Today’s Quote:
“Don’t make excuses, MAKE IT HAPPEN!”—Unknown
I
don’t know who said it first, but I do know lots of people repeat it and it was
on the back of a sports camp t-shirt I had in High School.
Today’s Song: Shadow of Death by Emmanuel Jal
Dreams:
Today, in church, I daydreamed about opening a school
similar to the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York. It would be focused in Chekhov Technique, and would also
have branches of education for every job that one could have in Theatre or
film. Hmm….
What did I “DO” this week?
I did see a musical; Forum
for those who care. And I made
some new friends in the industry.
I got wacked over the head with some cool inspirational ideas on
Saturday at a corporate event (of all places).
First off:
About excuses…they suck. I
thought up of this little idea that I want to call a fact. It might lose me some friends or gain
me some friends…I’m not sure. I
think, “Any excuse, no matter how good of an excuse it is, is still just an
excuse at the end of the day.” An
excuse, takes away our sense of responsibility for what we did or did not
do. It’s different from a reason. Reasons rationalize our action or
inaction in a way that we can figure out how to do better next time. Reasons give us the ability to take
responsibility.
So, I feel like this post is going to mostly be more
quotes. As I said, I just went to
a corporate event for my mom’s business, and though I didn’t want to be a
‘corporate worker’ by the end, I did glean a lot of cool reminders for my
journey as a professional artist.
Something that stood out most to me was the concept that,
“Life gets really easy when you understand that what you really want in your
life will be really hard to get.”
This isn’t a (life sucks cuz it’s hard) concept. It just illuminates how resistance
works. This resistance gets a lot
of us by hitting us where it hurts, in a way that makes us go for the next best
thing. Who’s ever gone on a diet,
lost some weight, and given up when a few pounds come back? Resistance tricks us spiritual types by
making us thing, “If God wanted me to do so-n-so, then doing it would come
easily.” However, I don’t think
God would appreciate it if a world full of his ideas just gave up every time
they missed the mark…every time they failed.
That’s the other thing that I loved from what I was hearing
yesterday. “Failure is not an
Option” Is a big concept in our society.
So, imagine how easy it would be to feel crappy if you do fail. “Damn, I just chose the option that is
SO BAD it’s supposed to NOT be an option!” That sucks!
But, what if failing wasn’t all that bad. There’s a reason the Phoenix is one of the most beautiful
(albeit mythical) creatures ever.
“Failure is the foundation for a future success.” Go out there and go as hard as you
can. You’re going to get banged
up…a lot…and that’s half the fun, if you decide to look at it that way.
From the outside, it’s looked like I’ve been flying from
success to success. I have failed
a few times. I can’t say I’ve really been banged up,
but maybe it’s because I’ve started to decide to, “Eat Failure for breakfast”
if you will. I get up, chew on it,
and go about my day. Of course, I
do get hungry by about 11am…Side track.
I guess what I’m getting at is that doing what you love is the most
dangerous thing you could do. I
heard once that love is very similar to insanity in a lot of ways. Not everyone can stomach being
willfully insane! That is why
going after what you want and love most in life is so dangerous. You could get your heart broken. When the stakes are so high, who in
their right mind would go for it?
This also has the greatest rewards possible in life. I think insanity is worth the ability
to look back on life and know you did everything in your power to be the best
‘YOU’ you could be.
I’m going to be insane. I’m going to fail every once in a while and get my heart
broken. That’s scary as hell. I’m not going to make excuses. I’m going to make it happen, and eat up
my failures like little bites of WHEATIES until I attract success like a really
big magnet.
This is scary—I said that already—oh no, the insanity—it’s
already started!