Success Advice

5 Success Lessons We Can All Learn From Hollywood

Published

6 years ago

Dec 25, 2017

Hollywood is not just about producing and making movies. It is also about inspiring people and motivating them. Some videos made a significant influence on our decision making. They have writers and directors who speak to their audience. These movies have a lesson that impacts our lives mentally and emotionally.

Most people think that movies can only offer entertainment value. But for some, movies can give you lessons about leadership, success, and life. Movies stimulate our thinking and assist us in learning new things through the use of visual arts. But you need to look deeper to find that lesson.

Here are 5 lessons we can all learn from Hollywood:

1. Never give up

In the Pursuit of Happyness, it showed that if you are motivated to succeed in life, you will do anything to achieve your goals. Chris Gardner (Will Smith) struggled as his business failed. When he faced eviction and unpaid parking tickets, he did not give up. He got a job as an unpaid intern to be a broker. He took risks and reached out to high-value customers. As a result, all his efforts paid off. During his last day of internship, he was awarded a full-time position.

The movie also teaches us that being poor must not stop us from getting what we want in life. Our success is not dependent on fate or luck, but on our efforts. Because Chris has a dream, he goes after it.

Even if life humiliates you, you need to taste bitterness first before tasting happiness. After finishing his internship and selling the medical devices, Chris went to the beach and slept in a hotel. This shows that no matter what happens, you deserve a break. You also need to treat yourself and do something nice for yourself because you deserve it.

2. Create a great product

The Social Network movie is a story about the early days of Facebook. How it depicted the story of Mark Zuckerberg may not be accurate, yet it offers a great number of lessons that every entrepreneur must heed.

Mark Zuckerberg operated through a trial-and-error method by learned from the success and failure of others. The movie showed how Facebook took off successfully because of its cool factor. When Mark opposed his partner’s strategy of adding advertisements to drive revenue, it teaches us he was entirely focused on creating an excellent product that drives more users. After it had attracted millions of users, it started to implement a monetization strategy.

The movie also teaches us to take a considerable risk if you wish to be successful. Mark dropped out of Harvard to create Facebook. Although not all risk takers win, you need to risk big to win big.

“The biggest risk is not taking any risk… In a world that changing really quickly, the only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking risks.” – Mark Zuckerberg

3. Surround yourself with successful people

In the X-Men movie, every member of the team has power. Due to this, they always achieve great things such as defeating the villains Magneto and Apocalypse. In life, you also need to surround yourself with successful, smart and talented individuals, because you can rely on them when your abilities and skills fall short. The movie teaches us that success can never be achieved alone. You need people to help you win big.

X-men also teaches us that leaders, too, have limitations. That’s why they need the support of their colleagues. While young leaders may be high on passion, they are usually low on life experience. To succeed in life, you need tools. When soldiers were sent to Vietnam without the weapons, they underestimated their enemies, and Dr. Bolivar Trask admitted it.

Failure is not final. Xavier said that just because a person stumbles, it does not mean that he lost his way. It takes a leader to encourage another leader because they both have credibility. They understand the struggles that come with leadership. That’s why when Wolverine told Xavier that he has confidence in him, it means he trusts him.

4. Know what you want

The movie “The Wolf of Wall Street” offers a great number of key lessons you can learn to help you succeed such as knowing what you want in life. Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio) did not get rich by accident. He knew exactly what he wanted and how he could get there because he had a vision. He had an outcome in mind allowing him to steer his decisions.

He also learned how to sell himself by wearing fancy suits. Doing this helped people see him as successful because he ensured his suits were tailored thus people’s perception of him would change. The key here is to know what you want others to see you as and decide how you want them to see you. From there, you can present yourself in that way.

Jordan also adjusted and mastered his strategy. He specialized in penny stocks and sold cheap stocks to people. And when he pitched to ultra-wealthy, he had a strategy that worked for that market. Although at first, it was a failure, he perfected it eventually. You can also apply this to your business. You need to keep in mind your customer base and customize your pitches for your target market.

In addition to mastering his strategy, he also trained people well so that these people would implement his ideas. He taught these people to sound experienced and knowledgeable in the stock market by giving them tools. What you can learn from it is that you need to hire an excellent staff and not do all the work for yourself. You must show your staff exactly what you want them to achieve by training them well.

“The only thing standing between you and your goal is the bullshit story you keep telling yourself as to why you can’t achieve it.” – Jordan Belfort

5. Step out of your comfort zone

Good Will Hunting is another old movie with critical lessons about success. One of these lessons teaches us to step out of our comfort zone and take risks. It seems cliche, but life is about taking risks if you want to be successful.

Some people avoid business ventures because they do not want to risk their money. However, we need to realize everything has an outcome in the future. We are afraid to change because of fear, but as Phil Schiller said, “fear is a great motivator.” In fact, it is an undervalue motivator. Regardless of whether we fail or succeed, we learn life lessons which provide invaluable benefits for our future.

