Thought For Day - Luck

"I've found that luck is quite predictable. If you want more luck,
take more chances. Be more active. Show up more often."

— Brian Tracy:

Sunday's Eclectic Music Videos # 2 - House of the Rising Sun

Sunday's Eclectic Music Videos # 1 - Nina Simone

Saturday's Motivational Video - Tony Robbins in Rome

Thought For Day - Success

Success

To laugh often and much;
To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children;
To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends;
To appreciate beauty, to find the best in others;
To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a
redeemed social condition;
To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived.
This is to have succeeded.

Often attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson, it is an adaptation of a poem published in 1905 by Bessie Stanley. No version of it has been found in Emerson's writings.

Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Day comes, by statute, once a year; to the honest man it comes as frequently as the heart of gratitude will allow. ~Edward Sandford Martin

Thanks Michael Lloyd

I'm spending Thanksgiving with my Cousin Pat Gavin's family. He passed away in October and is very deeply missed. I'm thankful for reconnecting with him a year ago after 40 years apart and thankful for the time we spent together and now to be part of his family. I am thankful for all my family and friends this Thanksgiving and all the blessings in my life.
So I say Thank You, Thank You , Thank You this Thanksgiving..........

Thought For Day - Move the Mountain

"The man who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small stones."

William Faulkner

Thanks Robert Allen

Thought For Day - Only the Miserable Can Create Misery

"The reason some people are hurtful is they are hurt-FULL. Only the miserable can create misery, have mercy for them. "

Sean Stephenson

Great insight and so true.

Thought For Day - The Turtle Effect

"The Turtle Effect was taught to me by my mother when I was a young girl. She told me that I could achieve anything I wanted to as long as I remembered to have a soft inside, a hard shell, and be sure to stick my neck out."

Nikki Stone Olympic Gold Winner - Motivational Speaker

http://olympianstone.wordpress.com/2009/11/04/under-pressure-–-not-just-another-day-at-the-office/

Thanksgiving Week - Make a Contribution

This Thanksgiving as you spend time with family and friends take the time to remember the true spirit of Thanksgiving. Take the time to be grateful for all you have and make some time to give to others and to yourself by giving the gift of self.

Here are four ways you can contribute this week / holiday season or create your own act of contribution.




"Everyone has the need to contribute. It is one of the six human needs. If you give from your heart,
it will come back to you tenfold." -- Anthony Robbins

The International Basket Brigade is built on a simple notion: one small act of generosity on the part of one caring person can transform the lives of hundreds. It takes only one light to dispel the darkness, and even just one basket or a few, to bring hope! A Basket Brigade takes place when one individual prepares one basket to personally deliver to a needy family or individual.

What began more than 30 years ago as Tony's individual effort to feed families in need, has now grown into the Anthony Robbins Foundation's International Basket Brigade, providing baskets of food and household items for an estimated 2 million people annually in countries all over the world. Throughout the year International Basket Brigade volunteers deliver food, clothing, and hope to those who need it most. The Foundation would be honored to have you become a part of this truly wonderful event.

http://www.anthonyrobbinsfoundation.org/arf/inter_bb.php

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http://www.opgratitude.com/

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http://www.feedthechildren.org/site/PageServer?pagename=dotorg_homepage


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Touch the Life of a Teen. Give them the Gift of Success.

http://www.successfoundation.org/

Sunday's Eclectic Music Videos # 2 -Sacrifice

Sunday's Eclectic Music Videos # 1 - It's Not Easy

Saturday's Motivational Video - John Wooden

Thought For Day - Fess Up

"More people would learn from their mistakes if they weren't so busy denying them."

Harold J. Smith

Thought For Day - Re-examine

Re-examine all you have been told... Dismiss what insults your Soul."

Walt Whitman

Thought For Day - Real Leaders

"Real leaders are not people who can point out what's wrong. Anyone can do that. Real leaders are people who can make things better."

Goldsmith

Thought For Day - The Main Thing

"The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing."

— Stephen Covey

Thought For Day - Character

"Character is not made in a crisis, it is only exhibited."

--Robert Freeman

Personal Ramblings - Filmmaking

I'm reposting a great article from Suzanne Lyons Newsletter. Check out her websites and newsletter.

http://www.suzannelyons.net/

http://www.snowfallfilms.com/







TEN STEPS TO SUCCESS IN HOLLYWOOD
(Or any Business)


1. SET A GOAL - Do a one year goal. For example, "By December 1st, 2010 I will _________________________ _________________________________________. Then break it down into monthly milestones: January 1st, February 1st, March 1st, etc.

