Friday 17 May 2013

A lesson learned

Yesterday I attended a kindergarten conference.  One of the speakers was Adam Elliot, the creator of the  Oscar award winning short animation film Harvie Krumpet.



Interestingly, he said he wasn't sure what we would get out of his speaking about winning the Oscar and about leading up to the whole event and after party, etc.

But I got a huge amount of inspiration.

Adam Elliot was on Centrelink benefits when Harvie Krumpet won the Oscar. For years, Adam painstakingly filmed 5 seconds of film a day, hand making all the set, scenery and characters for the film, shooting it, everything.  He didn't have a studio, he had a storage shed with no heating or cooling, catering was the servo across the street. The entire film budget of $300 000 was funded by an arts grant from the Victorian Government. He was up against bigger ACTUAL studios....the list of nominees included Boundin' by Pixar, Gone Nutty ( as in Ice Age pre movie) by Blue Sky studios, and Destino by Disney animation studios, all with budgets in the millions and tens of millions.

What do you reckon his chances were?  Apparently if you asked his mum, or his friends,  it would be similar to a snowballs chance in Hell.

And yet, he won.

So what did I get out of it?

This man had a dream. It wasn't getting him famous or rich, in fact he had to move back to his parents home because he couldn't afford to live anywhere else at one stage. He was pressured to get a 'real' job. The script was rejected once before it was finally picked up. He worked long long days and all for 5 seconds of film?!  CRAZY.

But he PERSISTED. He BELIEVED. He DID WHAT HAD TO BE DONE.

And he won. When everyone else thought no chance, when even he thought no chance on the flight over, on the red carpet, in the Kodak theatre, right up until they announced it and shoved a camera in his face ( he still thought he misheard the winner) the work he had done all those years came through.


He persisted in following his dream even when his relationship fell apart, he had no money, when giving up and just thinking it was too hard would be an easier option and an easy out.

He believed in  what he was doing and what he IS doing still. It gave him a line to focus on, a goal to achieve, something to aim for while being true to himself.

He did what had to be done. He still hand makes all his props, scenery etc for his animated films.  He still can only film approximately 5 seconds of film a day, but work for countless hours each day just to get that vital 5 seconds.

THAT is what I needed to put into my running.....into my work life and into myself. It is the 'secret' of success. To have that tenacity to follow through no matter what is a common theme for those who succeed in achieving their goals. No matter how hard it is, or how much they want to give up (or others tell them to give up) they stick with it and produce glorious results.

I want that tenacity...imagining success when none seems possible. Moving ahead when there seems to be no clear result in sight.


I have my goal.....and I will hang on with all my strength and belief until I get there. And I WILL get there.

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