My past few articles have been getting you ready to dive into your project and really get it going. I honestly feel like if you don’t know who you are, what you truly want and why you want it, you’re going to spend more time floundering around than you are accomplishing your goals. Harsh, but from my experience, true.
As most of you know, in 2018 I went on a yearlong cross-country road trip. It was life changing for so many reasons but the biggest reason it was life changing to my career was because it got me back in touch with my true dream. My dream has always been to play at a big level, with the studios. I love the business side of this crazy industry we’re in just as much, if not more, than the artistic side. I was ashamed of that fact for a long time because I was playing in a part of our world where people scoff at the business people. I took in those off the cuff insults and slowly started to make myself small. Listen, we don’t have time to get into the nitty-gritty of my psychosis. So, I’ll just say my focus is back. I remember what I came out to LA to do and that’s what I’m going to do.
So, I had to sit with myself and figure out HOW. That’s what this article is about. HOW do we make our dreams happen?
I’ve come to realize that we make our big dreams happen one project at a time. The key is to make sure you’re doing projects that will truly lead you to your ultimate dream and to continuously check in with yourself to make sure your soul is being fed and you’re still on the right path for you.
With that knowledge in tow, here are some practical ways to think about HOW you can make your project happen.
Ask yourself:
- What’s your BIG dream?
- What’s a project that I currently have that can lead me there (i.e., if you want to do network sitcom, making a horror film is not on the right path but, doing a comedic web series might be)
- What type of resources do you need to make it happen?
- Do you have those resources already? If not, how can you get them?
- Who are you going to need to work with to accomplish this?
- How does this project lead you to your ultimate dream?
Here’s an example of what these questions look like in action:
I want a talk show at Warner Brothers. In order to make that happen, obviously there are things that are out of my control the key is to not let that stop you from walking the path toward the goal. Focus on what you can control like:
- I need a much better social media following order to show I bring in eyeballs to the network. So, I can take a class and really focus in on getting 100,000 followers on my Jenna Edwards Life Instagram page (hint. hint)
- I will need an agent who has successful pitched shows to Warner Brothers. So, I can research show runners in my genre and see who their agents are on IMDbpro.
- I’ll need to show them that I can host a show. Now, I could let the fact that I have no money and no resources to do a TV show stop me here, but instead I’ve decided to do a podcast. It’s easier for me to do myself, costs a lot less money and I’m going to do the podcast in the same format I would do the talk show (i.e., have commercials so I can show them I can throw to and come back from commercials)
I could go on, but I think you get the idea. The key is to be thinking about what you need to accomplish your dream and when a roadblock pops up, figure out a logical and strategic way to get around it, ensuring that you are staying on your path. This step is so important and often skipped over. Also, it takes time so be patient with yourself. It’s like writing a script and you’re the lead character. What’s your goal/motivation? If you know that and you’re focused on that, no matter what happens within the story, you’ll get there in the end.
Your HOW is so strongly attached to your WHAT so make sure you’re really clear on what you want and then be really flexible with your how until you’ve created a plan/script/roadmap of how you’ll get there. A plan that makes your heart sing. And, every day check in with yourself and write down the long-term goal you’re focusing on (i.e., 100,000 Instagram followers) and then write down 3 things you can do that day to help get you there.
Daily action is the key. Let’s get to work!