Playing the leading role in a major Hollywood blockbuster that earned a billion dollars is the dream of many in the entertainment world. To do so alongside one of the biggest movie stars of all time, Will Smith, was certainly a dream come true for Mena Massoud. I sat down with him to unpack a hidden secret to career success that is not often discussed: the art of defiant surrender.
For many who lead companies or compete at a high level, it can feel like every moment must be maximized and every outcome manipulated. The performance literature points us somewhere else, to a flow state in which the brain is not preoccupied with holding tightly to every future outcome.
It may seem counterintuitive, but this liberates the brain to be in a place to actually access its best abilities.
Defiance First: The Climb Requires Unwavering Belief
Massoud learned the lesson slowly. Like many who grow up with narrow family expectations, he wasn’t encouraged to pursue the arts. His parents pushed him toward academics, and both of his sisters became pharmacists. “They wanted me to be a doctor,” he told me. I can certainly relate to that one.
He enrolled in a pre-med neuroscience program at the University of Toronto, then left to apply to a theater school that took only 30 students.
In his first days of theater school, a teacher sat the class down and told them, “Only one or two of you will make it in this industry.” Some students heard a warning. “I know for a fact that a few of us had that mentality of, well, that’s going to be me,” Massoud said.
“I think that it took so much defiance and so much willpower- being ten toes down in my decision. That, in a way, I knew, hey, if I’m making this decision now, there’s no looking back.” Mena Massoud
The entrepreneur starting an ambitious company or the visionary trying to disrupt an industry needs this level of defiant surrender. This fixed belief that they will make it is what propels them forward into the process without an attachment to every step leading clearly to the end goal.
Defiance, Grit, And The Relentless Focus A Career Takes
How do you navigate the naysayers around you who attempt to stifle an idea before it ever comes to fruition in your life? Apple’s 1997 “Think Different” campaign put it this way: “The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.“
In any hypercompetitive industry, such as entertainment or the business world, there must be a personal conviction first that this is the direction I am going in. Room for feedback and recalibration is helpful, but it cannot be something that wears away at the core resolve. The mental energy spent second-guessing your direction is diverted from accomplishing the actual goal at hand.
I heard the same kind of warning that Massoud received in theater school at my medical school orientation. I have had patients receive that warning on the first day at a new firm or hedge fund. This is no cakewalk, and it requires resolve.
This perspective primes the brain to accept a reality that this will be difficult, and I will push through. The expectation is then set. Kobe Bryant described this mindset in a 2019 conversation. Asked how he kept up with his grueling training regimen, he said,
“I’m not negotiating with myself… I signed that contract with myself, I’m doing it.” Kobe Bryant
The resolve Massoud demonstrated is not an affirmation said in a mirror, but rather something he displayed day in and day out with the effort he put into the craft. He waited tables in Toronto for three or four years, saved money, and secured the O-1 visa he needed to work in the U.S. as an artist. “I thrive when I am organized, and I plan things, and I look at the numbers,” he said. “That’s just how I personally thrive.”
Career takeaway: Once you have resolved which career you will pursue, give full effort to that trajectory. Get feedback and evaluate, but do not second-guess your every move.
Surrender: The Art Of Detachment
The art that high performers miss is the interplay between defiance, grit, willpower, or hard work and surrender. If hard work were all every industry required, we would all just white-knuckle our way to the top. But the lesson Massoud unlocked is the one found in the life of Daniel, whom he plays in his latest film, Danieland the Fiery Furnace, which is in theaters now. It is the surrender to the journey, not holding on too tightly to the outcome as though we have the power to control it.
An element of this comes from the faith tradition Daniel represents.
“I think you kind of have to also learn the power of surrendering. You have to do the work, you have to constantly be seeing how to improve yourself, but also you kind of just have to surrender to the beast, which is the industry and the universe and everything kind of falling into place for you.” Mena Massoud
Massoud was able to realize that his post-Aladdin focus led him to expect too much from the success itself. He compared it to the comedown Olympic athletes describe after the Games. “What is higher in my industry, in my trajectory, than like doing a blockbuster with Will Smith… You can’t really compare anything to that. And so you’re trying to like claw your way back to that pinnacle of the mountain, but you can’t because that’s a very rare kind of situation and rare accomplishment,” he said.
What brought him back was the reason he started. “I worked on a film calledWish You Were Herea couple of years ago, and I think that was more artistically fulfilling for me than anything I had ever done at that point,” he said. His confidence and his faith returned, he told me, “when I went back to the core of why it was I got into the industry, which very simply was my love of my art form.“
He is also clear that this takes support, and I couldn’t agree more as a psychiatrist. “Whether it’s seeing a therapist or mentally reflecting on this stuff, journaling, whatever it is you need to do, but you need something to kind of help you mentally on this journey because it is a difficult industry,” he said.
Career lesson: Let work ethic and defiance begin the journey, while allowing a kind of flexible surrender to the outcome.
“I always look to people like Pedro Pascal, Christoph Waltz, Bryan Cranston,” Mena reflected. “These are all actors for whom things didn’t kind of perfectly align for them until much later in their careers. You just have to have faith that it’s all going to work out.” Mena Massoud
Bottom Line
Defiant surrender is a hidden career skill that few fully master. Oftentimes, half of the equation drives us forward while we miss the critical second half. Mena Massoud’s professional journey from Aladdin to Daniel is an illustration of both principles coming to life in entertainment and in high-performing careers.
This article was originally published onForbes.com
