Keep up and you'll go far. Growing up, my older brother was seven years ahead of me in everything.

I was a kid hanging with teenagers, trying to keep up with guys who were surfing, fighting, partying, way beyond my league.

But I learned something early.

If I could just keep up, I could stay in the room.

I didn't have to be the best. I just had to hang and that's all you need sometimes.

You don't have to dominate, you just have to stay in the mix long enough to learn something.

Chapter 4 The Trap of Preciousness

Preciousness is a silent killer.

It sneaks in when you're not looking, whispers in your ear,

and suddenly your simple executable idea becomes a convoluted mess.

It's the difference between making something real and getting lost in the weeds of what if and wouldn't it be cool if it's the death of creativity and if you're not

careful it'll take you down with it picture this you've got an idea it, it's simple, and it's doable.

Like the time I thought, let's make a film about a mother.

Just one mom, doing her thing, being a wife, raising her kids, running her household, no frills, no script, just the real stuff.

It's a straightforward, powerful concept that could be executed in a few days.

But here's the problem. The second you you share that idea it gets chewed up and

spit out by the Committee of Preciousness why not follow five different mothers from

different cities one in New York one in LA a mother Africa, wouldn't that be more dynamic?

Next thing you know, what was a tight focused film about one woman's life becomes a bloated,

over ambitious nightmare of logistics.

Suddenly you're talking about budgets, permits, multi-location shoots, and distribution deals.

Your film goes from being a simple impactful story that you could make tomorrow

...