"Fish gotta swim, birds gotta fly"

- Oscar Hammerstein

Actors act. Writers write. Producers produce. If you aren't doing what you claim to be, you are merely posing. Learn your craft, build a work ethic and develop your craft - these are the only roads to success in your career.

I knew a basketball coach who taught me something very important. The common saying "practice makes perfect" is entirely misleading - a far more accurate saying would be "practice makes permanent". Our daily activities become habits, and habits become a lifestyle.

Professional artists don't begin life as professionals, they become professionals by doing their homework - learning their craft, building a work ethic and developing their personal habits to maximize their productivity. Every individual artist has a personal process. Some writers sit for hours scribbling out reams of text, some actors perform exhaustive research building characters, some directors storyboard every shot in exacting details. Other writers can only write for two hours a day and then avoid their text for 22 hours, other actors draw on personal experience and live their character vicariously, other directors ruminate on the possibilities of the narrative and make framing decisions on set. There are examples of grand success and terrible failures in any of these and many other methods, but success always comes from learning and developing your personal technique. The only way you can discover what works for you is through experience.

The only test of your technique is your personal success, and the only one who can define your personal success is you. It helps to establish goals to give you a way to measure your success, but ultimately success means whatever you think it means. In order to achieve that success, however, you'll have to learn your craft and develop your technique so you can be as productive as you wish and live the lifestyle to which you aspire.

Developing your craft and discovering your technique is a lifelong process. Study the traditions and guidelines of your medium, understand the forms and functions of your art and fit them to your personality. The process of trial and error, learning about yourself and finding your voice can take years, it's both the blessing and curse of the artist. It requires honesty with and exploration of yourself. The challenges you will face along the way will be entirely yours - but they will not be unprecedented. Part of learning your craft and technique is study of the success and failures of others. Try the methods of those you admire and see if they work for you. Remember that every failure is a step towards discovering your success.

Over the years I have developed my craft in a number of different disciplines. I work in a lot of mediums and have lofty goals for myself. A typical day for me will follow a schedule something like this:

• Wake up, brush teeth and prep - 30 minutes
• Read & watch news, blogs & email - 60 minutes
• Prepare & eat breakfast - 30 minutes
• Business documents &amp records (budgets, advertising, web development) - 60-120 minutes
• Exercise & shower - 60 minutes
• Writing - 90-120 minutes
• Prepare & eat lunch - 30 minutes
• Music study, practice & play - 60-120 minutes
• Meetings & phone calls - 120-180 minutes
• Production - Primary Project - 180 minutes
• Production - Secondary & Tertiary Projects - 60-120 minutes
• Film & television screenings - 120-180 minutes
• Correspondence - 60 minutes
• Read fiction - 60-240 minutes
• Sleep - 180-480 minutes

Of course, this schedule won't work for everyone or even most people, but it works for me. I stay very productive and am able to make progress while working on a variety of projects in a variety of mediums. I actually thrive on it; it prevents me from becoming bored, which is a great risk for me, and I'm actually productive during the time I'm working. I've found that if I write for more than three hours at a time, the writing becomes worthless. But that's just me, you have to discover what works for you. It may be that you can only work on one project in a single day, or during a week. It may be you work best when you throw yourself into a project for a full day - I can't do that, I have to work on multiple things.

My days vary depending on my wife's schedule and the schedules of those I'm working with, as well as the needs of individual projects, but this schedule is representative of an average day. I may swap my meeting time to later or earlier in the day, or may extend the production work if I'm on a live shoot - but I try to make up the time lost on another day. It takes discipline to be sure you are doing the work you need to do, not just the work you want to do or avoiding any work at all. I have to be honest with myself because I'm the only person that can know if I'm actually doing what I need to be doing. It can be very easy to lie to and convince myself that I'm making progress when I'm actually just spinning my wheels. It may be that you need a partner to work with in order to check each other's progress and maintain momentum. My wife is essential in my process, constantly keeping me honest with her and with myself.

There are no absolute rights and wrongs in this, other than being productive is right and wasting time is wrong. Your process is entirely personal and you're the only one that can gauge your success. You will achieve your goals only by being honest with yourself, finding your process and devloping your craft. It's not an easy road, but the rewards are great.

