Marvin V. Acuna

“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?” “That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat. “I don’t much care where—” said Alice. “Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat. “—so long as I get SOMEWHERE,” Alice added as an explanation. “Oh, you’re sure to do that,” said the Cat, “if you only walk long enough.”

– Lewis Carroll’s “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”

2009 is almost over. As of this writing we have just over a month left. Time flies. It seems like just yesterday that I moved out to LA, and that was over fifteen years ago.

This past Saturday I invested three hours to simply break down two personal goals I intend and am committed to accomplish in 2010. As of December first I will devote an hour each night and three every Saturday until I have mapped out all my personal goals and commitments for 2010. I’m determined to be clear on what I want, what I must do to get there, and more importantly — define landmarks, set deadlines and status review sessions to ensure I’m on track.

Additionally, this upcoming Monday my business partners and I will complete mapping out all our business goals and set an entire calendar for 2010.

As you can see I’m a firm believer in goal setting AND setting dates. Huge believer! It always surprises me that so few folks set goals, much less build a calendar. I’m not sure why it surprises me, but it does.

Maybe someone should invent a mapquest.com for people’s dreams, then they could simply print out directions like all people do when they set out on a trip. That would be nice.

There is overwhelming evidence that goal setting and schedules lead to results.

Consider the following:

• If you sold a screenplay to a studio the agreement would include a very specific timeline of payment and the schedule for rewrites. In fact, the delivery of a rewrite is tied to the payment schedules.
• If you sold a pitch to a studio the agreement would also clearly state your writing schedule.
• And finally, if your project were to be produced, an entire schedule, with extreme specificity — drawn from the script — would be created along with budgets. In fact, if you have never done a production schedule breakdown of your script I would HIGHLY encourage you to take a class on how to. It’s a powerful exercise.

Hear me: You have chosen a profession that requires every available advantage to succeed. This is your business. No one will ever care more about your business than you. It’s so important. If you just invest a little time into yourself and your business by mapping it out… I promise it will have profound, measurable results.

Here are a few tips to get you started:

• Schedule — You need to block off time to set goals and build a calendar. Use a timer. Let people know you are not to be distracted. Turn off the phone, the internet… in essence anything that can be a distraction.
• Reflection — begin your goal setting sessions with a thirty minute exercise of reflection. Sit in quiet and write down a few of this year’s accomplishments. Jot down HOW you accomplished them and most importantly how it makes you feel knowing that you accomplished them. Personally, I find it sets the tone, the mood, and the belief that you have found success and are extremely capable of attaining your goals.
• Why — You need to be clear — crystal clear — on why you wish to attain this goal. There must be a strong belief that there is something in it for you to accomplish this goal.
• Calendar — I cannot stress it enough… As you break down your goals set the action steps to actual completion dates.
• Share — Choose someone you trust, admire, respect, and who desires to see you succeed. It makes all the difference in the world when you have someone to discuss your goals with, and more importantly to hold you accountable to staying on track. They can also be the perfect person to celebrate with at each milestone.

My hope is that these tips will ignite a fire within you to create the production schedule of your dream for the upcoming year.

I’ll say it one last time… this IS YOUR BUSINESS. No one will care about it more than you. I hope you invest the time to begin mapping out your dream. No one will do it for you. No one!

Each morning I awake at 6am and take Parker, my adopted Jack Russell Chihuahua, on a hike for about an hour. I then head to the gym for a 30min run on the treadmill and swim for 30mins. This has been my ritual for the last 11 months.

My intention was to simply be healthy and more importantly spend some time just caring for me. I firmly believe that if you don’t care for yourself first, you can not care for anyone else properly.

I find it to be meditative and I gain so much joy from watching Parker explore each morning. It is so rewarding and enlightening to see this little dog take the same hike each morning for 11 months and it’s as if he has never hiked it before. Everything is new and exciting. The gift of his consistent life in the now has had a profound effect in my own life. I can truly say that it was he who has recued me, not the other way around.

This month I decided to switch up my ritual. I thought I’d begin to use free weights to begin shaping my physical form and take a break from swimming. In essence, I want to sculpt my physique.

Needless to say I have been in pain. I mean pain. I say PAIN. But, two things keep me focused on my outcome: 1. A great saying, “Pain will make you bitter or better, it’s up to only you” and 2. The photograph of the body type I aspire to emulate.

The pain is enough to frankly cause me to simply slip back into what makes me comfortable and more importantly, doesn’t cause me pain. I hear the constant chatter in my head, driven by my natural instinct of fight or flight, yelling out, “stop!”

But, I remind myself that I will overcome this uncomfortable pain. I am building slowly. And one brick at a time I will build the image I have crystallized in my mind.

