Author Archives: Britta Katz (formerly Reque-Dragicevic)
Be Less Afraid
We need to be less afraid.
I mean, come on, what do we really have to lose?
Think about it: if you have your health and people who love you, you have everything. Art – or any creative endeavor – is just play in this wonderful game of life. It might be what we do for a living, and we might be dead serious about it, but in reality what’s the worst that can happen to you if something doesn’t go right with your art?
That’s what I thought. It’s not that bad, is it. So what are we so afraid of?
Most of us we stumble on the financial aspects and risk-taking that going full-time (and by full-time, I mean you make your living financially from your creative work) brings. There’s uncertainty. There’s what ifs. There’s the sense that you are absolutely, ultimately responsible for your financial fate. Which you are. But until you cross the border into full-time creative work, you won’t know the true extent of your personal power to create a life you love.
For all those folks who will talk you out of taking the leap – of, dare you even mention it, quitting a job in this economy (there’s never a ‘good’ time to quit a job, by the way)- they need to answer for their own dreams that are waiting for them to take a risk.
What happens when you take the leap? You learn that you can fly.
But here’s the secret: you’ve always been able to fly. You were born to fly. To follow the path of your unique talent and dreams. It’s just that you’ve spent too much getting dizzy looking down at the ground below and not enough time looking up at the endless sky.
I know, I know…what if it doesn’t work out? That’s what you want to know, right? What if you have a family, dependent on you?
Well, what if you could know that you had the power to lose it all financially and then earn it again? What if money wasn’t such a big deal? What if we took a more playful perspective with this amazing opportunity we have to live by our creative work and took more chances? What if the worst that could happen is losing a job, losing a house, losing the ability to maintain the same standard of living – wouldn’t you still, ultimately, really, in your soul, be okay? Couldn’t you find the resolve and power to find another job (there are jobs out there in many fields), to live with less, to start over, if you had to?
Of course you could. Many people are. And that’s one of the greatest blessings of a tough economy – it hurts, but it shakes us up and sets us free from the fear we have of what might happen if “the worst” happens to us economically. Because we are stronger than that.
We’re always stronger than we think we are.
Money is energy. It follows your lead. And if you are making decisions based on what you know in your soul to be right for you, you’ll create the financial energy you need to live your life.
So, let’s be less afraid. Let’s take more risks. Let’s enjoy this journey on earth and dare to do what we love.
Overcoming Rejection: Create Meaning in Your Creative Life
I’ve been thinking this last week how easy it is for us to hinge the whole point of our lives on our creative work. We put so much of ourselves – our spirit, psyche, physical energy, hopes, dreams and future self – into it. Yet, how easily that work is seen today, forgotten tomorrow.
We throw everything we have into a project and in the matter of a few business decisions by people who are most likely not emotionally invested in our work, it can all be dismissed and forgotten – forever. And even when we “make it” – the public enjoys our work for such a short time, then so quickly moves on.
It’s all so transient.
(Sure, every now and then a work will become a classic, but often not until the artist is dead.)
So what keeps us going? And is it healthy for us to pin so much on something that we adore, but has no power to love us back?
We create because we can’t not create, it’s simply our calling in life. But as much as we focus on the end result of our creativity, if we aren’t anchored and grounded to something far more lasting, we leave ourselves wide open to being torn apart and devastated. Repeatedly.
So what really matters? What is it that we can ground ourselves in so that when our work is done and gone, we’re not left wandering in the desert of futility?
Two things: the process of creation and the people we touch along the way.
If we find deep meaning in the process of creation, then we can continue to find meaning as we work on new projects. And no one can take that away from us.
If we find even deeper meaning in the lives that we bless and touch during the process, then we’ve found something even stronger to hold on to. And we can know that no matter what happens to our work, we’ve made a difference in our journey.
Isn’t that where true meaning in creative life lies?
Not in the big, glorious, high moments that we spend so much time pursuing and are here and gone and, in all honesty, leave us deflated, wondering “was that it? is that all? why don’t I feel any different now than I did before?” – but in the everyday process of doing the work, in the challenges, the creative decisions, the pursuit of excellence in our craft and in the joy of blessing others along the way.
Anchor yourself in what matters, in the deeper meaning of why you create.
Then hold on to that purpose when rejection and disappointment hit.
You’ll have the certainty that you’ve lived your life well. And no one can take that away.
Powerful Beyond Measure
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world.
There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do.
