Sarah Jessica Parker Shares the Key to Achieving Your Dreams: “Stake a Claim and Don’t Give Up”

There’s something about Sarah Jessica Parker’s energy that, no matter what, has the ability to soothe. Perhaps it’s because we think she’d be the perfect confidant, or perhaps it’s because we know she’d tell us how to tweak and adjust our outfits for the better. Whatever the case, SJP always seems to do no wrong. So why not turn to the beloved actress for advice?

That’s precisely what we did, and, as we learned, Parker has no problem dishing out some profound words of encouragement. In fact, the 50-year-old talent has a message for young girls everywhere: “Be curious. Don’t trouble yourself trying to be like everybody else because you’ll find that for the rest of your life you’re trying to be yourself,” she says.

And if there’s a laundry list of goals you’re pining to accomplish, we suggest you grab a pen and piece of paper. For those looking to reach for the stars, Parker knows exactly what to do: “As lame as it sounds, be informed. Be prepared to make your argument. Stake a claim and don’t give up. And I really mean that,” she adds. “It sounds sort of Pollyanna, but when I say don’t give up, it’s not that you can chance the outcome or control of people’s decision making, but if you’re wanting very much to be an architect or an artist or a physician or a teacher and that first opportunity is not yours, that doesn’t mean that you won’t have another one.”

The beauty’s go-hard-or-go-home attitude is admirable. “The great challenge is to stay focused and to find a way to practice and to work on your discipline,” she says. However, financial success is, in her mind, not the best way to measure how far you’ve come. “There are lots and lots of people that I know that have very little money who are deeply devoted to the work that they love. Among their peers they are held in the highest regard, but we don’t think of them as rich and powerful and we don’t think of them as celebrities, but they are often the ones we turn to as the standard bearer.”