to see. They will judge and they will praise, neither of which is in your control. That’s scary, but what is scary to others is your true enthusiasm for your work. People are afraid of that because they are afraid of what they would feel if they did what you do. They are afraid of falling on their faces if they step out of a ledge and risk it all the way you do. They project their insecurities and fears onto you in the form of critiques and disrespect and cautions. Take some advice from Bruce Lee: “Absorb what is useful, discard what is not, add what is uniquely your own.” This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit iraterrycross.substack.com/subscribe

    3 min

  4. 12/24/2025

    What I didn't Understand

    “You can only believe in what you don’t know.” The following is my first essay written about the quote from last week. I understood it as “you don’t know what you don’t know”. I’m never one to waste much intentionally, so I felt like it was a great idea to keep the following and share it! Expand your understanding of the world. Expand your understanding of the environment you are in. Expand your understanding of your relationships. Expand your understanding of yourself. All of this takes time and effort and it will pay off. If you take the time to understand yourself everything else will be much more believable to you. You’ll have the ability to live much more at peace with what is around you. That doesn’t mean everything is perfect and great, but your ability to deal with what is happening will be much improved. Understanding your relationships will give you the opportunity to see how you relate to others and how others relate to you. Literally what the word relationship is rooted in. The more you know about others, the more you can know about yourself. Understanding your environment gives you the power to know what is around you and how it affects you and those in which you share an environment with. If where you live has a major disaster, you can make some educated guesses based on what you know about where you are. If where you live there is a new restaurant built that everyone loves, you know that the community will be more pleasant for a time. However, you have to know your environment to see this. Understanding the world is a large task. No one understands the world completely and no one ever will. However, taking the time to understand the world will only benefit your environment, your relationships, and yourself. All of it is connected and it makes sense that it is. Taking time to learn and grow will only help you and the world you live in. Selfishly, I want you to go learn more about all of the things I’ve mentioned because when you do you’ll make the world better for me too! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit iraterrycross.substack.com/subscribe

    2 min

  5. 12/17/2025

    Belief or Delusion

    “You can only believe in what you don’t know.” I’m sure you read that wrong the first time the same way I did. Or maybe it was just me. I first read that quote understanding it as “you can only believe in what you know”. Therefore thinking you have to know something in order to believe it. Therefore, you have to go forth and learn. After reading it again (and after writing a whole essay on it that I’ll release next week) I realize it is addressing the difference between belief and knowledge. If I believe something, it might be true. If I know something, it’s unshakeably true. A clearer way of understanding this is the following list of things people believe in: * Santa Claus * The Tooth Fairy * Stepping on a crack and breaking your mama’s back * Eating carrots gives you super vision * Religion All of these things have one thing in common no matter how you feel about them: we don’t have indisputable proof they are 100% for everyone. Some people will say there is plenty of proof for any and all of them. Some people will disagree with some or all of them. Meanwhile, I still eat carrots like a mad man and refuse to step on the spaces in a sidewalk to save the woman that gave birth to me from more pain that she’s already experiencing. Here are some things that people can’t argue and are therefore things we know: * 2+2=4 * Open things are not closed. * You are listening to me speak or reading words I wrote * Humans need to eat food and drink water to live * We live on planet Earth * Everyone who is alive will sadly die someday See what I mean? I’d love to hear someone argue how any of those things are not true. So back to our quote. Believing in what you don’t know means, you have no certainty in it. If you know something, you cannot believe it. Please don’t misunderstand what I’m saying. I’m not saying that believing in something is, in any way, negative. What I’m doing is helping you understand what belief is not. It is not a truth. However, belief is still very powerful. Having a belief in something means that you have a sense of delusion. Yes, I said it. You have to have a sense of delusion to believe something. You have to be delusional to think you can be the best basketball player in the world. You have to be delusional to think that you can win an Oscar. You have to be delusional to think you can win an election. You have to be delusional to think that you can start a business. You have to be delusional to think you can lose that weight you took years to gain. You have to be delusional to think that the words you write and say will be heard and appreciated by people. Delusion and belief go hand in hand. Without delusion, we wouldn’t have most of what makes this world great. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit iraterrycross.substack.com/subscribe

    4 min

  6. 12/10/2025

    You Already Got It!

    “Act like you already have the part for an audition, and you’re just there for a rehearsal.” My mom has told me my entire life, “If you want it, claim it.” When I would go out for sports, she would say this. When I would have anxiety about a test, she would say this. When I was applying to colleges, she would say this. This mantra is one of the many reasons I have confidence in myself. As actors, we have to audition. Many actors view auditions as a source of stress. They forget that when they audition they own the room. It doesn’t matter if it’s in person or a self recorded tape. When the audition starts, that is your space. Don’t treat it like you’re working to get it. Treat it like it’s practice, because it is! If you get the part, it’s practice for what’s to come. If you don’t, it was practice for acting in general. For those that are not actors, apply this to your life by looking at every opportunity as a chance to do what you love. Take every opportunity to do what will improve your life. You don’t have time to work out? Park a little further away at the grocery store. You want to be a writer, but don’t have time? Treat every instagram, twitter, and facebook post like a short excerpt for your writing. The point is you feel like you don’t have the time or the opportunity, but you do. You are just looking at it from a perspective that doesn’t allow you to see the opportunity. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit iraterrycross.substack.com/subscribe

    2 min

  7. 12/03/2025

    ​Action Creates Momentum

    ​​“Action creates momentum.” Move. Create. Make something! A blank canvas or a blank document screen is only scary because you don’t see the potential in it yet. When I was still teaching elementary school there was an art teacher that told students to just put a mark on their paper. Get started. If you feel like the line is a mistake, you can get a new sheet of paper and start again with your new idea. But did you catch that? The students already had an idea of how to start with the new paper! That’s the momentum. The action was what many would consider a mistake. It’s not a mistake. It’s action. It’s the snowball that starts out small enough to fit into your hand before you roll it down the hill. What this looks like for us outside of art class is taking it one day at a time, one hour at a time, one minute at a time. The first step is always the hardest, but once you take it you can focus on the next one and so on. How can you create your own momentum? What “mistakes” can you make to get your ball rolling? This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit iraterrycross.substack.com/subscribe

    2 min
  8. A Way of Operating

    11/19/2025

    A Way of Operating

    “Creativity is not a talent, it’s a way of operating.” – John Cleese Most things in this world that can be learned and/or practiced. Creativity is one of those things. People often have the misconception that being creative is inherent. The truth is, some people come to it easily, but everyone has the ability to harness it. In my own life, I make time daily to sit and work on something creative. This substack and podcast are one of those things. I may not write or record every day, but I spend time cultivating ideas, finding quotes to share, and editing these words you’re reading and hearing. With acting, I take time to practice a monologue, read scripts, and do auditions. I watch interviews from actors, filmmakers, and anyone else in the industry that is giving insight. I intentionally go to the movie theater to watch a movie so my focus is completely on screen. I watch cartoons in languages I don’t know well so I can practice identifying emotions in characters. I do all of these things to keep my creative “muscles” active. I don’t wait for inspiration to hit me, I don’t even go find it. I make sure I’m doing things so that inspiration joins me on my journey. I think people hit a rut or have a dry spell when they continue doing the same things over and over expecting creativity to find them. They may also run into issues when they simply stop working. If you want to be creative, you have to do something. Hoping to be creative will keep you thinking that you aren’t creative. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit iraterrycross.substack.com/subscribe

    2 min
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Insight, motivation, and just general hypeness from my point of view as an actor and artist. iraterrycross.substack.com

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