Self-Development
3 Reasons Filmmakers are Lazy, Shortsighted Time-Wasters (but don’t have to be)
March 30, 2019 - Self-Development
With hard work, we can change. Here’s how.
I’ll tell you a sad story. This is the story of past Nick, who wasted countless hours on things that weren’t that important. This is the story of a lazy, shortsighted time-waster.
The sadder part? He kind of knew he was wasting time. But he was lying to himself. After all, it sure seemed like he was being productive. Past Nick thought, “I want to have a successful production company. Also, I would love nothing better than to be an amazing movie director.”
Suddenly, an amazing thing happened. His wish was so strong, his dream so incredible, that a magical genie appeared and granted him 3 wishes.
(And he did not let Nick wish for more wishes, by the way.)
Nick’s now a millionaire, has every breakfast delivered to his bedside via drone, and is chauffeured every day at a lazy 10am to the set of his 300 million dollar film sets!
…and then he woke up from his dream fantasy.
I want to yell at past Nick, “Oh yeah, do you really want those things? Then stop taking the easy way out, you DOLT!” Because what was past Nick doing?
Well, he wasn’t out hustling, making as many films as he could to gain experience. He wasn’t cold-calling clients or building business relationships. At least, not nearly enough.
He was spending hours and hours and hours building his website. Constant iterations, ‘improvements’, tweaks, feedback, fixes, additions, subtractions… past Nick spent SO much time on his website. Days and days, in between ‘learning filmmaking skills’ by watching endless tutorials and whatnot.
At least, that’s one example of what I spent my time on back then.
If this is you, I urge you to STOP!
But I’m not telling you to stop doing those things at all. Far from it. What I am saying is you need a shift in mindset. And if you make this mindset shift, it will change your life.
I want to tell you 3 very, very important things.
VERY IMPORTANT:
1. Living an illusion of progress. We naturally pick the easiest task in front of us to work on that will make us feel like we are doing something productive
2. Using time inefficiently. Some of those things are beneficial, but we should be focusing the majority of our time on the small number of things that give us the most results. (This is called the 80/20 principle, or the Pareto principle. Basically, 20% of our effort yields 80% of the results.)
3. Picking the easy road and procrastinating. The things that give us the most significant results are very often the things we least want to do. If you think to yourself, “I really don’t want to do this. I’ll do that later”, you are putting it off because it’s important, and therefore difficult to start and push through.
Of course, effective time-management techniques do a world of good, but there’s a reason why everyone struggles with these things.
Why? Well, I’ll tell you a secret.
It’s totally normal. And the reason we do the above things is that everyone you meet has the following three qualities…
THE THREE QUALITIES:
1. Seeks short-term gratification. We all look for things that will satisfy is as soon as possible. (This accounts for being inclined to pick something that makes us feel accomplished today.)
2. Very lazy. We don’t want to do anything that we don’t feel like doing. (This accounts for not doing those tough things we should be doing.)
3. Shortsighted. We don’t sit and think through goals, considering where our time investment will take us in the long-run. (This accounts for not seeing how doing those key 20% tasks will allow us to reap future rewards, and being motivated by that vision.)
Seriously, there’s maybe less than 1% of people who don’t have the above qualities.
Probably not even that. I suspect they’ve learned to fight those weaknesses, not get rid of them altogether.
This is really exciting news though. Why?
It means that what you admire in that person you know (we all know one) who is a total workhorse, gets all the right things done, and has masterful work ethic…
That’s something you can learn.
You can become like them. You can accomplish great things. But you have to stop being a lazy, shortsighted time-waster!
You have to fight the 3 instincts/qualities I mentioned. Being conscious of them is the first step.
You have to focus most of your time on the 20% of tasks that will make you a successful filmmaker, and less time on the 80% that won’t.
Closing notes
What we all do:
1. Pick the easiest task in front of us to feel like we’re being productive.
2. Use time inefficiently – putting it into the wrong things, per the Pareto principle.
3. Procrastinate and avoid the tough stuff.
3 qualities we all have:
1. Seek short-term gratification. This accounts for being inclined to pick something that makes us feel accomplished today, but not in 6 months or a year.
2. Very lazy. This accounts for not doing those tough things we should be doing.
3. Shortsighted. We don’t craft a vision of the future and subsequently lose out on a great motivator.
You ARE past Nick. So, if you really want to achieve your goals, your filmmaking dreams, then “stop taking the easy way out, you DOLT!”
I’ll be right there alongside you, telling myself to do the same.
Adapt. Grow. You can accomplish great things. So do it.
Author
Entrepreneur & Storyteller. Co-founder of Occulus Films. I love working with teams to create compelling and engaging films and commercial video content. Fave films include Blade Runner and Mad Max: Fury Road.
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