Do you aspire to DO? Or DO only if you will succeed? You’ll DO a lot more than you succeed. So know.
I came across a quote I put on my computer today:
“I think the most important thing, if you’re an aspiring film-maker, is to get rid of the ‘aspiring’… You shoot it, you put your name on it, you’re a film-maker. Everything after that, you’re just negotiating your budget.” James Cameron, hugely successful movie writer/director (Terminator, Titanic, more here.)
He sure spoke to me. Write your thing, go shoot it. Put your name on it. Yep. Go DO something.
Then I noticed that word – aspiring. Aspiring film-maker. Aspiring writer, entrepreneur, online marketer, network marketer, you name it. So I wondered, would I be happy just to be a film-maker? Or do I aspire to be that only if I can be a successful one?
Would you be happy being a writer, an entrepreneur, or online marketer?
Or, do you really aspire to be that thing only if you are a big success at it?
Very different. And the difference affects your happiness levels immensely. Because the odds are against us all. You’ll be doing a lot more doing than succeeding. You ready for that? 95% don’t make a success of their ventures. Sigh.
So what is it you really aspire to? The doing of “the thing” or the resulting success of it? Would you just do it even if you knew the odds were against your financial success?
I thought about that for my love affair with the film business. An academy award? FUN! But actually, I just want to DO it. And get really good at some part of it. I don’t know why. I just do.
What about you? What do you truly aspire to?