Path to Victory

I've been in Los Angeles for three weeks now and there are a lot of things I'm having to learn and learn fast. The driving, the pace, the streets paved with actors. It's a big adjustment which I'm gradually making (and if you want to read in detail about my adventures visit my other blog eastendtowestcoast.blogspot.com).

One things I really like about LA and what drew me here is the opportunity to make something out of nothing. In many ways, I'm like any other actor or comic coming to the city. No one really knows who I am, has heard of me or knows what I do so I have to use whatever resources I have to make something out of nothing. I guess that is the essence of the American Dream - that no matter what background you've come from, it's possible to turn your dreams and aspirations into a reality. 

But actually, no one has nothing. Even if you have an empty bank account or have a dead end job or no roof over your head, you never have nothing. In the film, Pursuit of Happyness, all three of these circumstances befall our hero and yet he is still able to triumph. Why? Because in his spirit, he realised he was never entirely bankrupt. 

I was in a seminar of some kind and the facilitator told us to make a list of all the intangible things we had. Aside from any material resources I was asked to think of my more conceptual possessions. 

Once I started creating the list, I realised how many resources we have that we sometimes do not see as valuable assets. 

Are you good with numbers, a puzzle solver, good with people, great sense of humour, tall? It could be any of these things. These are all resources you have available to make realising a dream possible. Imagine if there was an accountancy office where all the files were on an hilariously high shelf. Hiring you'd be a no-brainer. 

What I'm saying is, who we are is a resource in itself and we should remember that. 

Creating a dream can be exciting when you start to think outside of the box and think about the many ways you'd never thought of to make it real. 

A stock take of your personal assets, getting present to what it is you really want, then plotting the path to achieving it - can take a dream out of the realm of fantasy and plant it firmly in reality. 

Many people hold their dreams in the realm of fantasy and this is why they don't come to fruition. 

When you hold an idea as a real possibility  it WILL happen. Think about your journey to work. You leave the house, jump on the bus, catch and train, walk or drive and you arrive at work, often not even thinking about how that happened. You hold that journey as a reality. You don't sit at home and think, wow, if only I could get to work, then my life could begin. I'd be so happy.  No. That would be ridiculous. For you it is an inevitability. 

We must regard our dreams in the same way. They have to exist in our consciousness as a reality that just hasn't happened yet. This is what The Secret (with it's hokum theories, is alluding to). 

But how do you do that? I believe it's simple. Plot the path between you and your goal. Set and end date and work backwards listing all the things you need to do until you come to the thing you need to do tomorrow. By doing this, it plants the seed in your head that it's achievable. 

It doesn't matter how big the idea is, there's a path between you and it and you just have to find it. 

Good luck.