Self discipline

Well, it's a topic that keeps coming back, but I might as well look at it again here, on this blog, because it's as relevant for me here as anywhere else.

And if I'm honest, the business of learning about and making a film, as well as making a living in the film and media industry as a whole, is a lot to do with self discipline, and acquiring skills associated with it.

At the moment I'm reading "Self Discipline in 10 days", and it's helping me see just where my belief systems have held me back, and created the kind of inertia in my life that's helted the constant flow of my creativity.

I need to go back to that wonderful metaphysical principle I learned whilst I was exploring the very nature of creativity and success: principle is not bound by precedent. As long as I remember that, and incorporate my own new beliefs, I'm most certain to succeed in any of these endeavours - whether they're creative, business, or a combination of the two.

I know that in principle, this moment is the first moment of the rest of my life. Corny though that sounds, it does mean that I can tap into a fresh perspective, live in the moment, and create something brilliant without being stuck in past, mind sogging belief systems. I realise that there are a set of principles involved in the making of this film just as there are principles involved in the creation of anything, whether it's a letter, a table, a garden or a house. You start with an idea, you expand the idea, it becomes more concrete as you visualize its coming into being, and it evolves from a simple conception, through possibility, to likelihood and actuality.

For me, I know there are certain old hurdles I have to cross. I know that there's a very young person inside me who can't believe I do some of the things I do. He's the one who was amazed when I got my first part on TV. Even though it was only "The Bill", he was amazed that he was actually going to be on TV. He's the same one who gets amazed whenever I do anything creative. In some regards, he's useful because he, like anyone, is real. He probably lends something important to my character: some vulnerability of something - who knows? - but he certainly doesn't need to be in the driving seat of my life. And that's a lot of what being successful is all about - knowing who of your "selves" to allow in life's driving seat. Crack that little problem, and you're half way there.

So I'll have to apply something of my self discipline skills to this issue of making the film.

Also, I'll have to accept that as I'm making an imperfect film, I'll be working with imperfect people. There'll be times when I'll get pissed off with them, and they'll get pissed off with me. There'll probably by mutual disappointments, setbacks, annoyances, frustrations. But there will also be succcesses. ALL of it will be applied to the process of learning.

So I think I have some ideas about crew now, anyway. Crew, and even actors for this thing. I think perhaps as I've grown to know a few people from this and other productions, I might be able to get a cast together without even having to look for actors. It might be a case of writing stuff for people, of course...

Why make life difficult, after all?