Theprofessional

Does emotional labor always have to be a factor? I’m scared to just follow my passions because it would be too fun and easy, and I’m worried about the consequences. I play piano for fun right now. I was given lessons when I was a kid but stopped lessons by high school, and in high school I played piano in a few of the big bands, even went to competitive levels. It was never music I really was into, but it was fun After high school I completely stopped for about 5 years and then abruptly started up again 2 years ago just on my own due to my own passion for classical music. I’ve been playing almost every day and I’m now playing pieces that are considered highly skilled and difficult. I keep it to myself as a secret but when I play for people they are blown away. I enjoy it so much, and lately I’ve been wondering what negative consequences are going to come from this. I always learned from Actualized.org that you can’t have any results without serious emotional labor. Every day I’ve been playing over the past few years, it’s been solely because I love it. Even on the toughest, slowest days with no progress, it’s still been exhilerating. I haven’t had to do any “emotional labor” at all. I’ve been wondering how life is going to “balance it out”. The great arbitrary ironies of life. I’ve been thinking that maybe I’ll get in a car accident and permanently lose motor function in my hands, or I’ll get some of my fingers chewed off in a machine somewhere, or cut off while I’m cooking, etc. Similarly, I love movies and I’m a low-level writer/filmmaker as a hobby. I’m so passionate and so connected to it, even more than piano, so I stay away from it nowadays for this same reason. I have this belief that if I made more films and got really good, this would also make life “balance it out” and horrible things would be inflicted on me for indulging in this passion. Like I would get blinded in an accident, or a brain tumor would take away my vision, etc. Is this wrong, or do you see truth in this? Thanks.

“Gone. Reduced to atoms.” Hello, I’m sure you’ve seen Leo’s video “how to ace life.” I watched it many years ago and have tried to follow its message routinely: in any situation, if you do what is emotionally most challenging, then that is the right choice. I’m a filmmaker in my 20’s, and I went through some creative blocks as a teenager when I got into self-actualizing and spirituality. I stopped being able to make films, I lost all my passion for it. I still thought about it every day though. The few times I was able to “do the emotionally most difficult thing” and rally a cast and crew together to shoot something anyway, and brute-force my way through it with zero vision, this only resulted in films that were total shit and humiliating experiences for me. I feared my passion would never return. But in the past few years, it’s slowly been building back up again from traveling and college and reading lots of books. Now I’m reaching this place again where I’m passionate and telling stories I actually want to tell with my films again. I’m feeling the magic in the process, the deep sense of connection, inspiration. I didn’t know if I’d ever get here again. But also, I know that to do what’s right, I have to do what is most emotionally challenging in every situation. Even with making films, this thing that so close to my heart. So, what now? The thing that is emotionally most difficult is to now crush my passion into dust. This thing I worked so hard to build up again, I have to stomp it out over and over. Stomp it into nothing. This makes me feel really bad. I started writing a short story to make into a film two nights ago and was so inspired by everyhing about it. I went to sleep with a rush, a high from thinking about making it. But I knew what I had to do then. The most emotionally challenging thing. I convinced myself that this story was actually horrible and embarassing, and that I hate this creative process I’m in, and I hate all the ideas in this potential film. Stripped of inspiration and vision, now I go back to it and it’s like losing part of your spirit. It’s like removing your own eyes and having to hike a trail. The stories are turning out worse and I’m doubting my passion of making films again. But I know this is the right thing to do. Am I doing this right? I’ve never had to push myself emotionally with my other passions, such as playing instruments or hiking. Even at their most challenging points, it was thrilling, not grueling. Does anyone know what I’m talking about?

@mmKay thanks so much for the response. Lmao did you seriously remember that post from back then, or did you just pull it through my history? Because yes that was also me. I think I might just be a huge idiot.

Question. If you have something you’re on the mastery process for, and you’re finally getting good at it and becoming passionate about it, should you then do the emotionally most challenging thing, which is to force yourself to hate it? And then continue anyway? I always try to implement Leo’s “do what is emotionally most difficult” advice. For something you’re passionate about though, I’m confused because emotionally you love it. It’s emotionally easy, and not just that, it’s rewarding and fulfilling on a deep level. But to “ace life” you have to do everything that is emotionally most difficult. If you’re doing a lot of grueling emotional labor, that means you’re on the right path, right? So isn’t it cheating and short-cutting if you love the process of something?

