Tom Hanks' 3 Pieces of Advice

We’ve watched him run across America.

We’ve watched him deal with the AIDS epidemic.

We’ve watched him play with a volleyball alone on an island.

We’ve watched him play a lawyer, Mr. Rogers, a ship captain, a big kid in a toy store, an airplane pilot, a CIA agent and much more. 

Tom Hanks is a classic American actor. As a shy kid growing up in California, moving house to house, Hanks fell in love with acting and began studying in college.

He moved to New York, getting small parts in low-budget films and eventually becoming a two-time Oscar winner. 

He is renowned for his likability, his good-natured personality and his willingness to help young actors properly learn their craft. Hanks has simple advice for any actor:

1. Show up on time
2. Know your lines
3. Have an idea of what to do in the scene

Sounds simple enough, right? But many can’t grasp these principles.

Often, what hinders our progress is failure to understand the art of being simple. Hanks’ advice seems unreasonably obvious, but he reminds himself of it every time he takes the stage. 

“What I do is glamorous and has an awful lot of white-hot attention placed on it,” he said. “But the actual work requires the same discipline and passion as any job.”

We know that intensity will impress, while consistency transforms. 

Be consistent, being simple, doing the little things every single day whether you feel like it or not separates the good from the great. What sounds so simple is hard. If it wasn’t, everyone would do it. 

Doing the hard is what makes us great. 

Ask yourself one simple question: What do I want to become great at? 

Then, find two or three (no more) key qualities in that field that if done daily would slowly improve your performance. 

String together 30 days of doing the simple things and re-evaluate. Then, continue on and never stop. 

Hanks has won awards and has long been recognized as a great actor; yet, his code of conduct towards his profession hasn’t been altered. Yours can’t either. 

Three simple things — and do them over and over again. You will become unstoppable. 

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