The Social Network And You

Recently, I saw The Social Network, the movie about Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook.  If you haven’t seen it, then I urge you to go…immediately, especially if you’re a writer, film-maker or someone who just needs the motivation to keep working toward your goals.

I was blown away, not only by the superb acting, but also by the manner in which writer, Aaron Sorkin, captured the spirit and internal force that drove Zuckerberg to succeed.  In the movie, he’s an animal, hungry for membership into exclusiveness, as if being a Harvard student isn’t quite exclusive enough.

With each fleeting second of the film, I became more and more empowered by Zuckerberg’s contagious obsessiveness.  To the viewer, he had no other distractions.  He was driven by a one-track mind, and this allowed him to nurture his baby until it became the international phenomenon that redefined the very meaning of exclusive.  I was intrigued by Zuckerberg and overwhelmed with a sense of exactly what it takes to be number one.

As writers, we all have different goals.  Mine are huge and crystal clear to me; I’m aiming for the top of the New York Times Best Seller List and for Hollywood, two exclusive worlds where only the writers who persevere and operate in maximum overdrive attain.  Like Zuckerberg, I’m hungry to make it to the top.  Actually, after seven intense years of writing workshops, conferences, courses, critique groups and the creation of numerous manuscripts that have been shopped around unsuccessfully, you’d think that I’d throw in the towel already.  No way!  But, in fact, the sad reality is that many people do.

The reason why people don’t realize their goals is not because they aren’t good enough, but because they simply give up.  They get tired of rejection, lose focus and believe that they just don’t add up or they think that their goals weren’t meant to be, leaving their futures up to fate.  Are you one of these people?  Have you given up on your dreams…on yourself?  How far are you willing to go in order to succeed?

Mark Zuckerberg never lost sight of his vision and no matter how difficult the journey became, he continued down the path until his vision became a reality.  We as writers need to follow his lead.  If you’ve wandered from the path or just need some motivation, then I recommend that you find yourself in the nearest movie theater, digest the movie, be inspired and throttle ahead at full speed until you get to where you want to be. See you at the top!