Back in 2006 I bought a Sony 50″ rear projection TV.  I’d always wanted an HD television and the Colts were going to the Super Bowl, so this was the perfect excuse.  Of course I would have loved getting a plasma, but the prices were way to high for me.  The rear projection was priced pretty well (I can only imagine the type of TV I could buy today for the same price) and it was less that half the depth of my 46″ tube TV.

For the past five years, it has served us well, but earlier this year the warning started appearing on the screen letting us know that he bulb was dying.  For the past three or four months I’ve ignored the warning.  However, the other day I noticed a darker stripe across the top of the screen.  Not a good sign.

Today I’m biting the bullet and buying a replacement bulb, which also includes the housing for the bulb.  I’m told this is the easiest way to replace the bulb and I’m all about easy. In a couple days, I’ll let you know how it goes. Maybe I’ll also tie this event into a life lesson such as how we need a bulb replacement to let our light shine brighter… or something cheesy (but true) like that.

Do your work, and I shall know you. Do your work, and you shall reinforce yourself. Ralph Waldo Emerson

One thing?  If I could choose one thing?  I’ve never been accused of being a person who could choose just one thing.  And that’s most likely my problem.  I’m the Jack of all trades… I’m mean a Renaissance Man.

I have always had a list of things that I’ve wanted to accomplish.  Often times the length of that list has prevented me from accomplishing anything.  Focusing on one goal at a time is the ultimate challenge for me.  Instead, I can have five projects going and never finish any of them.  A common trait of the right-brained.

One of the goals that I’d always had was to write a book, which I accomplished at the end of 2010.  Prior to this, I had written professionally for several years and completed a multitude of sitcom scripts.  However, what I found in writing all those scripts was that they had very little value unless they were produced.  By writing my book, I was dependent on no one but myself.  Also, I had something I could easily share with others.

At one point in writing my book, I knew that if I were to finish it, it would only happen if I dropped all my other projects.  I couldn’t take the time for the three or four other projects.  I had to put my energy into the book 100%.  It had to be the “one thing.”

So what is my one thing now?  I don’t feel at liberty to write it here.  Not yet.  But I am setting out a plan and preparing myself to focus.  I’m putting everything else on hold.  (Although I did receive a tweet from Casper Van Dien today, so I may have to dust off one of my scripts and send it his way… I hope he’ll consider something that doesn’t feature giant alien bugs.)

I’m figuring that the loneliest number, that “one thing,” will lead to a multitude of opportunity.

I will not hide my tastes or aversions. I will so trust that what is deep is holy, if we follow the truth, it will bring us out safe at last. Ralph Waldo EmersonThe assignment for today was to think of a time when I didn’t think I was capable of doing something, but then surprised myself.  I read this and shelved it mentally.  I figured I’d come up with something as the day went on.  But the day is almost over and I have nothing.

The prompt also asked how I would surprise myself this week.

Considering that I’m typing something right now when I told my wife I was just going to bed because of a need to get to work early, I’m pretty darn surprised that I’ve written this much.  Good for me.

And that’s all the surprise that I can handle for one day.

These are the voices which we hear in solitude, but they grow faint and inaudible as we enter into the world. Society everywhere is in conspiracy against the manhood of every one of its members. Ralph Waldo Emerson

I’ve written about fear before.  My biggest fear.  I don’t think the fear I experience is that uncommon because I seem to read a lot of content on how to overcome it.  Yet reading, writing, and talking about it don’t make it just disappear.  What’s my fear?  I have a fear of failure.

What I’ve learned over time is that the fear isn’t going to ever go away.  Instead I have to make a daily decision to conquer that fear.  I can’t give in to it.

And what I’ve found is that those who fear failure don’t particularly suffer from a paralysis such that they don’t try at all.  Instead, from my experience, those who fear failure, just try something they know they’ll succeed at.  Unfortunately, society encourages this.  We are punished for failure and rewarded for success.  So why try that which you might fail at when you know you’ll succeed at the other?

