My advice for anyone who wants to follow in my footsteps: create your own path, hone your talent, be ready to show your talent, and don't doubt yourself.
I don't teach writing. I teach patience. Toughness. Stubbornness. The willingness to fail. I teach the life. The odd thing is most of the things that stop an inexperienced writer are so far from the truth as to be nearly beside the point. When you feel glosbal doubt about your talent, that is your talent. People who have no talent don't have any doubt.
You have to hone your craft, but you also have to be born with a certain amount of talent, and I never took the talent for granted - I've always worked really hard to be as good as I could be.
If you've been given opportunities then you have to create opportunities. If you're given knowledge by people, share your knowledge. If you were born with talent, show your talent off.
Generally speaking, investing in yourself is the best thing you can do. Anything that improves your own talents; nobody can tax it or take it away from you. They can run up huge deficits and the dollar can become worth far less. You can have all kinds of things happen. But if you’ve got talent yourself, and you’ve maximized your talent, you’ve got a tremendous asset that can return ten-fold.
People will put restrictions on your ability, on your aptitude, on your talent, on your character, and to be honest, it's just opinion. Don't let anyone put you in a box or draw your path for you.
A path is something you create as you walk it. The ground you've trodden hardens, and that's what forms your path. You're the only one who can create your own path. Walk on your own. If you haven't given up yet, that is.
Be honest and accept it if you do not have talent. And if you do, hone your skills.
You create a path of your own by looking within yourself and listening to your soul, cultivating your own ways of experiencing the sacred and then practicing it. Practicing until you make it a song that sings you.
One thing: you have to walk, and create the way by your walking; you will not find a ready-made path. It is not so cheap, to reach to the ultimate realization of truth. You will have to create the path by walking yourself; the path is not ready-made, lying there and waiting for you. It is just like the sky: the birds fly, but they don't leave any footprints. You cannot follow them; there are no footprints left behind.
The beauty of running your own label and your own show is that you are in charge. I get sent a huge amount of musicfrom new and established talent every day, so if I like a track, I play it - no questions asked.
To discover that you can paint without special talent is a great revelation. An endless stream runs through you, enough to paint for lifetimes. Talent is universal. You can dip into that source to your heart's content. Everyone is good at what comes to them spontaneously. If nothing is put in your way, talent will meet you there.
I think we all, as drivers, come to the table with a package. It's either your speed and raw talent, your sponsorship money, your nationality. For me, one of my unique selling points is my gender, without a doubt.
Everybody has talent and it's just a matter of moving around until you've discovered what it is. A talent is a combination of something you love a great deal and something you can lose yourself in - something that you can start at 9 o'clock, look up from your work and it's 10 o'clock at night - and also something that you have a talent, not a talent for, but skills that you have a natural ability to do very well. And usually those two things go together.
When you are a young actor, you're imbued with the high purpose of your art. You think, 'They hire me for my talent; if that's not good enough, then they can hire somebody else.' Later, you realize that your body is as much a part of what you do as your talent.
You can improve your talent, but your talent is a given, a mysterious constant. You must make it the best of its kind.