There is overwhelming evidence in my life that my dreams and ideas manifest. I simply need to apply the same principles that I have in the past to my new desires.

Embracing your fears of the unknown, of the uncomfortable, and of the potential pain of disappointment and frustration is a key and crucial ingredient to your success as a professional screenwriter. Otherwise, I promise you. Fear will rob you of your dream. It will paralyze you from taking the necessary actions to attain your dream. Don’t let it.

I had dinner with a few friends last week at 25 degrees in Hollywood. As we sipped our wine and dined on our very tasty burgers, a question was posed to the group, “Only 6 months left in ‘09, what have you learned about yourself?” A variety of answers peppered the conversation. One stood out. My friend Tara replied, “I don’t need to be fearful anymore. Fear is not real. So now I take a step forward even if at first I’m scared.”

Screenwriters who succeed move past their disappointment, their frustrations, and they move past their fears. They take action in spite of their fears.

One of the screenwriters I do business with deals with his fears and doubts about himself and his work in a very unique way. It may serve as a potential tool for you. So here it is:

First, it should be noted that he’s fully aware that he’s naturally a pessimistic person. He actually does believe the sky is falling and that some day someone will discover he’s a fraud… that’s he’s really not talented. Now, to address this he devised the following routine. A timer sits on his desk which rings at ten minutes to the hour. For those ten minutes he steps away from his laptop and allows himself to vent all of the doubt, all of the fear and all of the frustrations he’s feeling. At the end of the ten minutes he returns to his writing.

That’s one possibility of addressing your fears. Here’s another:
• Be crystal clear as to what you desire – have VISION & PURPOSE. If you don’t know where you are going, how can you get there?
• Declare your vision in written form and then share it with others. Let people know what you want.
• Take small baby steps. You have heard it before… The Great Wall of China began with one brick.
• Be flexible/adaptable – It’s really simple: Is the current plan working or not working?
• Reward yourself for the small and big improvements. You sent out 50 queries’s this week. You attended one networking event. You completed a new script. Developed a new idea. Rewarding yourself is crucial. Sometimes we get so caught up looking up (at where we want to be or what we want to have) that we never look down — and acknowledge how far we have gone or what we already have.

Make that call. Attend that event. Ask for what you want. Step outside of what you know to be comfortable.

To make your dream come true you must be willing to accept that you can not please everyone. Everyone will not like you. Everyone will not like your work. Everyone will not be supportive. Everyone will not help.

And more importantly that everyone experiences fear. But, only some allow it to imprison them. Be afraid, be very afraid then leap anyways.

Because as John Burroughs so eloquently said, “Leap, and the net will appear.”

Each morning I awake at 6am and take Parker, my adopted jack russell chihuahua, on a hike for about an hour. I then head to the gym for a 30min run on the treadmill and swim for 30mins. This has been my ritual for the last 11 months.

• The Great Race trailer

My intention was to simply be healthy and more importantly spend some time just caring for myself. I firmly believe that if you don’t care for yourself first, you can not care for anyone else properly.

I find it to be meditative and I gain so much joy from watching Parker explore each morning. It is so rewarding and enlightening to see this little dog take the same hike each morning for 11 months and it’s as if he has never hiked it before. Everything is new and exciting. The gift of his consistent life in the now has had a profound effect in my own life. I can truly say that it was he who has recued me, not the other way around.

This month I decided to switch up my ritual. I thought I’d begin to use free weights to begin shaping my physical form and take a break from swimming. In essence, I want to sculpt my physique.

Needless to say I have been in pain. I mean pain. I say PAIN. But, two things keep me focused on my outcome: 1. A great saying, “Pain will make you bitter or better, it’s upto only you” and 2. the photograph of the body type I aspire to emulate.

The pain is enough to frankly cause me to simply slip back into what makes me comfortable and more importantly, doesn’t cause me pain. I hear the constant chatter in my head driven by my natural instinct of fight or flight. The ego trying to protect me from pain. The pain yelling out to me, “stop!”

But, I remind myself that I will overcome this uncomfortable pain. I am building slowly. And one brick at a time I will build the image I have crystalized in my mind.

There is overwhelming evidence in my life that my dreams and ideas manifest. I simply need to apply the same principles that I have in the past to my new desires.

- Be crystal clear as to what I desire – have VISION & PURPOSE

- Declare my vision in written form and then share with others

- Take small baby steps

- Be flexible/adaptable – modify what is not working

- Reward myself for the small and big improvements

Rewarding yourself is crucial. Sometimes we get so caught up looking up (at where we want to be or what we want to have)  that we never look down — and acknowledge how far we have gone or what we already have.

Hobgoblins 2 video Maybe today this will inspire you to look down and reward yourself.