The movie also taught us that education does not always equal intelligence. Will is a self-taught genius and never had formal schooling, yet he could solve complex problems which the average man could not.

In life, you may need the education to get a job. However, you do not need to be formally educated to achieve greatness.

How are you finding consistent ways to achieve your own greatness? Please comment beow and let us know!

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Catrin Cooper

Catrin Cooper is a content manager at real estate startup Rentberry in San Francisco. She loves creating useful articles for tenants and landlords as well as writing about marketing and self-development. In a free time, Catrin enjoys traveling and yoga.

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There is no greatness without becoming and there is no becoming with authenticity

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In just a few weeks, we will be wrapping up 2023. Can you believe it? This year has been absolutely incredible for me.

I have seen amazing doors opened, new relationships formed and I am seeing dreams realized in my life. While this seems like the hallmarks of a great year, this has also been the most challenging year of my life. With all of the change happening in my life, I have been forced out of my comfort zone and challenged to grow in every area of my life.

I can truly say that I have made the most of my moments this year and I have used everything as a catalyst for maximizing my greatest potential.

As a revolutionary leader, I have the pleasure of consulting and advising leaders around the world to fulfill purpose, realize their greatest potential and make an impact.

I want to share some insights with you that will help you to break cycles of mediocrity and manifest your greatness.

Everything legal must come through the matrix

I am sure that some of you are wondering why I am using the term matrix. However, what you have to understand is that I am trying to make a highly complex spiritual principle practical to understand.

Regardless of your spiritual beliefs, every life has an origin and I believe that origin is divine and begins with eternity. You are birthed from eternity and into time to fulfill a unique purpose and assignment in your lifetime and generation.

The matrix is simply the portal or vehicle that brings something out of the invisible realm and into tangible form. The problem with much of the teaching today is that it excludes the matrix. We are told to believe that success is instantaneous and overnight.

Nobody talks about how a dream progresses through stages beginning with visualization and ultimately culminating in manifestation. Without a matrix or portal then everything that you attempt to birth and build will be illegal.

The matrix not only makes you legal but it gives you the authority and power to function as the greatest expression of who you were created to be.

Every matrix has an incubation process

While many people admire and respect me today, I remember a time when nobody knew who I was or the significance of my message. How did I get to where I am today? I got here through an incubation process.

In other words, everything that has been destined for your life is incubating and awaiting a set time of manifestation. The problem is that most people live their entire lives idle and never initiate the incubation process.

What do I meany by that? Most people are living reckless and very few people are living intentionally. I am amazed at the number of people I have conversations with that have no vision, goals or strategies for their lives. They show great promise and they have undeniable potential.

However, without development they will die with their dreams still in them.

Everything that has been destined for your life must be incubated and converted to become realities born to time.

“Visualize this thing that you want, see it, feel it, believe in it. Make your mental blueprint and begin to build.” – Robert Collier

You must give expression to that which is not yet born to time

When you think about a matrix or a prophetic incubation process, you have to understand that potential is often unrealized and untapped. In other words, your potential is in raw form and your potential cannot serve you as long as it is untapped.

The thing that makes me valuable is that I have the ability to convert potential into power. I have done it in my own life and I have empowered leaders around the world to do the same. How do you convert potential into power?

First, it is important to note that you have to perceive potential. If you cannot perceive your potential then you can never cultivate your potential. In addition, you must take the time to cultivate your potential. We often get excited about our capabilities; however, we never expand our capacity in order to realize our greatest potential.

In other words, the strength of your potential is only discovered through your willingness to stretch. The more we are challenged the more we are empowered to expand our capacity for greatness. Most of all, you must begin to express your potential. The expression of potential is different for every person.

For example, the expression of my potential is best demonstrated through the thoughts, ideas, products, services, books, etc.

For another person the expression of potential may look like a screenplay, artwork, sports, scientific discoveries, medical breakthroughs, etc.

Regardless of the form of expression, I know that you will live empty and unfulfilled until you make the decision to express your potential. The expression of your potential gives voice to your dreams, life to your vision, significance to your moments and activates your true power.

You must manifest your greatness

As a revolutionary thinker and leader, my work has impacted people around the world. I am grateful that my life is a source of empowerment to so many people. However, before anyone could ever benefit from my life, I had to make a non-negotiable decision to become who I was born to be.

I wish I could tell you that this journey is easy and that you will get there overnight. However, in a world that celebrates us for doing we are often criticized for being. As a result, I wasted a lot of time trying to be who other people wanted me to be instead of being who I was born to be.

There is no greatness without becoming and there is no becoming with authenticity. It is through our bravery to be vulnerable that we ultimately manifest our greatness. We do not bless the world by being a duplicate. We bless the world when we honor our difference. When you honor your difference you honor your potential.

Ultimately, your difference is how you manifest your greatness.

When you present anything but your authentic self to the world, you are playing small and you are robbing the world of your significance. Manifesting your greatness requires you to master your gifts.