🏁 😳 Finish Line Fear
I have a rule that I try to remember: If I’m 90% there with any project, I will push to finish the last 10% and launch, regardless of what resistance gets in my way.
When you’re at that last 10%, that’s when all the doubts start to voice themselves. Fear and resistance try to keep you from making a leap and changing your reality. Fear hates the unknown.
The only reason not to finish is if your circumstances drastically change after you’ve started or if you learn a piece of crucial information that was obscured earlier. If that’s the case, I’d examine it closely. Your fear is as clever as you are and tries to disguise itself as intuition.
If you’re 90% there, blast through and finish the last 10%.
🎥 💰 Making $100M Indie Films
The 97-year-old Roger Corman has reportedly profited by more than 100 million dollars in the challenging film industry.
His secret weapon: An extremely low budget.
That budget is the seed of his innovation.
He was one of the first to film abroad in places like Bulgaria and Russia. He would find old film sets that were about to be taken down, lease them for almost free, and build a whole story around the set. He had an eye for spotting early talent, discovering a young Robert Deniro. My friend Jen, who introduced me to his work, told me he would still recruit interns out of her class at Harvard less than a decade ago into his eighties.
“If you’re just a straight businessman, your pictures will not be good. And if you’re just a straight artist, you’ll lose money. You have to be a businessman to understand art, and an artist to understand business.”
Roger Corman
Without the burden of a massive Hollywood budget, the numbers made sense and he could turn a profit.
Roger clearly loved making films, found a way to make that passion viable, and crossed the creative finish line, over and over, with 356 films produced.
🎶 🚗 Sha Sha
In high school, I was driving to school in my Saab 93 convertible that I bought on eBay with funds from working at a pizza store.
I remember playing this Ben Kweller song at full volume, with the top down, my hand catching the wind, feeling very very free.
This song (and the whole album) holds up. Enjoy!
P.S.
Thanks to those who picked up free copies of my mom's self-care poster for Mother’s Day! I launched a second one this week “30 days of Meditation” to help people build a meditation habit.
I’m giving away ten of these free to my newsletter friends - just reply if you want one :)
Loved that quote about needing to understand both art and business! PS. How can I get a copy of the meditation calendar?? I would love one!!