About Movie

Looking back, I marvel at how much time in my life I spent waiting for something to happen. I don't mean the time I killed waiting for a scheduled event or appointment. I'm talking about something much more important. What I am talking about is how as I moved through life, at almost every point I was hoping for an extraordinary event that would come from the blue and change my life from ordinary to special.

Maybe you can relate. I wasn't a passive slug. I was doing my best at each turning point. I took some chances. I achieved some success but what I wanted was something unexpected and wonderful to sweep me away from the ordinary path I was on. Maybe it would be like meeting a supermodel at a 7/11 while buying a cup of coffee and later marrying her. Or it might be snapping an incredible photo and falling into a new career because of it. All of these fantasy events would take me outside the expectations of my current life and open up opportunities that would otherwise never be possible.

I got set up for that kind of thinking by the media. How many movie plots are built around one or more unlikely but wonderful events? Growing up with fables, it's easy to believe that good things only happen by chance. It reinforces the idea that the individual has no power to control his destiny and that 'luck' is the almighty manager of life.

When I saw individuals accomplish extraordinary things in their lives, I was quick to attribute their success as lucky breaks. I was never willing to believe in the power of an individual to take control of his life. Society is two faced when it comes to ambition. While it is common to tell people that they can accomplish anything they want to do, we are also warned not to make a fool of ourselves or to get our hopes up. We talk our kids out of high ambitions so that they won't get hurt if they don't succeed. It's no wonder that I spent so much of my life waiting for the extraordinary with all the signals telling me to be cool and not to aim too high.

Only recently have I realized that all this time, I was waiting for me and that I am, and have always been, the only person able to change my life's direction, I can see that the people I thought were lucky were actually following a plan. They made their own luck. They defined their destination and route and then focused on making it happen. All this time, I have handicapped myself by waiting for a fairy godmother that didn't exist.

Now I understand just what a handicap that mindset has been for me. All around me I was attributing the success of others who were taking responsibility for their lives to luck or chance while waiting passively for my bit of good fortune. All that time wasted makes me sick. Considering that I have achieved some success in my life, can I even imagine what I might have been able to do if I had just acted to go after some big dream.

I am the most important force in my life. I can cramp that force so that it can only operate in reactive mode or I can release it to be the dynamic and powerful engine that can take me anywhere. My engine is running but only I can decide whether to stay in neutral or shift into drive. If I stay in neutral, I can be pushed in any direction by any outside force. If I shift into drive, then I decide where I go and how fast I want to get there.