A Message To Fellow Dreamers (Part 7)
The end is only the beginning
“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” Steve Jobs
I’ve decided to write and tell stories with my life because my heart and intuition tell me it’s the best way to impact the world.
Where are your heart and intuition leading you?
Over the past six years, I’ve realized the power of narrative film. Movies and TV change people for better and worse. I often ask people if they can remember a specific message they heard at church twenty-five years ago. Invariably, the answer is no. I then ask if they can recall a movie they saw twenty-five years ago, and the answer is most often, of course!
They remember exactly how a certain movie made them feel and why. There is something about movies and television that is wildly powerful and profound.
People ask me if I ever thought I’d become an actor, and the answer is no. It was never a goal or a dream or even an interest until I realized how powerful film is. So I started acting at thirty-nine years old.
I share all of this because it’s never too late to start chasing your dream, whatever it is.
There are countless examples of people who have started chasing a dream later in life. We don’t have time to go through many, so I’ll about share one.
Taylor Sheridan was a failed actor who tried his hand in Hollywood for decades. At forty he began writing. Over the last 15 years, he’s become one of the most successful writers of our time. He’s responsible for Yellowstone, Wind River, Hell or High Water, Sicario, Lioness, 1883, and Landman to name a few.
Where To Start
Do you have a vision or mission for your life? If not, start with creating one. If you need help, I suggest using a little workbook titled Three Big Questions, by author Dave Phillips. It’s the book I used to create my life mission and vision. The book makes it simple and fun.
Why is having a mission or vision statement so important?
Because we live in the most distracted time of human history; economists have dubbed it the attention economy. Billions of dollars are being paid by traditional and non-traditional media companies to get your attention and keep it.
A mission and vision will help you focus your life on what’s most important to you.
When Bill Gates and Warren Buffet were asked what the single most important factor in their success was, they both answered FOCUS.
I’ve spent the last seven weeks writing this series A Message To Fellow Dreamers. Why? Because I believe you have a dream that needs to be brought to life. In chasing your dream, you will come fully alive. It will be rewarding and hard.
“If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.”
Henry David Thoreau
I’ll end by sharing a little about the dream that I’m currently chasing. In September 2023, I began writing a movie script. A good friend of mine and I decided we would produce it. We did not have a set of plans or the money or the experience, but we had the commitment that we would do it.
It was a monumental challenge. It took more than a year of planning, hundreds of people to pull off, hundreds of thousands of dollars, and a lot of fear facing. I lost a ton of sleep, suffered some anxiety and stress, but the dream was big and alive, and had to be chased down.
Our team filmed for seven weeks straight. It was one of the most rigorous times of my life, and I’ve served in a war. It was a battle itself, but we assembled a great team, and we won. We’re now in post-production and you will soon be able to watch The Beast of Trinity Texas. Below is our wrap picture for the film.
You too can make a decision to chase a dream. Begin today.
Below are a few of my favorite resources. You can go back through this entire 7-Part Series. I’ve made it entirely free to read with the links below.
My ability to continue pursuing this passion of writing is subsidized by a few generous people, and my heartfelt thanks go out to them. If you want to help us spread this message, you can join us in a few ways.
#1 Become a subscriber. There’s a paid and free option. Most everything I write is made available for the first seven days for free. Access to everything I’ve written is made available to paid subscribers.
#2 Share this writing series publicly or with someone you know who could benefit from it.
Post Script: My creative journey began by listening to a still small voice whispering to my heart back in 2013.
What’s being whispered to your heart?
A Message to Fellow Dreamers (Part 1)
A Message to Fellow Dreamers (Part 2)
A Message to Fellow Dreamers (Part 3)
A Message to Fellow Dreamers (Part 4)
A Message to Fellow Dreamers (Part 5)
A Message to Fellow Dreamers (Part 6)
Below is a piece of writing on goals that will help you structure what you want to accomplish over the next year.
List of resources mentioned throughout the series:
All My Best, by Terry Weaver
The Top Five Regrets of the Dying, by Bronnie Ware
The Evolution of A Leader, by Terry Weaver
The War of Art, by Steven Pressfield