2. DESIGN YOUR PITCH - Do a FANTASTIC logline for your project or yourself depending on whether or not you are selling your script or yourself. Then prepare a two minute pitch to expand on the logline. If you are pitching yourself be sure to design your pitch drawing from highlights from your career and your personal life. I usually make a list of 5 to 10 highlights from my career and personal life and then I choose the ones I want to use in my pitch. As producers you should always have a great pitch ready that is about you because you will constantly be enrolling people in YOU, whether they be financiers, agents, directors, etc.

3. CREATE A DISPLAY OF WHO YOU KNOW (MAP OF RELATIONSHIPS) - Categorize the names of everyone you know in the industry, ie. producers, writers, casting directors, directors, entertainment attorneys, etc. Call everyone on your Map and tell them what you're up to.

4. NETWORK - Continue to expand your Map. Network, Network, Network. Get out there and meet people. Sometimes to push myself a little I will set a goal like "I will meet 10 new people this month". See my October Newsletter for some great tips on Networking and creating Relationships.

5. MAKE REQUESTS AND OFFERS - Make requests (not favors) of people on your Map. For example, "I'm really committed to meeting 3 new directors for my film project. Do you know any directors you could introduce or refer me to." Also, end every call and conversation with "Is there anything I can do for you". We all to often forget to do this and it means a lot to the person on the other end of the phone.

6. CREATE A HITLIST - Target who you need to talk to or meet with. RESEARCH. Read the trades. Make a list of 10 to 20 names and start calling. This could be one of the requests that you make to people on your Map. For example, "I am looking to set up a meeting with John Doe, Casting Director. He is on my Hitlist as someone I really want to meet. I know you have worked with him before and was wondering if I could use you name when I called him."

7. BRAINSTORMING - Get ideas outside of what you alone can come up with. So often we try to do it alone and it's crazy. In the Flash Forward workshops over the years we had a built in one-hour exercise called "Brainstorming" where we divided into teams of six or eight people and then divide up the time equally. Then one person would state what they needed and then they would be quiet and just listen and take notes as everyone threw ideas at them. They were not allowed to comment on the ideas at all. They just wrote everything down and then took from the ideas what they wanted. It was extremely successful.

8. KEEP STATS - I know this doesn't sound like fun and we all get a bit squeamish when we think about statistics. However, it is such a great wake up call to what actions you are really taking as opposed to what you are just talking about. Make a list of 3 to 5 categories you want to track and then add up the actions you have taken on a weekly basic. In the workshops I have led I always include this as part of the program. People are always shocked at how few calls they have made compared to what they thought they had. Categories could include: Number of production companies contacted about my project; number of meetings set; number of auditions; number of scripts sent out; number of new relationship made, etc.

9. GET A MENTOR - No matter what level you are at. Make it easy for them. Request only a little of their time over a very specific period of time. For example, three ten-minute conversations over the next four weeks, or a half-hour coffee meeting, or a lunch together. Also, please be prepared with your questions ready and it is important that you generate the conversation. It is not your mentor's job to generate it. Remember it is a business relationship so always acknowledge them for their time.

10. CREATE A SUPPORT STRUCTURE FOR YOURSELF - It is extremely important to be held accountable for your promises! We're only human after all and sometimes when the going gets tough the tough get going. Don't let that happen. Be held accountable for your word and your actions. Every Tuesday morning a group of 6 of us get together to talk about our goals and what actions we are going to take that week. On Friday we email in what we have done so far, and what is still left to do before we meet the next Tuesday. It really helps keep us focused and on target, and the coaching and brainstorming we do with each other is priceless.

A BONUS TIP: HAVE FUN AND ACKNOWLEDGE YOURSELF DAILY! We are here to have fun (no matter what business you're in) so keep that in mind at all times. The more you take on having every action, every milestone and every goal as FUN, the more people will want to play with you and the more you will attract into your life everything you want. Also, don't wait for others to acknowledge you. Acknowledge yourself. In the Launching the Future workshop I lead I include a page where people list what they want to be acknowledged for, just to get them in the habit of acknowledgment.

Sunday's Eclectic Music Videos # 1 - Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday JD

Today I celebrate my birthday and today I also celebrate the courage, vision and love that my parents had that took them from the farms of Ireland to America during the Great Depression to eventually give me a great life and the America Dream.

it's funny how when I was younger I would get depressed on my birthday and eventually I turned it into my one and only Designated Depression Day and finally I decided I didn't need to be depressed for even one day and let that go. Now I see it my birthday more as a Designated Gratitude Day. A day when I can focus on all I am grateful for.

So today I celebrate all I am grateful for and it is a very very long list. Thank you to my family, especially my new Irish family, friends and all those who have touched my life over the years and gave me the gift of your friendship, love, humor, company and contributed to who I am today. It's been a long and interesting journey. You're in my memory and my heart. Thank you.

I got a special package from My Cousin Marie all the way from the mountain of Glanduff Ireland. She sent me a Irish Baseball hat and scarf and birthday card.

