If you are meant for success, there is nothing in life that can stop you and the story of Steven Spielberg is a living testament to that. This great filmmaker has given birth to cinematic masterpieces like Jurassic Park, ET, Indiana Jones, and Ready Player One. The father to many classic adventure movies, Spielberg’s journey to success hasn’t been a bed of roses.
As a child, he was diagnosed with dyslexia. Failing to cope up with conventional studies, Spielberg dropped out of school. During his adult years, he was suspended three times from the University of Southern California for his poor performance. But Spielberg was a child with abundant talent and yearned for creative freedom.
At the young age of 10, he filmed the adventures of himself and his friends and was charged admission to the home viewings. That marked the beginning of his expansive career in the showbiz industry.
Today, Steven Allan Spielberg is a proud recipient of 3 academy awards. The 74-year-old director is one of the world’s wealthiest filmmakers with a net worth of $3.7 billion.
So, what helped him reach the pinnacle of his success?
To answer this question, here are 3 important life lessons from Spielberg himself presented to you by India’s favourite Astro strategist and business development expert Hirav Shah:
Table of Contents
Never stop dreaming
Despite many obstacles, Spielberg didn’t stop dreaming. He failed his college but the desire to become a director was bigger than these trivial obstacles. So, he fought on. Spielberg had once said, “All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds, wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act on their dreams with open eyes, to make them possible.”Given his successful career, this stands true in so many levels.
Nurture the child in you
If you look into the characters in the movie, you will realize that the main characters would often be kids who are struggling with their family’s relationship or have no parent figures to be in their lives. Spielberg as a child was often neglected and that aspect of his life is reflective in his work. This is because even in his loneliest times as a kid, he wanted to be a filmmaker and the characters he created were reflections of his lonely childhood. And here he is now, living his childhood dream.
Although it’s not practical to kid about every aspect of our lives, we should never let the world dim our light. The child in us is what keeps us happy even in the darkest of times and Spielberg often emphasizes this.
Don’t keep a tab of your success
Steven Spielberg never cared how much he earned after he created a movie. All that mattered to him was the audience response. If they like it, then that film is good enough for him. He isn’t the one to worry about his movie earning less in the theatres. For him, his love for his craft comes first. In an interview in 2018, Spielberg had said on this very topic, “I’m not a numbers person. I love making movies and telling stories and the numbers were all the beneficiaries of success if the film is successful. But the numbers don’t matter to me as much as the audience approving, liking, remembering, and even years later, through satire, recalling.”
Conclusion:
“When I grow up, I still want to be a director.” – Steven Spielberg
Steven came from humble beginnings with plentiful talent and a dream. He dreamt of becoming a good director and he succeeded. It’s the stories like Steven’s that prompt us to dream big.
You see, no one is born a genius. And no one is born with a magic wand in their hands that helps them make masterpieces with one stroke of magic. People like Steven are regular people like you and me who dared to dream and with practice and perseverance succeed.
Success always looks ahead of the false narrative that we build for ourselves. Nothing is truly impossible until we make an effort to try it. So, dream on and keep the flame of passion alive in your heart. Success will soon follow- concludes Business development expert Hirav Shah.
Photo Credit
Gage Skidmore from Peoria, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0
