Practical Takeaways from Today's Episode

What are beliefs?

Quite simply, beliefs are stories we've constructed in our head about about how the world works, and our place/capabilities within that world.

It's our brain's job to make sense of the crazy amount of physical and emotional stimuli we experience. Our brains are trying to give us consistent certainty and pleasure in a chaotic and uncertain world. And beliefs are one of the core mechanisms by which they do that.

Some beliefs are essential to keeping us safe (both physically and socially). Beliefs like...

If I put my hand on a hot stove, I'm going to burn my hand.

Or, if I run naked through a shopping mall, I'll probably get tackled by security guard before getting hauled off to jail. Then my family and community will look down on me.

Many beliefs though, aren't fundamentally true like that. These are generally in the realm of what we believe about other people, about society, the film industry, and about ourselves. They're simply assumptions based on incomplete information.

Yet we treat many of these untrue or incomplete beliefs with the same reverence as we would beliefs about burning ourselves on hot stoves or running naked through public.

These are the beliefs that get us in trouble and stop us from reaching our potential.

Why your beliefs are so damn important

Ok, so why is any of this a problem? I've got three reasons for you.

More often than not, we're not aware of our fundamental beliefs. They exist in the background of our consciousness running the show without us really knowing it. Even worse, most of us don't choose our beliefs. They come from a variety of sources over the course of our lives. Our earliest experiences, our parents, culture, school, jobs, and the people we've surrounded ourselves with. And as we move through our lives, our beliefs tend to reinforce themselves. They become stronger and more entrenched in our lives.

Key takeaway here. You probably have beliefs that you don't know about, that you didn't consciously choose, that are only getting stronger and more entrenched as you move through life.

And if those beliefs happen to be negative, it's a major problem. Here's why.

Our beliefs shape our actions.

Our actions shape our habits.

Our habits shape our future.

If we don't have the right kind of beliefs, we'll never take the proper actions to build the future we want. It's as simple as that.

So now let's start getting more specific, and really look at how this applies to filmmakers.

Common beliefs that hold filmmakers back

There are a ton of different beliefs that could be sabotaging us (a lot of them are about money). But in my years of working with filmmakers, there are a few beliefs that seem to pop up again and again. Here they are.

"I'm a certain gender, skin color, etc, and people like me just don't succeed in film." (You may think I'm being an asshole by saying this is a self-limiting belief. I'd challenge you to look up whether there are people of your gender/skin color succeeding in film. I guarantee you there are. They might have faced more obstacles than other people in getting there, but they overcame and succeeded in spite of that. You can as well, if you stop telling yourself your dreams are impossible because of your immutable characteristics. It's a bad strategy.)

"I'm not a real filmmaker until I live in LA or NYC and make features for a living."

"Other people only succeed because they're rich and well connected."

"The only way to make a lot of money as a filmmaker is to go to Hollywood and compromise your values."

"I'm just not talented enough to get noticed in such a noisy world."

"Film festivals are the only route to get my films seen."

"You either sell out, or you're a starving artist. There is no in-between."

All of these are demonstrably false, but people believe these stories so deeply that their actions inevitably fall in line with them.

And while all of these bum me out, I think that last one about "selling out" is the worst, because there are very, very talented people who tell themselves that story, then subsequently don't make any money. Their work would be beneficial to society and culture if they could overcome that belief, and they'd get paid what they genuinely deserve, but they'd rather live in a prison of their own making and stay in the poor house forever.

That's the kind of power that beliefs can have over our entire lives. And in this case, that belief negatively affects the world around us, because we're not allowing our work out into the marketplace. So everybody loses when beliefs like that are allowed to flourish.

A personal example of a limiting belief I've overcome

Before we move to the "solutions" half of this, I just want to share a personal example of a shitty belief that I've dealt with throughout my life.

The belief was: "I'm just bad with money."

And for years, this belief played out in all of the most predictable and unfortunate ways. I was irresponsible. I bought things I couldn't afford with money I didn't have. I never had more than $50 in my savings account. I didn't set money aside for taxes as a freelancer.

And I felt bad about all of these things, but it wasn't worth me doing anything about it because of the story I was telling myself. I just wasn't the kind of person who was good with money. So why bother?

A little later, I'll share exactly how I broke out of this negative pattern of thinking and got my money in order.

But first, we need to learn how to spot the beliefs that are holding us back.

Identify your beliefs

Before you can can change your beliefs for the better, you have to learn how to spot the ones that are holding you back. Here are three methods I recommend.

The "on the spot" method.

When you find yourself sabotaging yourself in some way, or you find yourself in some kind of emotional pain related to filmmaking or creativity, stop and see if you can spot the underlying beliefs that are driving your action.

Ask yourself, why did I just make that choice? What was the line of thinking that drove my actions?

Make sure not to judge your thoughts or overthink it. You want this to be as close to stream of consciousness as possible, because that's how you get to some of those deeper beliefs.

In these cases, it's really useful to write stuff down, or journal, as close to the event as possible, because the closer you are, the more you'll be able to tap into underlying stories that drove your actions.

The "fill in the blank" method

Describe a situation you’re struggling with (e.g. “I can’t make a film”) and add the word “because” at the end of it, then finish the sentence out loud or in a document. And answer as many times as you can.

Example:

I can’t make a film because I don't have enough experience. Don't have the right equipment. Don't have the right connections. It won't be good enough to live up to my expectations. No one will ever see it anyway, so what's the point?

See how that works? Every single one of those is a limiting belief. And I'm sure we could come up with plenty more.

Like before, the key to making this work is not judging or overthinking your answers. In fact, the closer you can get to stream of consciousness, the better. I like to do this in writing or in a mind map because it allows me to get thoughts out quickly. I tend to overthink when I'm speaking, but when I'm typing the words just come.

Surround yourself with people who are achieving the kind of results you want in your life

Ask them to point out your limiting beliefs to you. Because self-limiting beliefs are glaringly obvious to high achieving people.

A great way to do this is with a mastermind group, where everyone gets together (in person or online) to work through their film and business goals and keep each other accountable.

Are your beliefs holding you back?

The techniques above will help you dredge up a ton of beliefs. Some of those beliefs will be good and useful, others not so much.

So when you find your underlying beliefs, ask yourself two questions.

How do I know this is true? Question every assumption you make and find what's really true. Basically, use the socratic questioning method, or act like a journalist. This is how you find the beliefs that are based on real, verifiable information, and the ones that have no logical foundation. If you can find evidence supporting both sides of a particular belief, choose the side that will empower you the most—the side that will help you get ahead in your career and life.



Is this belief serving me? Be honest with yourself, and figure out where it's moving you closer to you goals in life, or is it standing in the way.

If your answers come back, "I can't prove it" and "It's not serving me" then you've got a belief worth changing. Which is a perfect segue into talking about how to change beliefs.

How to change your beliefs for good

First off, if you want to change your beliefs, you must commit to it 100% and you've got to understand that in order to solve a belief problem, you have to start at a foundational level, not a tactical one. Anything less and you're just putting a bandaid on a stab wound. Trust me on this one.

Let's get back to my story about being bad with money.

I've tried multiple times throughout my life to get my finances in order. But instead of attacking the underlying story, I'd just try new tactics, or worse, download some cool budgeting app and tell myself I'd succeeded in getting good with money. Nope.