Just Keep Driving Pt. 2

More thoughts about pursuing goals and finally something about post production too.

Speaking of post production - do you need some unique and “organically” created glitch effects?

Something that says: “I don’t just use Red Giant plugins for all of my creative projects”? (guilty)

Have I got great news for you! I’ve started to create some homegrown visual effects and other useful tools, scripts and assets for digital creators and post production peeps.

Also starting to add some physical products as well. Anyone want an “OJAI” themed 100% cotton corduroy hat??

You can check out everything that’s currently available here (not a lot right now): https://ojaipicturecompany.gumroad.com/

In the coming weeks, a LOT more is going to get added, and I’ll be sure to start announcing it more loudly as more content becomes available.

I also wanted to wrap up some thoughts that I had from the last post.

Things will likely start getting a lot more post production focused and a little less personal after this post. Great news.

For the last 5 years, writing, directing, producing, editing and successfully finishing/releasing this feature film of mine has been a major, major life goal.

It's gone from a dream, to a concept, to a script, to casting, to location scouting, to fundraising, to filming, to editing. And now the edit is in it's final stages.

Achieving this goal of making this movie has been a testament to the fact that yes, dedication and singular tunnel vision focus can and will pay off.

However, if you have based your happiness and satisfaction with life upon a singular goal, there is a risk that you have programmed yourself to want to do the chase all over again, instead of feeling content with the end result that you just achieved.

That's not necessarily a bad thing, but its something I've observed in myself.

Speaking from experience only, I can say I have felt this way in the last couple weeks. A deep realization that this distant goal is now staring me right in the face and I wasn't sure what was beyond it. If someone asks me, "what are your goals and dreams?" I can no longer easily fall back on the identity I created for myself surrounding this goal. I can no longer say "oh I want to make this movie". It's basically done.

At first this brought on a sense of stagnation. After some reflection and even more so when writing this out, I'm aware of what this all means.

Like a dog chasing a mailman who finally catches up to him, such is hedging ALL of your happiness and satisfaction on the idea of something. When that idea finally becomes a reality, you haven't given yourself a foundation to fall back on.

What I realized as production was wrapping up on Ojai was that I could safely and satisfactorily move on to the next thing in life with no regrets. No matter what the end result of the movie ended up being, I had done what I had set out to do: successfully shoot and create my movie.

Obviously, editing takes time and that task was still left (closer every day), but I had a sense that the biggest task had been completed, and I could truly feel comfortable giving my energy to other new things now that it was over.

If you follow life with the notion that you have a grander purpose to fulfill, with many goals along the way, you won't let any one chapter, any one goal, any one person, or whatever it may be, become the end-all-be-all of your life.

You will gradually develop a sense that life is trying to conspire to help you achieve a much grander purpose than you can conceive of in the present moment, and all you have to do is be open to where it is taking you, and be ready to put the work in when the opportunity comes your way to do so.

If you continue to hold on to a single idea, person, goal, place or thing past it's potential in your life, you won't be able to push on towards where you need to go next.

Back to car analogies again:

Much like trying to drive from New York to Hawaii in a car. You’re gonna have to leave the car behind eventually (pretend ferry boats and cargo ships don’t exist for this analogy please, thank you)

The car will get you to the coast, but eventually you're going to need to leave the car behind for something that floats.

Sometimes that can be tough when you've bought yourself a hot new red Ferrari for the drive! And even more tough when you know you’ll be trading it in for a small paddleboat for the next sea-faring leg of your journey to your destination.

It's easy to forget about where you were originally going in the first place when some of the places along the way offer you some very exciting options to settle for.

It'll feel good for a while, and maybe you'll take the Ferrari for one last joy ride before hopping on the boat. However, deep down if you truly WANT to achieve your goal, that Ferrari is going to start feeling pretty shallow compared to following through with your goal.

Eventually it’s going to run out of gas, or maybe blow up in your face.

Whatever wake up call occurs for your, eventually something is going to start reminding you about why you initially set out on this journey.

Suddenly, with nothing left but your original goal, you’ll be faced with the stark realization that its time to start swimming if you want to have any chance at finally making it to your destination.

We all get there eventually, but I've found we can save ourselves a lot of stress, anger, heartache and otherwise if we keep our eyes on the destination and enjoy the journey as it passes us by.