12 Notes: On Life and Creativity

With the inevitability of hardship in this often broken world, it’s important to understand what fills your voids and also where you are projecting yours.

Make decisions that you can be proud of. If it leads to a positive opportunity for you, then great. If not, then at least you have a clear conscience.

I can assure you that simply being alive and present in your everyday life is the highest form of creativity.

If people overestimate you, they get in your way, but if they underestimate you, they get out.

I believe music is the heartbeat of life because it has the ability to speak to all types of people, regardless of color or origin.

Good luck usually follows the collision of opportunity and preparation, so you’ve got to be prepared. Keep developing your skills, and then let whatever might happen, happen.

I’ve noticed that one of the main factors in my ability to outgrow my circumstances was my increased exposure to hope, and my relentless pursuit of it. Some may use the word “opportunity” instead, but it’s important to note that without hope, opportunities do nothing more than demonstrate to a disadvantaged individual what they are unqualified to b

And as he further clarifies in his book, Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principle of Screenwriting: An image system is a strategy of motifs, a category of imagery embedded in the film that repeats in sight and sound from beginning to end with persistence and great variation, but with equally great subtlety, as a subliminal communicatio

Everything in this business, and life, revolves around relationships—the people you meet, and most important, how you treat them. You’ve really only got one shot at a reputation, and how you handle the relationships you develop along the way fills a big portion of that equation.