I'm 24, undergrad, two years left in college. You've seen this a million times. Everyone is telling me it's time to pick my major. Up to this point, I've taken many business classes in preparation of studying marketing. After college I want to become a film director, but I know I need to learn finance, sales and marketing and other entrepreneurial things to do this, so that's why I chose this major. I hit a wall last quarter studying economics and accounting, and I feel like I've been just psychologically recovering since then. I know I could survive going through a marketing major, and my job prospects would be good if I did, but I think it might seriously psychologically damage me to study any more of this. Today I found out my school also has a film studies major, and a literature major. I would love to study these, but I can already see the mockery I'd get from potential employers, friends, and my family if I did so. But I also feel like studying film and literature is the only way I'll make it with my sanity intact. What should a student go with? Their passions, or the thing that is most logical and practical?

@Bando R.I.P Pop Smoke. Gone too soon.

@hyruga I think you're right

@Leo Gura Thank you Leo!!! Be practical about my passions. That's very difficult. But mark my words, I'm going to do it. One day, you'll watch one of my movies in the theater Leo. I guarantee it. You'll just be seeing this movie, and you won't even know it was made by someone who watched Actualized their whole life.

@Sabth you know, majoring in film studies vs majoring in marketing. Which one looks better to an employer?

@universe Could you ask Leo what he thinks about this, if he’s lurking

I’ve watched and taken notes on that video a few times, it’s a great video. But I have a few questions: He says the best way of escaping wage slavery is to achieve mastery in a field you are passionate about and become a massive value provider in society, which society will then pay you for. However, he also says that if you first achieve financial independence, it will free up a lot of your time to work on your passions. Huh? So, which one is it? Should I have the goal of achieving financial independence, maybe by working in marketing and stuff for a bunch of years, or should I have the goal of becoming a master in something, which will then result in me getting financial independence?

@universe wait so you CAN do both, or do you have to pick one or the other? This is what I’m confused about.

Basically, I want to become a master filmmaker with a niche in cinematography / lighting over the next 10-12 years. That is my goal. In Leo's "Way to Ace Life" video he says when in doubt, you should do the thing that is emotionally most difficult. I feel very lost with this filmmaking goal of mine, as I've had this goal for a couple of years now, and little to no results have come out of it. What can I even do that is "emotionally difficult" for filmmaking? Maybe I'm just shying away from this lofty goal, but I'm having a hard time coming up with anything for this.

@LordFall I made films all the time when I was in middle school and high school, and then it started getting embarrassing so I switched to writing screenplays instead. I'm now a very good screenwriter, but my actual film-making skills have declined to almost nothing, and I'm worried I'll never get any confidence back to make anything. Over the past 2 years, I've made some awful rap music videos for local artists and that's basically it. I've also gone into production on 2 short films, with multiple local actors, and things have coincidentally happened each time that cancelled them before photography was completed. Locals making trouble and interfering, actors dropping out, producers turning out to be abusive, etc. Basically, boiled down, it's that my own planning with these films has been so poor that every time a minor inconvenience has popped up, it has destroyed the entire project.

I have a goal that is about 8-10 years away, but it is so daunting I don’t even know where to begin. I am visualizing it every day, and this has led to a little bit of action, but not much. Anyone else been in this position, or are in this position right now?

@flowboy Fuck it you're right. I've got a lot of work ahead of me. Thank you, friend.

Both are true. However, don't each of these concepts directly contradict one another? How are you supposed to submit to reality if you are ALL of reality already? Does anyone know what I'm talking about?

@Phil King I want to be experienced enough so that, IF this tiny film turns out okay, it would then serve as a "proof of concept" of my abilities so that I would then be able to directly pivot off of it and secure $5M to make a "real" low budget film. There is a 0.001% chance of that happening, but still. That tiny film is the goal, but basically I really just want to have the skill to do the real thing by that point as well

@Phil King Ngl That's how I feel Phil

@flowboy The "goal" is to make a no-budget movie for about $5,000 and shoot it with a small team over the course of 6-12 months. It's not because I don't FEEL worthy achieving it sooner, it's because I'm literally NOT "worthy". I absolutely don't have the skills necessary to begin working on that right now. I first have to work for 8-10 years, studying filmmaking through trial and error, before I can even think about beginning that project. It's not about it being "scary", it's that I'm simply not experienced enough to do it.

@Alex_R How do you build Discipline? Through school?

@itachi uchiha How do you make the “journey” the goal itself? I’ve tried this but it still leaves me feeling stuck

@Jacob Morres man this actually helped so much, thank you. It’s so obvious but it never occurred to me other ppl go through this type of thing all the time

@JonasVE12 Wonderful answer, thank you. You're right, the most important thing is practice. VFX is fascinating. I just started watching Corridor breakdown videos, and I'm realizing how important it is to understand the properties of light and how it behaves in different environments.

@JonasVE12 becoming an amazing filmmaker