Is there really a conspiracy as Emerson states?  Maybe not a spoken conspiracy (which is a bit counter intuitive) but it definitely seems that society as a whole would rather everyone pursue mediocrity.  I’ll pass on that.  So as a result I’m going to keep challenging myself to reach higher, to think more creatively, and not back down from adversity.  Daily, I will face my fear.

I have chosen to listen to the voice that says, “I can.”

Imitation is Suicide. Insist on yourself; never imitate. Ralph Waldo Emerson

When I first read this line I thought about Hollywood and the continuous stream of films and television shows that imitate the successful predecessor.  With films, the successful original either has multiple sequels (Rocky, Jurassic Park, The Fast and the Furious) or several copycats (The Hangover followed by Bridesmaids or Friends followed by Two Guys, a Girl, and a Pizza Place or every superhero film to be released in the last ten years).  Some are good, but most aren’t worth the time.

Having worked in the entertainment industry for several years, I always bemoaned the fact that studios did everything they could to minimize their risk and release such mediocrity.  The few people who do appreciate such lackluster products are those collecting the paycheck.  The interesting thing is that from one vantage point, this imitation is far from suicide.  At least far from career suicide.  Because the challenging game played by most Hollywood executives is “avoid risk and hold on to that job for one more week.”  And the best way to do that is pick something that has succeeded before.

But maybe, just maybe, this approach is a suicide of a different form.  Maybe it’s a spiritual or emotional suicide.  Maybe being a part of the machine is slowly killing every human cog.

What I had not really thought about before reading Emerson’s quote was how I might be settling for imitation in my work.  Am I slowly attacking myself?  Have I been settling for less?  From a writing stand point, I’m sure I can do better.  That’s just part of daily practice.  But from a work stand point, I feel I have a lot to do to improve.  I have a lot to do to become the attorney I want to be and need to be for my clients and the attorneys I work with.

This is where I need to avoid settling for being the same old attorney that is already out there.  I need to be the attorney I was created to be and defeat the (figurative) suicidal tendency to be just like everyone else.

I joined a 30 day writing initiative yesterday which is part of The Domino Project.  While The Domino Project is something I don’t quite understand, I thought it would be good to explore.  I felt that way about Facebook and Twitter when I joined and over time began to understand their purpose.  Maybe The Domino Project will be the same way.  (Evernote is my next online mystery to conquer.)

So for 30 days I’m going to try and write about the topics the creators are sending me (I’m starting a little late, so it’s more like 21 days).  The topics are being created through Ralph Waldo Emerson’s book, Self-Reliance.  Having never read the book, I’m interested to see what I learn.  Today, the prompt is to express what is burning in me.

To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men, that is genius. – Ralph Waldo EmersonI wrote a book titled, The Starving Artist’s Diet, which I published last year.  When I started the book it was really just a joke.  Everyday a new diet book/cookbook comes on the market and in my opinion was ripe for being parodied.  The Starving Artist’s Diet was going to be just that.  A good laugh at all the diet books.  Instead, over the time from when I started and finished I learned a lot.  Not so much about food and dieting, but about artists and art.

I started with a joke and ended up with a humor book that incorporated artists and a celebration of art.  For me that has lead to a greater appreciation of my own artistic ability and a broader understanding of what a true artist is.  Modern culture has really narrowed the definition of what art is and who creates it, but what I have found is that everyone of us is an artist or at least was created to be an artist.

I believe that in the beginning humankind was created in the image of God, who was and is and is to come the ultimate artist.  And being created in His image, we were all created to be creators.  We were all created to be artists.  Yet, the art that we were designed to create isn’t limited to just paintings, sculptures, music, or books.  The art we were meant to create lies in where our skills and passions are.

When we approach whatever our work is with the passion we associate with the right-brained artist who works with paint, clay, notes or words, we will be the artist we were designed to be.  Imagine the painter who didn’t immerse himself with great passion into his work.  Would you buy his painting?  The same should be the case for the person who cleans houses, works on cars, or sells shoes.

We need to find our passion and combine it with our skills.  Then we will all be the artists we were created to be.

That’s what’s burning.