Mistakes Pursuing my Passion

Success is a funny thing, and at some point in our lives, it seems we're all striving for it. I'm a filmmaker. I've been one since I was a kid, making Lego animations in my basement with my friends. At that point in my life I didn't think I'd be a filmmaker, it was only a hope.

I think I should clarify for a moment. I am a filmmaker. It feels fantastic to say that. In reality, I'm a first year small business owner and took home less than five thousand dollars and am living in my parent's house. But I'm a FILMMAKER. That's right. I'm living the dream. That's not even sarcasm. I am doing what I love to do.

First I wanted to be an astronaut. Then an author, followed by architect. Finally in Grade 8, because of a class project, I decided what I really wanted to be. Most people aren't that lucky, my older brother is still struggling. Whenever someone would ask me, I could finally give a confident answer, one that hasn't really changed since. You quickly realize that there is a difference between deciding to do something, and actually doing something. Since that point in Grade 8, I had been making films and putting them on YouTube, but it took till the beginning of Grade 11 to finally pursue my passion.

My life changed on a dime. My passion took my number one priority. Best and Worst decision of my life. Let me explain. If you want something to happen, you kind of have to do it. Makes sense. But doing something means not doing something else. During the beginning of Grade 11 I had to make those tough decisions. I had set the goal of writing a feature length screenplay, which I had never attempted before. I was in French Immersion since Grade 7 and at that time and decided to stop taking French. I was also one of those people at school who played every single sport, but I decided to drop quite a few. I even dropped Band class. This was tough on a lot of people, including myself. I got phone calls from teachers asking if this was the right choice. All I could say was that I am following my dream. But it didn't end there.

My girlfriend at the time, and myself, would often hang out almost everyday. Times were cut short so that I could focus, and the time that we were together, I was (unknowingly) cold towards her, wanting to get back to working on something, anything. Luckily, she was very understanding, and really wanted to be a part of my dream. She was a rock in my whirlwind of a life.

So where am I? I am missing half of my previous life, and am now filling up with anything and everything that would bring me closer towards achieving my dreams. I'm proud to say, that many of the things I started during this time, I've continued on until today. I'll list off a few things; I began reading every night for the first time in my life, I would write every night, and subscribed to Masterclass.com and watched a lesson every night. I practiced filmmaking as much as I could, and improved my overall knowledge on it immensely. My grades were higher, and in a classical sense, I was more successful.

I eventually finished my screenplay of 164 pages after a few months. Long story short, it sucked. Big Time. I'd absolutely do it again, I actually have (sucked just as much). the amount that you learn from doing a project like that is invaluable. Okay, I know, enough jibber jabber. You must want to say, "Jacob, this article it titled, Mistakes Pursuing my Passion, where are the mistakes." Well, since you asked.

Mistake #1: Pursuing your Passion Won't Make You Happy

What?! That's right. Sure having goals and pursuing them with immense determination might feel fulfilling, but if you aren't careful, it could just make you bitter. This is what I experienced. You become so focused on yourself, anything that takes you away from your work becomes an enemy. Not only that, but you start working harder than you ever have before and filling as much time as possible to feel productive. Even if it doesn't feel like it at first, you're exhausted. This makes it easy to become snappy at people, which leads me into my next mistake.

Mistake #2: People are not your Enemies

Yes, believe it or not. Very few people in this world want to make life harder for you (knowingly). When you're hunkering down to pursue your dream and cutting things out of your life, you might become hostile to distractions or annoyances (I still do!). In any case, there is no reason why you can't pursue what you want to do, and be nice to Every. Single. Person. around you. Not only will it make you feel better because you aren't a big grump all of the time, but you're also setting yourself up for success. Knowing people, and having them respect you is the biggest super power you can have. I used to be really inspired by Steve Jobs. I still am, don't get me wrong, but some subconscious part of me thought that I could be a tyrant towards people in my life or be a dictator on film sets. Big surprise, this doesn't work... Problem is, you'll never notice this until you change. Sure things get done, but no one around you feels empowered and there may be hurt feelings. Now, I try my absolute hardest to empower the people around me and make them feel the best they can because in the end, if they win, everyone does.

