It Has to Be for YOU

As a creator, you're going to come up against a lot of resistance. People won't understand or appreciate what you're trying to say. You'll wrestle with your own doubts of whether or not a pursuit devoted to telling stories and creating are is worth it. You may even start to compare yourself with the careers and work of others, which never leads to anything good.

What makes be an actor or artist so difficult is how mentally tough you need to be. Because a life devoted to telling stories and creating are is such a solo endeavor you spend a great deal of time battling the voices in your own head that tell you what you do isn't impactful.

What will sustain you through those challenging times is the fact you are ultimately creating art for YOU. If it's for someone else's approval you'll never be happy. 

If on the other hand, someone finds joy in work you ALSO find meaningful, well, it doesn't get much better than that. To share your voice with the world and have it resonate with a community of like-mined people is why we do what we do.

Be a Fan of Your Own Life

US Weekly, Fantasy Football, and the tabloids. It seems there are countless resources for us to closely, if not obsessively follow the lives of other people. Spend a few minutes listening to sports talk radio and it's astonishing how much people know about a player's stats, skills, even his or her off the field troubles.

There's nothing wrong with having hobbies and it's great to join clubs that give you a sense of community with other people who have like-minded interests. But be careful that you're not investing more time and energy into being more of a fan of other people's lives than your own.

Invest in yourself. Build something that you can be proud of and find a way to get your unique voice out into the world. Become an enormous fan of yourself and start creating value. 

It's your time.

Not About Likes

We all want to be liked, followed, or accepted. It's part of the wiring for our survival. But when it comes to creating meaningful work on a canvas, stage, or in front of a camera the truth is we have little to no control over how it will be accepted by others.

The key is to do the work for YOU. If the work isn't personally worthwhile you'll have a tough time weathering the dislikes, or when people pay no mind at all.

Instead of tallying up the number of followers you get, or the counting the number of views, or likes, take pride in starting and finishing something that was important to you.

Originality is Not What it Seems

I'm in the middle of reading a terrific book called, Originals by Adam Grant. The book is not only full of interesting anecdotes, studies, and inspirational figures but also does a great job of demystifying many of the socially accepted truths.

One in particular made a real impact on me. Grant offers insight into the minds of so-called geniuses and originals. His main point is that the greatest obstacle to being original is not generating ideas but selecting the right ones. And when you create more work you simply have more options. Here are a just a few examples:

-- Mozart composed more than 600 pieces before his death at 35
-- Beethoven produced more than 650
-- Bach wrote over 1,000
-- Picasso's body of work is comprised of over 12,000 drawings and that's not even counting his paintings, ceramics, or sculptures.

Part of being original involves diving in and creating work - LOTS of it. 

Get to it.

You Can't Force People to Care

Yesterday afternoon, I had the chance to work with some very talented actors currently performing in, The Last Tiger in Haiti, a production nearing its run at Berkeley Rep.

The actors had all agreed to participate in a reading of my screenplay. I was less concerned about casting the right people for the roles than I was just having terrific actors play with the words I'd spend the past several months putting together.

After the reading, the six of us engaged in a spirited dialogue about what it means to be an actor. We talked about the lifestyle, the struggle, and the rewards. Each of us agreed the story I was trying to bring to life was important, relevant, and needed to told. But they also voiced their frustrations with getting people to care about storytelling in general - to get people to appreciate how stories shape our culture and identity.

What I learned during our conversation was nobody can force you to care about anything. Whether it's a compelling film or animal rights, each of is wired in different ways. As a result, we all have unique desires, hopes, questions, concerns, and passions. 

What you can do is present YOUR interpretation of the world through anecdotes, stories, or facts and then allow people to make up their own minds on how they feel about it. 

I suppose what people ultimately think is less important than making the effort to create something in the first place.

The Different Meanings of Creative Work

Yesterday, I saw the film Jack Reacher 2. Yeah, I said it. It was the second time I’d spent $11.50 to see a protagonist beat-up villains and win the day in somewhat predictable fashion. And I loved every second of it.

Not all entertainment has to be rarefied in taste. In fact, it probably shouldn’t be. For years, I wrestled with the purpose of my own work. Who’s life was I improving by being an actor? I started to wonder. 

But sitting in a newly renovated movie house that'd stood in the center of town for nearly 90 years with three of my closest friends, I realized what we do matters…a lot. 

Writing, filming, staging, painting, drawing, dancing - CREATING. It serves a purpose. Whether a movie places a role in shifting your beliefs on a contentious issue, or provides an escape, or an excuse to spend time with close friends, there is meaning to the work. 

So don’t stop.