12 Unique ways to use habits for daily character movement work

Truth: it’s challenging to build the habit of working on your acting each day.

Especially given the busy lives we lead. 

To truly further your craft, some may say that you have to work at it for hours a day.

Every day.

That’s simply not sustainable. 

The question of ‘what should I prioritize?’ can often spiral into: 

• Finding new monologues?
• Memorizing monologues? 
• Searching for auditions?
• Going to auditions?
• Taping auditions?
• Watching shows?
• Reading plays?
• Networking?
• Social media upkeep?

Truthfully, none of these can be avoided. 

These are all (and more) part of the process and practice of a career in acting.

The balance to strike is to fit it into your schedule each day. 

Now, some days, you may have the luxury of pounding the pavement for 4hours and doing all the things.

Other times, you may only have 10 minutes between other responsibilities.

Because we all have them. 

We all have shit we need to get done.

So, here’s the deal: you don’t have to do these things all day, every day. 

Please, don’t let anyone convince you that you can only ‘make it’ if you spend 8hrs a day doing all of the above each day. 

Firstly, the concept of saying if you do all these things for 8hrs a day does not equal ‘making it.’ 

It’s more complicated than that. 

The world is a spectrum, after all. And there’s a great deal we cannot control. 

So, what about the things we can control?

We can control the small moments. 

Those bits of downtime where most of us, myself included, have a tendency to reach for our phones. 

So, what would be a good bitesize actionable habit for character movement work?

Daily habits

So, habits. 

I’ve been reading a lot about habits lately (you may have noticed) and how James Clear, author of Atomic Habits, puts it: 

“Habits are the small decisions you make and actions you perform every day. According to researchers at Duke University, habits account for about 40 percent of our behaviors on any given day. Your life today is essentially the sum of your habits.”

The same is true for the characters you play. 

Now, more involved ways to get to know your characters physically is where they may lead from (link) or developing their movement signature to line up with the personality and relationships. 

These are important and often a must in developing a character. 

But let’s say you’re not currently preparing for a role. 

You just want to get some character movement work done daily to create a habit for yourself to play, explore and deepen your acting craft. 

I wrote a post about the 3 M’s or micro-movement-moments a while back and how switching up the tiniest thing in how you move can unlock inspiration for character movement work. 

Do you brush your teeth with your right hand?

Try it with your left.

Now, let’s take this idea and run with it a bit.

Daily habits for character movement

Here’s a few ideas of things you (probably) do daily that are fun to switch up each day to see how a character might move differently than you. 

• Getting out of bed
• Bushing/flossing your teeth
• Take a shower
• Put on socks
• Shave
• Putting on makeup
• Tying shoes
• Eating any meal
• Throwing away trash
• Drinking a hot or cold beverage
• Washing dishes
• Folding laundry

Labanotation each day

To take it just a micro-step further…if you’re familiar with me or this blog, you know I work with Labanotation as a primary practice for character movement. 

If you’re new to me and this blog-

Firstly hello! You’re most welcome! 

Secondly, check out my intro post about Rudolf Laban and how his groundbreaking dance notation system can help you develop unique characters from the ground up.

You can dovetail Labanotation with these daily habits and see where it leads you. 

Say you’re going to try brushing your teeth with your left hand AND add Laban’s light element to it. 

It could be challenging to do this and still get your teeth properly cleaned. Perhaps it takes longer?

Or, adding heavy could imply a character going through the motions, tired, their heavy body because of a lack of sleep. 

At the end of the day

The options are endless. And as with any habit, once you start doing it day after day after day, it becomes second nature to think of how someone else may perform a daily task. 

And for an actor, that’s gold. 

Keep experimenting.

Keep playing.

Keep learning. 

And when life is busy, as it often manages to be:

Know that one minute a day is sometimes all you need. 

Happy moving!