Do you have a team? Do you let them do their job?
I didn’t for a long time. I had a team; I just wouldn’t let anyone do their job. I had to have my hands in every aspect of a project – I have since learned.
Some days it is very clear the direction we are heading in our entertainment careers. We know the steps to take, the people to call and everything falls into place. Other days it is hard to tell which way is up – everything can feel like it is falling apart.
I am learning that this is mostly because that’s life – it is not just the entertainment industry.
Life isn’t a graph that moves up and over one perfect quadrant with each and every move we make. It is a crazy squiggly line that loops back on itself and then shoots straight up, then as fast as it did that it shoots straight down.
As John Denver said “some days are diamonds and some days are stones.”
The challenge in these times of straight down and stones is to keep your head up and your eyes forward. The only way I have learned to do that is to rely on your team.
You may be thinking “but I don’t have a team.” You are wrong – everyone has a team. Remember no great accomplishment has ever happened without one.
Never a gold medal, Stanley Cup or World series. There has never been a Prime Minister or President elected and no one has won an Oscar, Emmy or otherwise without a team.
The challenge is realizing who is on your team and in a period of downward spiral to look to them and allow them to do their jobs.
In the past I have been known to take it all on myself and when things aren’t going well that is when I grab on even tighter. Those were the times I was determined to make it all on my own, to produce the show single handedly or solve a personal problem all alone – a real I don’t need anybody attitude. I have finally after many, many moons realized I can not do it alone. When I try to go it alone or control every aspect of a project, I don’t allow the team around me to do their jobs and things only get worse.
A team is made up of many things. Not just the business side full of agents, managers, writing partners, producing partners etc. A team is also the friend you vent to, your parents’ words of wisdom and support, brother’s inspiration, boyfriend’s unfettering belief, an uncle’s sarcastic jokes which make you realize your entertainment career is not a matter of life and death.
I believe there are two reasons we hang on to the belief of going it ‘alone’.
One – we all secretly want to overcome everything alone because then – and only then – will we truly be a success story.
Two – the age of the Internet and social media are overflowing with articles/ideas that YOU can do it all by yourself. Make yourself a success by writing, directing, acting, producing and marketing your own project.
It is wonderful in theory but in my experience it is not realistic.
The very structure of a great film, TV project or well-lived life is the result of a collective team. Anyone who ever wins an award is quick to say that it was their team who is responsible for the accomplishment.
Allow yourself to have a team.
Listen to those around you – they are saying good things. They are also offering to help, all the time – let them. Let your cousin take on your film for her marketing term project – do not worry. It will be great.
When there is a job to be filled there is always someone looking for that exact opportunity – it is the way of the universe. Open up your ears and listen. You will discover the people you are looking for.
Take the next month to really listen to the people around you and truly rely on their skills and expertise. Be aware of who is on your team and what they are saying.
Warning ** only do this if you want less stress and more success. If not then keep going it alone.