Meet Jaime Andrews

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jaime Andrews a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Jaime, looking forward to learning from your journey. You’ve got an amazing story and before we dive into that, let’s start with an important building block. Where do you get your work ethic from?
I think my work ethnic is innate. Even at 13, I was delivering papers, babysitting, and doing children’s theater. I’ve always wanted to be independent, and being busy can occupy a restless mind. There were certainly times when my mind overpowered me, and left me unable to accomplish much, but I’m finally at the point in my life when I realize there is no time to waste. So now, perhaps, my work ethic comes from my awareness of mortality.

I first got a sense of that when I was 24 and my sister Jennifer passed away from leukemia. Following that, I really threw myself into my acting career, because I felt like I had to accomplish my goals on her behalf. Then, when I did succeed in that field, I found myself dealing with imposter syndrome and several other issues. At that time, I was merely in survival mode, and barely doing a good job of that. It took me a long time to recover, but I only did so because I rediscovered my creativity and ambitions.

Now I’m at a point where I feel icky if I have a day in which I don’t accomplish something. I try not to put anything off. I no longer believe in “I’ll do it later.” Doing that either leaves you with an overwhelming “to do” list, or leads to things being forgotten. I’ll even get anxious if I have an unanswered message or unpaid bill. The feeling you get from simply handling your business is a great start. It can give you the momentum to push yourself toward more daring pursuits. It can also give you confidence, which is key. Trying to accomplish anything in this world demands that you silence the insecure voices in your head, and the doubts of others. And it’s symbiotic. The more you accomplish, the more confident you will be, and the more you will achieve.

You have to actually do the things that you imagine yourself doing. Personally, I’ve been more productive in the last three years than probably the whole of my life, and it’s so much more satisfying than sitting around waiting for things to happen. I’m not saying you can’t rest. On the contrary, I think self-care is as important as hard work. It’s about finding a balance.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I’ve had this crazy life and career. I’ve been a comedic commentator (TruTV’s World’s Dumbest), an album cover-girl (My Chemical Romance), a columnist (Backstage, New Thinking), an “A-List” commercial actor (that’s a thing!), a theater manager (Sacred Fools) and, most recently, an award-winning filmmaker. I’ve also performed everywhere from dingy attic theaters to the Edinburgh Festival.

I’m most proud of my film, Division, which came out earlier this year and is available on Amazon, iTunes and other platforms. I wrote, produced and star in it. Film Threat called it a “masterpiece,” which blew my mind, and we won a bunch of festival awards. I just finished my latest screenplay and I’m really excited about it, it’s a true crime story called “Hardcore” about a kid I went to high school with.

November 1, (11.1.23 – I like fun numbers), I am also putting out my memoir, “The Brink,” which is about my life, but only up until I went to college. That’ll be on Amazon, Kindle and Audible, amongst others. I wrote it almost 20 years ago but was afraid to put it out, because it’s scandalous! I was a really bad kid. I’ve started work on the follow-up, too. I’ve got tons of ideas and it feels great to finally be making them a reality.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
For people starting their own Bold Journey, I would say the most important things you can do are LEARNING all you can about the field you’re pursuing, LISTENING to others who may know better than you, and having HUMILITY. Jerks used to power their way to the top, but nobody wants to work with people like that anymore. Be kind, be interested in others, don’t complain. A positive mindset is key. I truly believe that negative attitudes just attract more negativity.

What has been your biggest area of growth or improvement in the past 12 months?
Definitely the positive attitude thing. I had a victim mentality, and the only person you can really be a victim to is yourself. Negative thought patterns are so poisonous, and my mind would cycle with worry and self-doubt. I kind of cheated, I did hypnotherapy to rid myself of it, and it’s truly been a miracle. I’m just happy to report that there is hope for people who have similar issues.

Contact Info:

Image Credits
headshots: Stacey Bode Division still: Erik Scherb Division and The Brink art: Curt Bonnem

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