Having graduated college and determined to become a criminal defense lawyer, a young man had his heart set on working for a particular foundation located in a ghetto that provided legal defense and other social services for its community. This was to be his training ground and leg up to get into the law school of his choice. With no experience, the foundation would not hire him. Nonetheless, he showed up week after week, insisting they accept him as a volunteer intern for one year. Finally, they relented. For one year, he learned legal research, interviewed witnesses, did absolutely anything asked of him and learned everything he could. Near the end of that year, he received a rejection letter from the only law school he wanted to attend. Having given his all, working long hours and devoting himself to the foundation, the community and the work, he was devastated. Upon learning the news and unbeknownst to him, three young attorneys from the foundation had secretly and immediately set a meeting that very afternoon with the dean of the law school. Putting their reputation and that of the foundation on the line, they surrounded the dean, insisting she grant a wild card admission on the spot. Champagne in hand, they returned to deliver the surprise news.

I was that young man. And I was amazed to the point of being speechless. These three attorneys canceled their court calendars for an entire afternoon to do everything in their power to deliver my dream. This was their way of expressing their appreciation for my persistence and dedication, for the value I contributed to make their work and the foundation’s mission a bit more successful, for being a positive and consistent presence, and for volunteering my best.

Have you ever been amazed by people going out of their way to do something extraordinary for you ? Have you ever wondered what inspires people to take such action and be so generous of spirit ? Can you conjure up the feelings of wonder, appreciation and joy that flow from being on the giving or receiving end of such bold and generous moments ?

I’ve always been fascinated by people’s willingness to go above and beyond, to make choices and take actions that might well be considered ‘extraordinary’.

That moment was a powerful reminder of something so central to a successful life. Much hinges on the quality of relationships we create for ourselves, and how fully and authentically we invest ourselves in these primary human relationships. As Aristotle said: “In the arena of human life, the… rewards fall to those who show their good qualities in action.”

One Comment Personal Stories

Published by admin on 30 Dec 2008

I’ve been slowly writing my book “Tactical Toolbelt for Screenwriters: Success Strategies to Market and Grow Your Passion as a Career”. It’s nearly finished. The real success of my teleseminar – “Scaling the Great Wall of Hollywood” – inspired me massively and, as soon as it ended, I launched back into my book with even more enthusiasm and real world desire to impact others in a positive way.

The astonishing success of my seminar amazed even me. The amount of hands-on, concrete simple strategies I was able to squeeze into that course, and the amount of real-world traction people experienced in just over a handful of weeks exceeded my every hope and expectation.

It was so jam-packed, I had to add two additional Q+A sessions to insure everyone’s questions got 100% answered. And that was on top of the usual hour of Q+A at the end of every week’s regular class. The content, questions and group mastermind elements were unimaginably energetic and value-laden.

The seminar ended the week before Xmas and, over the phone and via an outpouring of emails, the group was clearly disappointed for the course to come to an end. These few dozen completely committed writers and producers participated every week from Canada, Australia, all over the U.S. I’ll continue to mentor quite a few.

The best part: I consistently receive emails delivering more incredibly good news – real world results – from quite a few of the screenwriters and producers in the course. The majority have taken major action based on tailored strategies, and I see more good news is just going to keep coming in.

It just didn’t matter where they’re from, what age they are, what level of experience in the film business. Knowing how to be an effective ‘advocate’ for their film projects only depends on their willingness to get in the game. And this teleseminar proved that in spades.

Using simple strategies, learning how to network in a very targeted way, how to truly get in the door (via phone, email, social marketing and beyond) and get ‘heard’ and get read… that’s the stuff of moving a creative career forward. And that’s precisely what happened and continues to happen.

So the course truly motivated me to launch back into the book and get it done. It proved to me the power and value and need for this very focused approach and set of step-by-step tools for anyone who wants to drastically increase their likelihood of making it in Hollywood.

I was so amped up and inspired by the teleseminar, by the massive response and results being reported, that it lit a fire in me to spend most of the holidays working on my manuscript. I’ve only a couple of more chapters to revise, a few more dynamic tools to layer into some of the various sections, but overall the book as a powerful set of career-advancing tools has clearly come into full focus.

I’m incredibly grateful and appreciative of the many who just spent the better part of two months with me. They deserve enormous kudos for their dedication to growing their careers, for jumping into action, making half an hour a day available to master simple but powerful techniques.

They showed me just how realistic it is to transform valuable information into smart action and quickly achieve results. In less than one year, I plan to publish a series of success stories from this group and celebrate their ‘wins’. I feel genuinely honored to know them and to have mentored screenwriters and producers with this level of commitment.