Prepared for Success

We talk a lot about the tools that you need to become the successful writer/screenwriter/filmmaker that you want to be. We help with branding, online presence & platforming, social media expansion. We create amazing visuals like cover art, poster art, press kits and trailers to help your project succeed.

All of that is great, but it doesn't address one of the biggest problems we all face.

We are frightened of success.

You may not immediately agree with me. You may say to yourself, "But I desperately want success! I'm working myself half to death trying to be successful."

Just take a look at that last statement. Do you feel how much conflict is in it? We're fighting for success, but who is it that we're really fighting? The universe? I'm pretty sure the universe has enough success and to spare. It's not the one holding us back.

We are.

We're busy fighting off all of the stuff inside us that really believes that we don't deserve to be successful. We're putting self-imposed limits on what we can accomplish and how high we can go.

So, rather than talk about amazing tools to help, I thought that maybe we'd talk about preparing ourselves emotionally to become the artists we want to be.

I'm not even going to talk about how "good" or "bad" our art is, because firstly, that's pretty subjective, and secondly, we can always improve (that's the topic for another blog...always being a student!). It's not our job to determine whether or not what we offer is amazing. There are enough "bad" books and films out there that we all know that isn't really the determining factor.

What seems to be the real point is whether or not we're willing to embrace the idea of sharing our projects with the world. Because that is kind of what success looks like, right?

Any time we start to doubt ourselves or question our worth or want to just give it all up, let's take a second and realize that those words are not our own. Those are old tapes running in our heads that we picked up from someone else at some point. Usually our parents, but I'm not your therapist, so don't take my word for it. :)

Those tapes point in the exact opposite direction of where we want to be going, so when they show up, it's a pretty good indicator that we're on the right path. We don't need to bully our way through the negative tapes, we just need to take a moment and reconnect with our joy.

We know what it feels like when we are connected and creating. That's real. The dark, ugly tapes are not. At some other point, we can talk about the parts of us that are playing those tapes, but for now, just know that they're really telling us to keep going. We're on the right path. If we weren't, there would be no reason for those fears to come up.

Breathe through it, reconnect to your love of your art and continue to create. Keep showing up. Find others to help support you when the tapes get too loud. Talk it out with them. Lift one another up.

Eventually, success is not longer a battle. It becomes an inevitability.