“When things get tough with that rewrite, and you’re starting to see this whole dream fall apart… who are the ones that actually stay in for the long haul?
Often it’s narcissists. Often it’s people with big egos. It’s people who really think they’re interesting. A lot of people fail at things because they see too clearly: oh look, here’s the odds… They often are people who are very confident about who they are, very confident that they’ve got a talent. Almost impervious to people going “you suck!”
Because everybody gets told “you suck” at the beginning. And most people hear it and go “you know what, I guess I do” and they quit.
Everybody gets told it though, even the ones that are really talented get told it. But the ones that don’t hear it? Or the ones that just go “yeah… I don’t… I don’t suck, I’m good!” That arrogance, that confidence… whatever you want to call it… it might be a neurosis, maybe it’s because they’re sick? I don’t know…
But that’s, in my experience, when I look at who succeeds, they’ve got this rhinoceros hide, and they persist, they persist when most sane people would say:
“Hey! Go back to Missouri! You’ve got credit card debt! You’ve been trying for [boop] years! You’re never gonna make it! Listen to your cousin! Listen to your mother! Listen to your accountant, who’s been telling you for years what a stupid thing it is you’re doing! Go back home! You’re done.”
Those people go back home. And guess what? They’re done.
But the person who doesn’t listen… Hey, they might end up under a bridge too, because you do need talent, this is not a job for someone who has no talent. But most people, I think, from my observation, most people fail because they don’t persist.
But you have to actually do the work!
I know several people who have failed because they want to be writers, but they don’t actually write. They think about writing every day, and they say they’re writing a script, but they don’t actually sit down and write every day.”
— Peter Russell
( I miss you so much, man… you left way too early ☹️ )
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