No more goals.
What?! How can I say that?! Do I mean to not set goals? Do I
mean to stop trying to achieve? Do I mean to give up hope for all my dreams?
No. That’s not what I mean at all.
Here’s what I suppose. I suppose that people make, “Goals”
and what they’re really doing is making hopes, wishes, dreams and not actually
setting attainable steps. You have to break each goal down into small subcategories
and chores in order to get things done. I don’t have to elaborate, others can
tell you how to do that better than I can. It’s pretty basic. If your goal is
to, say…open a restaurant, you probably won’t get any closer until you make a
few other basic things happen (cooking school, investors, locations, menu,
hiring staff, etc).
But here’s what I see. I see people “setting goals” and not ones
that they KNOW are attainable. They’re just what they want or hope will happen.
You know who you are. You’re doing everything you think you’re supposed to be
doing in order for miracles to happen. So you wait…and wait…for your miracle to
happen, while doing things YOU DON’T LIKE because you think it’s connected.
Horse pucky. Yah, I said it.
I don’t do things I don’t want to do. And I don’t make
goals. I make TO DO lists. Could step 1 on my list eventually lead to a wonderful
miracle? Sure. But am I going to keep getting depressed every year when my, “goal”
(aka a miracle) doesn’t happen? Well…that’s been the past reaction. But I think
it’s a waste of my time.
Here’s my life:
Age 20, my “big goal” is to move to LA. My little goals to
GET to LA were to:
1) get
a bi-coastal agent
2) join
SAG
3) have
$5000 in my bank account to help with the move
4) have
New York TV/Film credits, on tape
5) hopefully
have a job to move to LA for.
I figured it would take 5 years. It didn’t.
Cut to many, many years later. I had most of it, except the
agent and the job. But I went anyway. And I’m SO glad I did. I finally realized
that moving to LA was not a goal. It was a CHOICE.
What’s that quote? Life is what happens while you’re making
plans. Or, Life is a journey, not a destination. Or, Life…get in the game. How
about just, Life. Live it.
I want to act in film. Well, I make more films in a year
than almost anyone I know. Why? I don’t have an agent. I don’t have a famous
parent. I don’t go to Hollywood parties. I only
audition for films I WANT to do. I make movies because I CHOOSE to. I write
them. I produce them. I made some amazing friends who also CHOOSE to make
movies. Did it help my future desires? Yes. Did it add to my IMDB credits? Yes.
And will it someday lead to a miracle? Sure. But in the meantime…I’m acting. I’m
writing. I’m making films. I’m LIVING. I’m not hoping, wishing, dreaming about
things that may or may not happen. I can NOT pin my happiness on that on a day
to day basis. I have to enjoy the time I have on Earth if I can. And I can not
look back on my life someday and think it was a waste of time if that “goal”
didn’t happen.
Some other little secrets: You don’t have to be in Hollywood or New
York to make movies. You don’t have to wait for
someone else to propose to you or ask you out. You don’t need a significant
other or a full time job to have security in your life. You can do it yourself.
And you should.
So, I’m not setting goals anymore or waiting around for
miracles. I’m…making TO DO lists.
Get it?
