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Jay Shetty PodcastWicked's Cynthia Erivo REVEALS How To Find Your Passion & Get 1% BETTER Everyday
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WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT
Cynthia Erivo on Starting Small, Trusting Instinct, and Speaking From Love
- Erivo explains that her running, her closet-organizing and her hill-climbing all follow one idea: take the next small step, look only at what's in front of you, and just start.
- She describes building roles by studying rhythm, walk, voice, scent and clothing, treating characters as whole people, and needing months to let them go, with therapy and talking helping her separate from them.
- She says she handles self-doubt by believing that what is meant for her will come, that every no makes room for a yes, and that her experiences are worth having and sharing.
- She traces her career to an accumulation of following her gut, from leaving university to drama school, Wicked's score, and The Color Purple, and not fearing a wrong decision.
- She and Jay Shetty close on communicating from love rather than fear, seeking everyday joy, and creating safe, no-bad-ideas spaces for collaboration.
IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING
5 ideasStarting matters more than the size of the goal
Erivo says the way to tackle a mammoth task, a hill, a song or a run is to begin and focus on the step in front of you; even two minutes of running counts as a run.
Distance running is more mental than physical
She says that past the half-marathon point it becomes a question of how the mind gets through the rest, and that her best runs often come on days she didn't want to go.
Great characters are built from physical and sensory detail
She looks for a person's internal heartbeat through speech rhythm, then considers how they move, how they sound, what scent they wear and what clothes they choose, citing Holly's button-ups and Celie's changing shoes.
Playing a role deeply means it takes time to leave it
Erivo says the body doesn't know the character isn't real, so shedding one can take months, and talking it through with a therapist helps her find separation.
Reframe self-doubt as a role in a larger plan
She says that what is meant for you will come, that every no makes room for a yes, and that you are there to experience something and perhaps change someone else's mind about it.
WORDS WORTH SAVING
5 quotesEvery no is just room for a yes.
— Cynthia Erivo
You can't really process something if you're just talking to yourself. You need ears that can say, "Well, I know that you're feeling that, but here's what I'm hearing as you say this to me."
— Cynthia Erivo
If you just start, something will get done. Even if it's like one small section, you will have started.
— Cynthia Erivo
Finding pieces of joy in the little moments so that we aren't just waiting for big, massive things to happen. That it actually is an everyday buildup of goodness.
— Cynthia Erivo
When we speak from a place of love, what we're actually doing is giving the other person an opportunity to be understood, and therefore you get the chance to be understood as well.
— Cynthia Erivo
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SPEAKERS
Cynthia Erivo
guestActor and singer known for roles including The Color Purple and Wicked.
Jay Shetty
hostHost of the On Purpose podcast and author in the wellness/personal-growth space.
High quality AI-generated summary created from speaker-labeled transcript.
