From her television role as Assistant District Attorney Serena Southerlyn on Law & Order to acting with the likes of Christian Bale and Jennifer Lawrence. Elisabeth Röhm is not taking life for granted. When she’s not disappearing into the roles of other people, she’s writing about parenting for People.com and raising her daughter, Easton. On this episode of Long Story Short, we talk about the power of positivity in career and how to juggle a demanding job while being a present mother. Listen here.

On the hardest part of acting...

The hardest part is that you’ve never really fully arrived. That is also the blessing, I think. You are never lazy, you never feel entitled to anything. It can be frustrating at times because you feel like you’ve gone so far and you’re always back at the beginning, but there is something beautiful about that too. It’s the hustle. Unless you’re doing a series, you’re always looking for your next gig. You’re really a freelancer and that can be really tricky.

On transforming for roles...

TV is really based on your brand. Whatever role you originate in, the world kind of knows you like that. David O. Russell is so fearless in reconceiving a character. Look what he did with Christian Bale in American Hustle. I really learned from David, that I ultimately am a character actress .To be able to disappear, transform, not care about my body, to fearlessly crave transformation. I love actors like Christian Bale because that is their thing, that is what they do.

On being a working mother...

Doing movies, which is what I’ve mostly been doing for the last six years, is a really perfect lifestyle. There will be three months or five months where I’m not working and Easton has the perception that I’m a full-time mother, which is great. Doing a TV series is a grind, you’re at work at 4AM and done at 8 or 10PM. Law and Order was easy, because it was a really well-oiled machine. It was already really fine tuned. The movie life has made it really easy to balance motherhood and be present with her. And when I go away, I don’t feel guilty about it. I learned that from Kyra Sedgwick.

On aging in Hollywood...

Because I was able to do American Hustle when I was still relatively young, it was a really great blessing because it detached me from my looks. I wanted to be a movie star and eventually as you get older, you start to think that’s impossible because it’s a young girl’s game to be a movie star. But that’s not really true. To kind of break out in your 40s is really rare. Julianne Moore is a great example. You have to do the good work. The best is yet to come, I don’t think it’s a young girl’s game.

On the one thing you can do to change your life…

Change your thoughts, your thoughts become things. Be deliberate about your thoughts. Wake up and get in control of your thoughts. When you go to sleep, demand that your thoughts are your own. Stop reacting, start responding.