Where Does Inspiration and Success Come From?
No matter how much you love shooting, there will always be days when you need inspiration from somewhere. You cannot wait to be inspired, you have to want it and be receptive to it coming from everywhere. In life there are signs everywhere.
I believe success starts with one being themselves. Quite simply it is a matter of knowing who you are and where you are going. This is key to getting the most out of who you are. You must self-actualise at all costs. In life, good luck comes from opportunity that is created by oneself. I firmly believe in order to be great you must do what you love – do what you want to do and you will be great. When someone like Tiger Woods or a Michael Jordan become the best at what they do, it is because they are fuelled by nothing but love, passion and the desire to conquer and be the best at their craft. The results they achieve are mind blowing, as we know. People around the world are in awe of these people year after year and we need to look close and ask ourselves how we can learn from this and be great ourselves I recently had a conversation Jerry Ghionis and he said to me that in order to be truly great, ‘One must work a minimum of 10,000 hours at their craft.’ After thinking about it I realised that greatness can’t just come from work. To succeed you first have to know what it is you want to do with your life and then ensure you do nothing else, at all costs – this is the first lesson.
The second is to ensure you overcome all obstacles that come your way. There will be many lessons during your journey. Notice I say lessons. In order to be great, failure cannot be an option. You need to be persistent. Never give up. The only way you can fail is if you give up and stop trying. One of my favourite movie quotes of all time comes from the most recent Rocky movie. In this Rocky says to his son, ‘In life it is not how hard you hit, it’s how hard you get hit and keep moving forward.’ I love this quote. What he is saying is very simple. In order to be the best you must always keep trying.
You cannot be scared to be who you are and to make a statement. Whether people love what you do, hate what you do, or are even indifferent about what you do. The question is do they remember you? Did you leave an impression? How many famous people do you know of because of something bad, strange or indifferent they have done? In order to stand out you cannot care what anyone says or thinks. I promise you this will not be easy. However the rewards of change and thinking outside the box will far outweigh the failures. We are all afraid of not fitting in, or worse, failure. Fear, as we all know, is an emotion that we all live with. To have success in any area you must learn what fear is and how to deal with it. Successful people have fear, but they know how to manage it better than most.
When people make decisions to pursue what they really desire, fear is almost always there. Fear is often there because people are afraid of the pain that may come if they go for what they want. Fear is natural, but when it stops you from making a decision, or taking a chance, it is a waste. All the greats have fear. One of the things that makes them great is how they deal with it.
Take Time to Think and Plan. One characteristic that automatically goes along with ’successful’ people is their ability to take the necessary time to think, plan and set priorities. You need to have quick and strong approach towards your goals.
Flow. As you know I love the term ‘flow’. I consider this a mental state. A nirvana state. This is where highly successful people work on high-value tasks at a continuous level of activity. I feel in order to work best, you must enter into this state as much as you possibly can. If you think about it, being in the ‘flow’ is a top state of performance and productivity.Once you are in this state, everything you do will seem effortless to you.
How to get with the ‘Flow’. The fastest way to get with flow is by wanting more. You have to want more. Your desire to get on with the desired task quickly so you can achieve it faster. This is part of an impatience that motivates you to get going and to keep going. This will only help you to want more.
Be Curious – it is important to have a sense of curiosity.
Companies, as well as people, can be curious. If you are open to change you will always be very curious.. Reintroduce curiosity into your life by changing the way you’re looking at the world to a more dynamic perspective. Instead of focusing on controlling the outcome when you photograph a wedding you should focus instead on accepting many possible outcomes. Such an outlook, in and of itself, will go a long way. I think it is important to have fun. Again put yourself in a position to have good thing happen. Don’t photograph at the obvious location. Take a moment a find a way to make the ordinary become extraordinary.
In my life I feel rich not because of money, but because everyday I get to go to work doing something I love. I always thought the only legacy I would leave in this world would be my beautiful children, but as I get older I realise I am leaving another as well. That is legacy of memories I have left for many many families over the years through my photographs.
