What do you want to do? Where do you see yourself in five years? What are you?
My life is a confusing one and I don't follow just one route. But no one seems to be curious about my day job, they only want to know what I am doing in my creative life. Why? Because the creative life is a scary and particularly enigmatic one to most people. The perception is that to succeed in any form of art is to be very lucky and nothing else. As though success fell on you and it had nothing to do with who or what you are.
The vast majority of creative people that normal people deal with are dreamers. People who sit back and say "Oh I wish I were" or "Wouldn't it be great if I could..." And dreaming is a core to creativity. To be able to see something that is not there and to understand it in every detail and feeling. But so many dreamers end up as baristas, or data processors, or the store manager of the local hardware store. Not that there is anything wrong with those jobs, there isn't. But they are not the dreams those people had. We all know these stories of people who were wonderful actors in high school and college and everyone thought they were destined for greatness and to be famous, but when we find them again they are mundane. It is saddening to see anyone give up on their dreams, or worse, forget them. So when your friends and family find out that your dreams are to be a writer/film maker immediately they feel fear. Most likely you are going to be a fallen dreamer. So the questions begin.
For the longest time I have simply pushed away these questions with either silly and overblown answers or just smiling confidently and saying "I don't have the faintest idea". Now, at the cusp of turning 28 I think I might be ready to actually start giving them answers. I have been a dreamer for a long time, floating around and doing what felt good and enjoying it. Dreamers fall. I don't need dreams anymore. I need goals. And so do you.
I have been acting for over a decade, writing since I was a little kid, and making films for five years. I have some to show for it but not much. Not until I stood up and set a goal. Last year I finally set a goal. I thought it might be a little bit overwhelming but I wanted to do 10 video projects during the year. Since in the previous 4 years I was averaging about 2 or 3 different projects this was a HUGE jump for me. I was no longer dreaming, I was working. I had to. I needed to produce something almost once a month to meet that goal. Now only did I blow away my goal and end up doing 20 different video projects, but the quality of those projects exceeded anything I had done in the previous four years.
Now I realize that one year of goals is not enough. I am finally doing what all of the 'regular' people in my life have been doing since they were 16: Attacking life with a game plan. While a lot of great things came out of being a generalist and taking everything as it came my way, the best things I have done have been the result of dedication, hard work, and responsibility. These are things we don't have in dreams, but we go have in goals. So if you are looking for your New Year Resolution, make it a New Year Goal. By the end of 2012 what will you have accomplished?
Here is mine, out in public and on record so in a year everyone can see if I succeeded or failed:
5 Short Films that I write, produce, and take to festival
70,000 words in my novel that I hope to adapt into my first feature film
Now, what are your goals? Comment below and let me know. I will hold you to it.
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