A CHRISTMAS CAROL Why your 2011 could be doomed
By, Jessica Sitomer
Charles Dickens’ classic novel has been retold in many versions on film, including the animated 3-D version starring Jim Carrey as the haunted, Scrooge. Perhaps the reason the story is being retold in many forms; Scrooged about a selfish TV executive, A Diva’s Christmas Carol, starring Vanessa Williams as a miserly singing star and cruel Diva, and even Tori Spelling got in on the action in a Carol Christmas (Ebenezer embodied in a talk show host).
The reason this story is always so timely no matter what form Scrooge takes on, or what year it’s told, is because everyone can relate to being haunted by the past, present, and the future.
The obvious message for those of us who don’t get the opportunity to witness out future with the help of a ghost, is: If you don’t learn from the mistakes of your past, your future will give you more of what you don’t like in your present, only the more you get, the worse your future will be!
Being a coach for 15 years, I’ve seen the mistakes people have made that were the differences between their success and in some cases, devastation (loss of home, divorce, illness due to stress, and the worst, suicide).
Allow me to be a “ghost of careers past” and share the top 10 mistakes people make that stop them from achieving their entertainment industry career dreams:
1. Getting stuck in old business habits that don’t work: Let’s face it, if you’ve been doing the same things over and over to generate work and you’re not happy with the results, you’ve got to try something new. Imagine the ‘Ghost of Career Past’ is showing you the same 3-5 things you’ve been doing to generate work. Can you envision what they are? Now imagine that the ‘Ghost of Career Future’ shows you 2011 and you’re doing the same things. How will you feel at the end of the year when your results are the same as they were this year, only you have more debt and more feelings of resentment? What about in 5 years, 10 years? What will your retirement look like if you don’t do something different?
2. Not treating the business like a full time job: This is 90% of not only my clients but also the hundreds of thousands of people pursuing entertainment careers. So do you want to stay in the 90% or be in the top 10%? To be in the top, you must be spending 40 hours a week on your business when you’re not working at your craft, and 10 hours a week when you do have a job in your craft.
3. Lack of consistency: This is the classic “New Years Resolution” example that is easiest to explain with a gym membership. At the beginning of the year, people join a gym making a resolution that “this year they will get fit.” Again, only 10-15% of the people stay consistent. The gym counts on that or they would be overcrowded. They just keep taking your money while you let your membership go to waste. Your competition is like those gym sales people, just counting on you to start strong in January and peter out as 2011 continues on, so that they stay on top and you never break-out!
4. Unable to “get back on the horse”: Many clients have made the big push in January, and then something gets in the way, or they get sidetracked, or they run out of steam and can’t “get back on the horse,” until January of the next year. Do you want to be having this conversation with me in 2012? I hope not!
5. Fear of rejection: Fear is a career crusher, and the entertainment industry is like any other sales industry in that you have to get a lot of ‘nos’ to get to the important ‘yeses.’ I know you get that intellectually, but do you get it emotionally?
6. Not taking risks: Again it comes down to the 90%/10% rule in that 10% of the people in our industry take risks. Guess which group gets the top results? Every mentor I interviewed for my Greenlight Mentor Program , this past year, had risks to share. They are necessary to break-out in 2011.
7. Coming from a place of lack and desperation: So many people get themselves into a place where it’s too late. They are in financial crisis, which causes them to be in a state of desperation, which equals a continued cycle of lack of work. If you’re in this cycle, you must find a way out or it will only worsen.
8. Seeing why something won’t work instead of seeing the possibility: I call these people the ‘Naysayers’ always having a reason why something new won’t work, or why they can’t afford something they know is going to help them, or knocking something before they’ve tried it. Other versions are people who have “heard that doesn’t work” or people who have “tried it once and give up because it didn’t work.”
9. Lack of family support: This has always been a challenging one for me because, it usually occurs when the family doesn’t see you getting anywhere because of the reasons above. It’s hard to support someone who is causing financial strain on your life, or who is angry, bitter, and frustrated all of the time because he/she is not working. Your family wants you to be happy, and when you’re not working, you’re usually not.
10. Lack of self worth: This is where it all stems from. Whether you grew up with low self-esteem, or the lack of work has chipped away at your self worth, or you’ve had a great career and then lost it. These are just some of the few reasons why people’s lack of self worth, which disguises itself in many ways, sabotages their success in the industry.
And Action!
1. Invest in my year-long program, The And Action Home Study Course, that addresses these top ten mistakes and more. You know I don’t normally come out and offer you something, in these newsletters, so if this is not for you, move on to action task 2, but if you know you’re ready to have 2011 be your break out year, and you know that you can’t do it without help, then give yourself this gift, finally.
2. Figure out what mistakes you’ve made in the past and solutions to those mistakes so you won’t make them in the future.
If Ebenezer Scrooge can change, surely you can too. Make 2011 your break-out year, be in the top 10%!
