I just finished watching Serbian movie named “Toma”, which is, BTW, very good. In one scene, Andrija Kuzmanović says “Being in show business is like building a boat while you are in the water, it’s leaking from everywhere but you must build it“. And it struck me. Being in culture department (of all kinds) is just like that.
Many of us had projects that failed. And that is good because we learnt from those mistakes, became better artists, managers, became better people if you will. But the ones that hurt us most are the ones that we haven’t even started.
Now, the same old story of “just go for your dreams” isn’t that easy and we all agree that there are no money growing on trees just waiting for us. Also, art projects are usually pretty expensive. But is that an excuse?
Nope.
Actually, to start the project there are not a lot of financial requirements. You usually need a pen and a paper, and friends/colleagues which are willing to be involved. And it’s all free. It brings out one crucial benefit: when you start it you will have bigger motivation to actually finish it.
What are the steps to start the project and boost your motivation?
- Write a plan on what you want to do. For example, you want to create a theatre play. Where? What will be the play? Who will be involved? What do you need?
- Start with the research and talk to people involved in the project. Find out if there are some better options. Listen to people’s ideas. Correct the plan.
- Take real action towards your goal. Don’t worry if you don’t have the recources or you lack of participants. Go and speak with the theatre directors. Print a play and invite potential actors to your home for the casting. Have reading rehearsals. See if someone has that piece of costume you have in mind to borrow it. That will keep you motivated and project will already be in motion.
You see, our brains are wired in a way to be inert, so if you start doing something and create a habit of thinking that the project you’re part of is your reality, your mind will naturally want to resolve it and finish it. We don’t like to leave things hanging, at least things that are important to us. And I believe this trick is one of the crucial ones to actually increase chances of finishing something.
Do you have your trick for completing projects?