Just do the work.

You can have whatever expectations you want; it doesn’t mean they are going to happen. There is too much that is out of our control to have expectations beyond what we ourselves are going to do. Everything else needs to take its own course, in its own time.

This is not a defeatist premise. Work hard at what you love to do, whatever brings you meaning and fulfillment or might just be an enjoyable way to spend time. Do not ruin your passion for doing something with unreasonable expectation, especially those involving money and fame. Those types of expectation simply lead to anxiety and depression. They set a person up for failure.

Example: Two years ago I directed a short film that I had written. It was an incredible enjoyable and rewarding experience. I worked with a local studio in Massachusetts and they did a fantastic job. The photography, the acting, the art design and general feeling of cooperation in creating something were a great experience and one I would not trade for anything. We ended up with a 24 minute movie called HR and I am very proud of the finished product.

We submitted the film to over twenty festivals and it was accepted by…zero! None! Not one festival wanted the film. Why? I don’t know. Maybe it was too long, maybe they didn’t like the acting, maybe they thought the story was stupid and trite and cliché. The films are judged, obviously, by people and there is no accounting for what people are going to like and not like.

I won’t lie; I was disappointed. I thought we would get into at least a couple of festivals. I figured a local festival or two would want to give a shout to a film done in Mass. However, I was wrong. So much for expectations.

Looking back, though, I remember the guys at the studio asking me what I wanted to do with the film. And honestly, at the time, I just wanted to make a film. That was it. Make a short film from start to finish, fully edited and with music and all that things that a finished film has. And I did that. Finishing the movie was all that was really under my control and event that wasn’t a given. I worked on feature films in NYC that had budgets of two million dollars that were never finished. A lot can happen to make completing a project very difficult. That is why I see expectations as distractions.

Just do the work.

Some people involved with the project see the fact that we did not get into any festivals as a failure. I do not. I loved making the film. I love the process. And we finished it. That to me is a success.

Just do the work.

Do you love doing what you do? Then do it. What do expectations have to do with anything? The reality is that no matter how hard you work at something it may fail. Hard work is no guarantee of success. We can become victims of expectations; they can rob us of our enjoyment of opening a business or writing a book or trying to become an actor or whatever it may be. They can actually become reasons to not try and an excuse to accept failure.

Just do the work.

Too many expectations are predicated on what other people are going to do. Are they going to like my restaurant and come eat here; are they going to want to read my novel; do they think I am a good actor?

We need to be realistic; a restaurant needs customers and landing a role is the goal of any actor; novelists want readers.

But the work has to come first. Forget the expectations.

We are getting ready to shoot another short film this summer. I do want it to get into festivals. Taking advice from the studio, I made the script shorter because most festivals are more willing to accept films under 20 minutes. I also revamped the story so the main character has a point of redemption. The shoot will be simpler, only three locations and fewer characters since we were stretched rather thin last time, trying to do too much.

I hope we get into some festivals. But mostly I am just looking forward to being on set with creative people and making a movie. If I get to do that then it is a success.

Just do the work.