My cousin is 65 years old and rides her bike up and down the mountain 1/2 hours each way to get to the town to buy the present and to mail it to me. Truly a gift and some sacrifice from the heart. I can't convey how special a birthday present it is and how it is a symbol of the love that is in my life that I feel so grateful for.

So my birthday today will look like this:

Exercise - The Steps in Santa Monica
Meditating, Journaling and Visioning and for my future @ the Self Realization Gardens in Santa Monica
Create a Vision Board for 2010
Volunteering for a 1/2 day packing care packages @ Operation Gratitude
Working / Writing on my Documentary. TV Series Proposal and my Memoir Book
A special dinner with my family.
And having my cousin Sharon and her family calling me from Germany to sing me a Happy Birthday
Calling my Aunt Maggie and Cousin Marie in Ireland to share my day with them
And receiving Birthday wishes from my family on the East Coast and from all my friends on FB

It doesn't get better than this......

I believe my best years are still ahead of me and I look forward to achieving more, contributing more and living an even more fulfilling life.....

So a toast..... Slainte
I share this day with all my family and friends and say Thank you




John Duffy

Saturday's Motivational Video - Les Brown Story

Thought For Day - What Lies Within

"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us"

Unknown

Thanks Scoty Jones

Thought For Day - What's the Solution?

"To solve any problem, here are 3 questions to ask yourself: First, what can I do? Second, what can I read? And third, who Can I ask?"

Tony Christodoulou

Not necessarily in that order. i prefer to see problems as challenges and believe there is always a solution

John Duffy

Thought For Day - It's the Life in Your Years

"And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years."~

Abraham Lincoln

Thanks Sharon

Veteran's Day

In Memory of my Dad Patrick Duffy, my Father in-Law Jules Lisella and my friend CJ Bau, May they rest in peace and in honor of all those who have served.


Donate to the Wounded Warrior's Project

http://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/

Thought For Day - Silence Doesn't Equal Agreement

"You have not converted a man because you have silenced him." -

John Morley

Freedom Without Walls - 20th Celebration of Fall Of Berlin Wall

20th Anniversary Celebrations

On November 9, 2009, Berlin will celebrate the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall with a "Festival of Freedom".

In the United States, the German Embassy is coordinating a public diplomacy campaign with the motto "Freedom Without Walls" to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. The campaign is focused on promoting awareness of the fall of the Berlin Wall among current college students, and students at over 20 universities will participate in "Freedom Without Walls" events in late 2009.

There was a time that it never seemed possible. No one could not imagine the collapse of Communism and the Fall of the Berlin Wall. Yet the impossible became possible and freedom happened. It started in the imagination of the oppressed German people living under the brutal East German regime. It was a great day for Germany and the world twenty years ago,

A comparison in case you forgot the differences or maybe are not clear about them:

Communism

"The dictatorship of the Communist Party is maintained by recourse to every form of violence"
Leon Trotsky

"Ideas are more powerful than guns. we would not let our enemies have guns, why would we let them have ideas"
Joseph Stalin

Democracy

"There are many people in the world who really don't understand, or say they don't, what is the great issue between the free world and the Communist world. Let them come to Berlin"
John F Kennedy

"The West won't contain communism, it will transcend communism".
"Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall".
Ronald Reagan

Great days lie ahead and people are imagining freedom from their brutal regimes.

Freedom's Calling - Iran is Next....... and..... North Korea and........ Freedom's Calling.........

Sunday's Eclectic Music Videos # 2 - Whenever, Wherever

Sunday's Eclectic Music Videos # 1 - Smooth Operator

Saturday's Motivational Video - Ironman Sara Reinertsen

Thought For Day - Embrace Uncertainty

“Uncertainty and mystery are energies of life. Don't let them scare you unduly, for they keep boredom at bay and spark creativity.”

R. I. Fitzhenry

Thanks Ben Ramsey

Condolences to Family and Friends at Fort Hood

My heart and condolences go out to the families & friends of those killed at Fort Hood and my wishes for a speedy recovery for the wounded.

john Duffy

Thought For Day - Your Destination is Not Determined by the Winds

"Your destination in life is not determined by the blowing of the wind, but rather the setting of your sail. Remember, we all have the same challenges (winds blowing on us). So if some people are succeeding wildly, while others are falling down... it is how you are responding to the challenges that is dictating your course and your destination."

Jim Rohn


Thanks Brian Carruthers

Thought For Day - Pursue Those Dreams

"Dreams can come true if you have the courage to pursue them"


John Duffy

Thought For Day - Greatest Success

"Our greatest success will come just one step away from our greatest failure."

Napoleon Hill

Thought For Day - Be Honored for What You Give

Sunday's Eclectic Music Video 2009 # 2 - Cry of Freedom

Sunday's Eclectic Music Videos # 1 - Naitty Waller & Henry Girls