We were born to make manifest The glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; It’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we’re liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
– Marianne Williamson
Take Action – Dreams Don’t Come True Without You
My post Overcoming Rejection: Stop Allowing Others to Decide Who You Are talked about how we need to “be” the artists we want to be and not give other people the power to tell us whether or not we truly are artists. Only we can decide who we are. But it was pointed out that “being” without “action” won’t get you results.
Absolutely true.
Dreams don’t come true without you. You have to take action. In fact, you have to usually be in a perpetual state of keep-trying-don’t-give-up action.
Action backed by faith that the Universe is doing its part to arrange the right circumstances, timing and connections needed. As someone once said, it’s easier to direct a moving object than one that’s not.
So move.
But move with confidence and faith. Always focus on what it is you do want, not on what you don’t. Then take steps toward it.
Don’t strive. Don’t worry. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that you’re in a do-or-die situation and that if your dreams don’t come true, your life is over. It’s not, it won’t be. Appreciate the life you have now, in this moment with a quiet contentment and joyful anticipation of what’s next. (Couldn’t we all benefit by being a bit more lighthearted and playful about our oh-so-heavy dreams? It’s easy to live too much in the future – thinking our “real” lives will start when this and that goal is attained. Life doesn’t work that way. It’s now. The greatest gift you can give yourself is to be happy now. And remember, happiness is a choice. You can choose to be happy. I believe it was Abraham Lincoln who said “Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.” So true. Happy people tend to be more open to possibilities and opportunities that present themselves, too.)
So, here’s what you can do to keep walking steadily into your dreams:
- Learn your craft. Every artistic endeavor has it’s own craft elements that professionals master – that means you need to be continually learning, improving and practicing.
- Do your art. Write. Perform. Play. Paint. Spend more time actually doing your art than thinking about doing it.
- Put yourself out there. You have to be where the action is. Not necessarily physically, but participating at some level.
- Take chances. Whether hiring a consultant to advise you on your work, auditioning, to contacting other industry professionals (even those that you don’t think are reachable) keep presenting your work in ways that will allow you to gain the feedback you need to improve your art.
- Trust yourself first and most, but know that professionals in all mediums know how to accept and learn from credible feedback.
- Enjoy the process. Have fun with what you are doing.
- Think BIG and take small steps everyday toward that big dream.
You have nothing to lose by trying your best to live a creative life that makes you happy.
And in the end, living a happy, well-lived life is what matters, right?
Where Story Meets “The Sex Factor”
Doug Richardson posted an interesting article on his blog this week called The Sex Factor. (If you haven’t read it, check it out, then come back here.) Now you may find it offensive, but he warns you of the content up front. I’m not condoning the behavior presented in the article, but I get it. And what the execs in the article are actually discussing is sales and marketing.
These are the decisions that fall on the business side of, well, this business. As writers (or actors) we aren’t always as tuned in to what this world entails. The fact that someone would use sex appeal as a decision-maker may not sound right (or be right), but it is a fact in a medium where people pay money to see attractive actors on the screen. Sex sells. It always has, it always will. But, it’s not the only thing that sells. And it’s not the only thing that goes into an executive’s decision-making.
Few of us have ever managed the multi-million dollar budgets or had our jobs on the line for the decisions we make with that amount of money. Just this week, Disney’s film chief, Rich Ross, resigned over the $200 million dollar loss on the John Carter film. The stakes are high when you are managing budgets and divisions in this realm.
What can we learn from Doug’s recounting in his post? Sales and marketability are key determining factors in the decision to buy, produce and hire in the film/TV industry. The judgements levied at actors over physical appeal may not be fair; but they exist, if for no other reason that when actors present themselves for casting, they are marketing their talent and their “physical presence” – in energy, looks, mannerisms, voice, and how they relate to other actors on screen.
Which brings us back to marketing. Emmy-award winning writer-producer Erik Bork posted on this topic today in Scriptmag in his article “Sending Queries to Literary Managers about a Screenplay.” This is well worth your time in reading. Erik reminds us that the industry is hungry – always has been and always will be – for marketable material.
Marketable material. That’s solid, saleable scripts and actors who can deliver and carry the weight and risk of hundreds of millions of dollars.
So I say before we all jump up and down in outrage at the “sex factor” – we might try to walk in the shoes of the executive responsible for hundreds of millions of dollars of stockholders’ money.
And we should probably write well, too.
creative inside out 