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"Bad habits are like a comfortable bed, easy to get into, but hard
to get out of,"
-- Unknown
"Your net worth to the world is usually determined by what remains
after your bad habits are subtracted from your good ones,"
-- Benjamin Franklin
Think of this as a quick-reference for instant inspiration --
1. DO SOMETHING PRODUCTIVE EVERY DAY
Write something every day - whether it's your project or an assignment.
If you find yourself stuck just staring at a blank screen, try staring at
a great script instead -- and try to figure out how it's put together. It
might inspire you to get your own writing done. The point here is to keep
exercising and refining your craft, building your knowledge, and keeping
the momentum - all of which will give you a competitive edge. This isn't
about becoming a workaholic. It's about breaking through the inertia of
complacency. It's so easy to get comfortable, to settle for the status quo,
to rationalize why you're not doing what you know you need to in order to
succeed. "I don't fee like it," is not a viable excuse anymore.
2. TAKE FREQUENT BREAKS
This may sound like a contradiction to the above habit. It's not. In fact,
without this one, you won't be able to sustain the level of quality and
productivity referred to above. Unless you're able to take a break (whether
it's ten minute, an hour, a day, or a week) and recharge, you'll soon be
booking a room in burnout city.
3. GET ORGANIZED
A messy, disorganized office is an energy sapper if there ever was one.
Not just because it takes longer to find that important document under that
stack of unopened bills, but also because it literally pulls power from
your psychic field. Every little 'toleration' you put up with burns fuel
that could be put to much better use in growing your business.
4. WORK WHEN YOU WORK BEST
Some of us are morning people. Others are struck with the muse at the stroke
of midnight. If you don't already know, find out what time of day you work
best, and gear your most labor-intensive activities for that time period.
(Of course, if you're on a deadline, you might have to work around the clock,
but that's a different issue.) If you schedule your activities based on
your energy cycles, you will find your productivity take a quantum leap.
For example, I have two periods when I work the best - late morning and
late afternoon. So I try to schedule the heavy-lifting (writing, analyzing)
during those hours. When I first get up, I need to ease into the day's work,
so I do more preparatory work, like going over the day's schedule, straightening
up the office, e-mails. Once I'm warmed up, I crack open the script or writing
file and get to work for a few hours. I break for lunch, meditation, make
calls, work out, do some errands - and start my second writing period. Then
it's home for family time, dinner, and bedtime stories. But not my bedtime.
Because at night, my energy cycle is perfect for opening mail, paying bills,
filing, during simple research - tasks that don't take a lot of energy.
The point of this example is that if I opened my mail and paid my bills
in the late morning, I would waste my most productive energy cycle (not
to mention become depressed) which I couldn't make-up very easily at night
during my bill paying, mail-opening time. Make sense? It may take some time
to find your perfect energy-schedule, but it's worth the experimentation.
I'm still making adjustments.
5. GIVE EVERY PROJECT 100%
Treat every project like it's the job of your dreams - and you'll soon attract
more and more of your dream jobs. Why? Because you don't get what you want
in life, you get what you are. Ghandi said we must become the change we
want to see in the world. Likewise, we must become the kind of person who
would get the kind of jobs we want in the world. This is another one of
those universal principles I keep slipping in here. If it gives you a headache
to try and make sense of it, don't. Just give it a shot and see what happens.
6. KEEP LEARNING
To have what others don't, you must do what others won't. The average person
- and for that matter, the average screenwriter - has a tendency to take
the path of least resistance. So you must take the road less traveled. Stay
open at the top. Maintain a Beginner's Mind. Besides continued study in
related and complimentary fields - read and investigate areas outside of
your field - and outside of show business. Some of the most innovative ideas
have come from people adapting concepts they discovered in completely unrelated
fields.
7. ACT AND DRESS LIKE A PRO
This is another relative rule. A stockbroker acts and dresses quite differently
than a tennis pro. In the entertainment industry, an executive acts and
dresses differently than an actor. Even more specific, different clients
will have different expectations. In general, business casual seems to work
best.
You also want to have an updated resume and work samples (scripts, pitches,
synopses, etc.) readily available. Do your homework, show up to appointments
with all the right gear to get the job done, and treat each prospective
client (producer, director, executive) with the utmost respect and value.
8. HONOR YOUR WORK HOURS
During work hours, especially in a home office, you'll have plenty of opportunities
for distraction from well-meaning friends and family members. In the most
diplomatic tone you can muster, kindly inform them that you're at work not
at home. Your writing is a real business, not a hobby. (Isn't it?) You'll
talk to them after hours, or on your break.
9. TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF
Feed your mind and body with high quality nourishment -- and exercise. I
know this is obvious to most people -- yet most people still don't do it.
Writing is hard work that requires real endurance. If you want to be a high-performance
person, you need to run on high-octane fuel.
10. KNOW THYSELF
The most successful people, in this or any field, know who they are so they
can be true to that. They also know their strengths - so they can play to
them - and their weaknesses -- so they can compensate for them.
These habits might not seem like great revelations. The fact is, most fundamental
principles are quite simple. The key is in practicing them.
Over and over.
Day after day.
Until they become as natural as breathing.
While I can't guarantee where you'll go with your career, if you do just
this much…you will go further than most in whatever you endeavor to
achieve!
Good luck - and Keep Writing!
By Derek Rydall
Founder, ScriptwriterCentral.com
As a screenwriter, Derek Rydall has sold, optioned, or been hired on
assignment for over 20 film and TV projects. He has developed projects for
the producer of Ghost, RKO, U/A, Miramax, Saturn (Nick Cage), and many indie
producers, as well as worked as a staff writer for Fox, Disney, and Deepak
Chopra. As a story consultant/script doctor, Derek has helped writers, producers,
actors, and directors turn books into screenplays, secure millions in financing,
make six-figure script deals, get hired to exec produce, direct, star in
their movies, obtain major distribution, and win awards. And as an author,
Derek's book, I Could've Written a Better Movie than That!: How to Make
Six Figures as a Script Consultant-- Even if You're Not a Screenwriter,
is due out October by Michael Wiese Publishing. For more info, you can check
out his site, www.scriptwritercentral.com,
email derek@scriptwritercentral.com
or call (661) 296-4991.
Copyright by Jerrol LeBaron, 2006
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