What would happen if you were inspired to be your best self every day?

On his first day playing the character of Stephano, in The Tempest, Bill leap from a basket to utter his first line, but was stopped by the director. “Why is Stephano coming out of the basket at that moment?” the director asked. “Because it says in the stage directions”, was Bill’s response. “Not good enough.” Said the director, “Go back in the basket until you know Stephano’s why!” Bill went back in the basket and then after a bit of consideration emerged, “He has something important to say to Prospero.” said Bill proudly. “Good,” said the director, then added, “Motivation is everything. Every entrance. Every exit. Every word. You need to know why?”

Bill realized that if we could do that as an actor in a play, shouldn’t we also do that for the character we play in life?

That’s why Bill wrote his book “Acting Up: lessons from the theatre of life”. He did so at a time when his life was going through vast, deep and intimate changes. Of this endeavour Bill says, “I needed to figure out who this Bill Carr character that I had been playing all my life really was. So I sat down and started to explore what this Bill Carr had learned and what he had avoided learning. Who did I want Bill Carr to be going forward?  What changes needed to be made? In the process, I developed a whole theory of how to stay inspired to try and Act Up! every day. How could I do better and be better living a truly authentic life? Acting Up was born of that exercise and it’s still going on.”

Acting Up! to our greatest authentic potential, in this ever changing, always challenging world, isn’t easy. Many people wait for inspiration but there are ways to find inspiration and to stay actively and consistently inspired. Acting Up: Lessons from the theatre of life shows how to do just that.

In this keynote, Bill shares research into how the brain works to create our experience of the world around and inside us. He shows ways we can use this knowledge to create an environment filled with creativity, enthusiasm, and inspiration.  Bill focuses on empathy and what he calls “contagious inspiration” and discusses how nurturing our relationship with our better selves, and with others we admire and wish to emulate, can re-wire our neural pathways. Living authentically changes surviving into thriving, and tragedy into strategy.

As Bill explores the various mental and emotional mechanisms at play in the acting out of our lives. He helps people see that important moment between action and reaction where character and authenticity become a choice to be inserted and asserted. He also shows how resilience in times of change is both innate and learned, and a vital aspect of our true character.

The actor’s truth lies in the knowledge that they are performing a role and attempting to portray the deep honest reality of the character. We should be striving to do no less with our own character we are living, in our own story on our own stage. This is about living our authentic character, as it demands expression in every role we play. 

Bill’s Acting Up: Lessons from the theatre of life keynote will reignite a passion and desire to find and develop inspiration and authenticity in your own life, and in the lives of those you work with and for. Bill believes that how we see the world, determines our thoughts and motivations for action, and ultimately our destiny. To see the world with an inspired mindset, determined to find and nurture joy and creativity, transforms the mundane into the amazing. Acting Up: lessons from the theatre of life leads to a richer more deeply satisfying life for you and everyone you come in contact with.

Why settle for less?

Bill’s book Acting Up: lessons from the theatre of life is available on Amazon in paperback and as an audio book read by the author.