"Fish gotta swim, birds gotta fly"

- Oscar Hammerstein

Actors act. Writers write. Producers produce. If you aren't doing what you claim to be, you are merely posing. Learn your craft, build a work ethic and develop your craft - these are the only roads to success in your career.

I knew a basketball coach who taught me something very important. The common saying "practice makes perfect" is entirely misleading - a far more accurate saying would be "practice makes permanent". Our daily activities become habits, and habits become a lifestyle.

Professional artists don't begin life as professionals, they become professionals by doing their homework - learning their craft, building a work ethic and developing their personal habits to maximize their productivity. Every individual artist has a personal process. Some writers sit for hours scribbling out reams of text, some actors perform exhaustive research building characters, some directors storyboard every shot in exacting details. Other writers can only write for two hours a day and then avoid their text for 22 hours, other actors draw on personal experience and live their character vicariously, other directors ruminate on the possibilities of the narrative and make framing decisions on set. There are examples of grand success and terrible failures in any of these and many other methods, but success always comes from learning and developing your personal technique. The only way you can discover what works for you is through experience.

The only test of your technique is your personal success, and the only one who can define your personal success is you. It helps to establish goals to give you a way to measure your success, but ultimately success means whatever you think it means. In order to achieve that success, however, you'll have to learn your craft and develop your technique so you can be as productive as you wish and live the lifestyle to which you aspire.

Developing your craft and discovering your technique is a lifelong process. Study the traditions and guidelines of your medium, understand the forms and functions of your art and fit them to your personality. The process of trial and error, learning about yourself and finding your voice can take years, it's both the blessing and curse of the artist. It requires honesty with and exploration of yourself. The challenges you will face along the way will be entirely yours - but they will not be unprecedented. Part of learning your craft and technique is study of the success and failures of others. Try the methods of those you admire and see if they work for you. Remember that every failure is a step towards discovering your success.

Over the years I have developed my craft in a number of different disciplines. I work in a lot of mediums and have lofty goals for myself. A typical day for me will follow a schedule something like this:

• Wake up, brush teeth and prep - 30 minutes
• Read & watch news, blogs & email - 60 minutes
• Prepare & eat breakfast - 30 minutes
• Business documents &amp records (budgets, advertising, web development) - 60-120 minutes
• Exercise & shower - 60 minutes
• Writing - 90-120 minutes
• Prepare & eat lunch - 30 minutes
• Music study, practice & play - 60-120 minutes
• Meetings & phone calls - 120-180 minutes
• Production - Primary Project - 180 minutes
• Production - Secondary & Tertiary Projects - 60-120 minutes
• Film & television screenings - 120-180 minutes
• Correspondence - 60 minutes
• Read fiction - 60-240 minutes
• Sleep - 180-480 minutes

Of course, this schedule won't work for everyone or even most people, but it works for me. I stay very productive and am able to make progress while working on a variety of projects in a variety of mediums. I actually thrive on it; it prevents me from becoming bored, which is a great risk for me, and I'm actually productive during the time I'm working. I've found that if I write for more than three hours at a time, the writing becomes worthless. But that's just me, you have to discover what works for you. It may be that you can only work on one project in a single day, or during a week. It may be you work best when you throw yourself into a project for a full day - I can't do that, I have to work on multiple things.

My days vary depending on my wife's schedule and the schedules of those I'm working with, as well as the needs of individual projects, but this schedule is representative of an average day. I may swap my meeting time to later or earlier in the day, or may extend the production work if I'm on a live shoot - but I try to make up the time lost on another day. It takes discipline to be sure you are doing the work you need to do, not just the work you want to do or avoiding any work at all. I have to be honest with myself because I'm the only person that can know if I'm actually doing what I need to be doing. It can be very easy to lie to and convince myself that I'm making progress when I'm actually just spinning my wheels. It may be that you need a partner to work with in order to check each other's progress and maintain momentum. My wife is essential in my process, constantly keeping me honest with her and with myself.

There are no absolute rights and wrongs in this, other than being productive is right and wasting time is wrong. Your process is entirely personal and you're the only one that can gauge your success. You will achieve your goals only by being honest with yourself, finding your process and devloping your craft. It's not an easy road, but the rewards are great.