Let me ask you an important question:  How many times a day do you disempower yourself?

Why would I ask a negative question like that?  Because it can produce some serious positive results in your life.  Recognizing when you disempower yourself and choosing instead to empower yourself could change everything. Let's start with a few quick definitions.

• Empower = To give power or authority. Disempower = To deprive of power or authority. Power = The capability of doing or accomplishing something.

Which means…

• Empower yourself = To give yourself the capability to accomplish something. Disempower yourself = To deprive yourself of the capability to accomplish something.

Just to be clear, this isn't about controlling anyone else or any specific situation.  This is about giving yourself an important internal resource that will make you more successful over time.

Empower yourself, and you'll go into every situation feeling stronger.  It is not about a single success.  It is about building a YOU that can succeed at anything you choose.

The beautiful thing is that you have control over this.  At any time, you can choose to give yourself the capability to accomplish something valuable.  And if you continually empower yourself, you'll get better results in life.

Have Any of These Happened in Your Screenwriting?

• You are feeling stuck on a part of your script.  Don't declare that you have "writer's block."   Instead, empower yourself by choosing to focus on what you can accomplish right now to move some other part of your script forward.  In a few moments, writer's block is gone and you are back in your element.
• You have a pitch fest coming up.  Don't focus on the fear.  Instead, pick some friends to practice your pitch with and enjoy the preparation because you know it will lead to more success.  With each practice session, you'll become more confident.  By the time you pitch to a producer, it will be second nature.
• You have received feedback on your script, and it is harsh.  Don't collapse into painful emotions and declare your script sucks.  Instead, decide you'll use this experience to make yourself a better screenwriter and have this be a turning point.  With each improvement you make to the screenplay, your chance of success goes up.

How you think determines many of the actions you take.  It also determines the quality of those actions.

How Does Empowerment Work?

Empowerment is a habit you build.  The best in any field are constantly empowering themselves.  It is part of their model of success.  But when you are learning something new, the results are often the opposite of what you had intended.  It is easy to get frustrated or confused.  Those feelings are natural when confronted with 100 new things to learn.

The key is to intentionally build empowerment into your model — regardless of the results.  Then, as you learn more screenwriting and pitching skills, your results will automatically improve and so will your empowerment.

Whether you are writing, networking, pitching, or making a deal, if you intentionally empower yourself each time you take an action, you will get stronger.

Empower; take action.

Empower; take action.

Empower; take action.

Remember this:  The only person you really have control of is yourself.  In any situation — creative or business — you can empower yourself.

ACTION: For today, pretend that results don't matter.  All that matters is that you choose to empower yourself.  Pick three times today and deliberately choose to empower yourself.  Also, notice the times when you allow yourself to be disempowered.  Those may be tomorrow's choices for empowerment. QUESTION: What are you like when you are empowered? How can you bring that into your screenwriting and your career consistently?

Sponsored by:

13th Annual Scriptapalooza International Screenplay Competition Deadline March 4th www.scriptapalooza.com

Why should you submit your script to Scriptapalooza?

• Grand Prize: $10,000
• All the reading is done by 90 production companies
• Entertainment Weekly Magazine calls us 'One of the Best'
• As seen on CNN.com
• Endorsed by Robert McKee, Author of STORY
• We promote the winners, runners-up, finalists and semifinalists for a full year
• We are considered one of the best screenplay competitions by agents, managers and producers

Questions? Comments? call the office 323.654.5809 or email us at info@scriptapalooza.com