Mistake #3: Scarcity vs. Abundance

This is another one to do with thinking people are your enemies. There is a mentality that so many people have, and I totally did! If someone else wins, you lose. If you were anything like me a few years back, you might have had a terrible desire to be the best. When people come to you for help, you may only half help them because you want to ensure your victory. Or, if someone else is set up for success, you try to get yourself in on it with some weird sleazy plan. Let me tell you something. What you're doing is stupid, I was stupid. I still have these internal fears that someone around me will become successful and I'll be left in the dust, but that's not how it works. Success is not a finite resource, nothing really is. Modern society is built on this system of scarcity which just leads to greed. People think that if someone else gets something, then they can't also have it, so they hoard as much of it as they can. There is way more than enough to go around, and once you get that into your head, it opens infinite pathways. Help as many people as you can, and be happy while doing it. If they succeed, so will you. Open yourself to others and don't be scared of sharing your passion. From my experience, people are amazing if you are amazing. Be nice and be generous. Just good life tips.

Mistake #4: 80/20 Rule

We're past the "be nice to others stage." Now for something a little more practical. Many of you probably know this rule already, but for those who don't. The rule states that 20% of anything brings 80% of the results. This 80/20 ratio shows up everywhere in life and it's really interesting to look into. So 20% of your work brings 80% of the results, right. So when you're striving and sprinting to reach your goal as fast as you can because you're impatient, maybe just take a moment to think. What can you do (the twenty percent) that brings the largest return. Sometimes these things aren't that obvious, they certainly weren't for me. I have wasted so much time going down rabbit holes that I think will bring me great value. Some examples: uploading stock footage (I've earned under $100 in over five years), print on demand, and maybe even this! I have spent countless hours trying to make money online so that I could make films full-time, but really none of these side hustles paid off. When you're just starting out, it's easy to fall into traps like these, and they aren't the end of the world, but it may be best to focus your energy on something that will bring the results. In my case; writing a screenplay, making short films, honing my editing skills, etc. This also works the other way around, what is taking up the majority of your time, but will only bring small results.

Mistake #5: Singular Focus (Try other things)

This might seem in contradiction to the last mistake, but hear me out. It's good and all that you're going to focus completely on this task of yours, but I've learnt something by being a filmmaker that has paid off immensely in my life. Being a filmmaker is not about learning to take images and edit it together, it's about taking every single experience and skill you have accumulated in your life and turning that into substance on a silver screen. Every thing that you experience in your life affects everything adjacent. In Grade 11 when I decided to pursue my passion with all my energy, you know what I picked up? Juggling. I couldn't juggle for the longest time, let me correct myself, thought I couldn't. My Dad had purchased me juggling balls for Christmas and I thought that was stupid because I couldn't juggle and resented them for that reason. I was bored one night and decided to try, at least to ten. After the weekend I could juggle to one hundred. I haven't stopped and earned a lifelong skill. That is what added value to my life, not doing work for work's sake. Learning a new skill doesn't take time away from whatever you want to do, only compliments it. Your brain and body need breaks. Since then, I have picked up piano, painting, tai chi, Morse Code, chess, and now the tin whistle. These hobbies have become part of my identity.

It's not all bad...

In conclusion, I believe pursuing your passion is always the right way to go, no matter how many mistakes you make. I've made so many, but it makes the lessons I've learnt from them much more potent. I can really sum up all of the lessons into three main points; Be nice to others, focus on what's important, and have fun/learn something new. Okay maybe that's four.

I never said any of this was going to be easy. It's most likely going to be one of the toughest times of your life and will add short term stress. Staying where you are is easy. It's short term pain, long term gain.

Life is waiting for you, so you can't be waiting for it. Jump ship and ride the waves. If you get caught in bad weather, you can always work at McDonalds.