What Total Recall's Bryan Cranston Can Teach About Careers

Recently, Bryan Cranston gave an interview on Total Recall and he skyrocketed to fame through his role on Breaking Bad. As I read what Cranston had to say, I couldn't help but think how applicable his words are to those on the hunt for a new or better job. Even if you're currently in the market for a new job, there are a few pieces of advice to take away.

I have ridden the hard work and sweat of Vince Gilligan all the way to another level. The best thing a director can do is to identify good actors and fit them in the right parts, and if you can do that in your pre-production, once you get to production you can let them fly, and let them feel safe to be able to experiment and try things. You’ll find happy accidents.

Woodrow Wilson once said "I not only use all of the brains I have, but all I can borrow." An unsung trait of great leaders is to surround oneself with great talent. But it is not just the leader that benefits from a network of great minds. At first glance it may seem that Cranston is admitting to riding Gilligan's coat-tails, but it is being part of the Breaking Bad production that Cranston was able to assert himself as a great actor.

Find someone who is already established and can teach you a thing or two. But it's not about just being in a situation where you can glean from a mentor. Bryan Cranston is an incredibly talented actor, but it's because of Breaking Bad's creator that the actor had the freedom to tap into his full potential. If there wasn't a foundation already laid before Cranston, we may have not seen one of the best performances on TV.

For an actor what I try to teach young actors – the best thing they can learn is to identify well-written material. The writing in our industry, in a story, is the most important element, bar none. It is always about the writing first.

So what I’ve been able to do – the thing I’m good at, really, is to identify well written material. Now that doesn’t mean the product is going to end up that way. It’s a recipe – and sometimes it doesn’t work – and you’re thinking, ‘oh well, wait a minute, I had all the ingredients, how did this happen?’ That’s going to happen.

But if you start with something that has good writing, you at least have a shot. If you start with something that is not well written, you have no shot of making something good. The best actor in the world can make “C” level material “C+” level material. Maybe “B-”, that’s it.

This is a little more abstract but bear with me. If you're hoping to someday find a good job then you must learn to identify good jobs. I love that he points out that finding well-written work, in our case a good job, is not a guarantee for success. I believe that most of us can improve our performance at work but I also don't believe that you can turn any situation around with a "can-do" attitude. Sometimes we get tied to failures, it happens. But when you're able to discern the good opportunities from the bad, you'll end up with a winner more often than not.

Well, the only thing that an actor really yearns for in a career is opportunity. We don’t ask to be given roles – [if you don't] just give me a chance to get in the room, we have no shot. How I got Malcolm in the Middle – everything – what I try to teach young actors is that, ‘please know, that without a healthy dose of luck, you will not have a career.’ How do you do that? I don’t know. Just keep working, keep working hard, have faith, and this is your life!

"Without a healthy dose of luck, you will not have a career."

Don’t give yourself some arbitrary number – ‘I’m going to give it a year – I’ll give it a good year’ – it’s like ‘stop now, go back to Idaho.’ You know? ‘Make some really nice potatoes. People will appreciate that.’ But it’s a joke – people, you’re either in this or you’re not in this. So that’s the first thing I say. But I was lucky to get Malcolm in the Middle. I was lucky to get Breaking Bad. And I have stories for those – but I don’t want to go in and monopolize that. But I know – the stars were aligning.

Sometimes you just need luck. Believe it or not, there are things that we can do to improve our luck. Click here to view Richard Wiseman's Luck Factor, a ten year study on the nature of luck. We're going to face rejection and seasons of doubt. But if you "keep on keepin on," you will eventually get that chance encounter or that once in a lifetime opportunity.

After you are able to get some level of success, like Malcolm in the Middle – seven years of doing a comedy – I got offers to do a goofy, silly, fun-loving dad. And had I taken those, I would have helped pigeon-hole myself as that guy.

You better – you better – if you’re on a hit show? You better save your money. You better, because you need to say no to those tempting offers of dollar bills to do the same thing you just did. To me it was no temptation. I just said no, I just did that. But you don’t know what’s going to happen next. I was very fortunate.

There's power in the word, no. It goes back to being able to select good opportunities over the bad ones. If you're in a situation where you feel the need to say yes to the first thing that comes along, then you may miss the opportunity to say yes to that great opportunity. If you're in a good place, you should still be looking for great opportunities. If you're in a dreadful situation then figure out how to at least make it temporarily bearable so that you can turn down the bad offers. Jim Collins, author of "From Good to Great," says that good is the death of great.

Have you ever had a good opportunity prevent you from accepting a great opportunity? Tell us in the comments below. And if you haven't seen Breaking Bad on AMC, then start up Netflix and catch the first four seasons!