First Step - Objective

The first step to becoming the star of your own life is to pick your objective.

If you're an actor working on a role in a play or film, the first thing you must understand about your character is his objective. What does he or she want? Richard III wants to become king. The Joker wants to create chaos in Gotham City. Ferris Bueller wants to show his best friend a good time so he will realize his potential.

The character's objective is behind every choice the actor makes. Richard III ends up murdering his nephews and both his brothers. The Joker kills massive numbers of people. And Ferris runs all over Chicago one step ahead of his parents and truant officers.

Notice that in order to achieve their objectives, the characters do things. Of course, if they didn't, you wouldn't watch. But what makes compelling drama can also make for compelling lives.

What's your objective? Write down something specific, but don't use any form of the verb "to be". For example, don't write down "I want to be rich," because that objective won't lead to action. Think about how you want to be rich (if that's your objective) and write that down -- for example, "I want to work at a Hedge fund" or "I want to study medicine" are both ways a person can become rich. Both of them lead to an action -- to work at a Hedge Fund, you have to apply for a job. To study medicine, you have to apply to medical school.

Picking an active objective leads to action on your part. So pick an objective for your life, and start your path to stardom. Next week I will post the next step.