Personally, I now aim for one month of overseas relocation or high-intensity learning (tango, fighting, whatever) for every two months of work projects.
Presently, my understanding of the fundamental principles of the theory of high-intensity training is thorough and complete - not two plus two equals three-and-a-half, but two plus two equals four! Heretofore, I would only occasionally have clients gain 10 to 20 pounds in a month or 30 to 40 pounds in three to four months. Now such is no longer the exception , but the rule!
I usually work on a film soundtrack for two years, turning in a song every few months, and that keeps my creative energy high, because I'm constantly rotating projects. The trick is to make sure I don't work too hard and get exhausted.
The childbearing year is a thirteen month year: the two months before conception, the nine months of pregnancy, and the two months following the birth. The childbearing is a time of adjustments and fierce emotions. The childbearing year touches every season.
I advocate that every woman be a part of a circle, and a circle that meets at least once a month, or if you can't do that, once every two months or every four months.
I was going to visit IBM for six months as a visiting scientist. Now, six months is a lot of time, so I came with a whole list of projects that I might want to work on.
There are times as an actor when you don't work for two months, sometimes three or sometimes six, and the only thing that's going to keep you sane is if you give back and live your life. I've definitely gone through that. It's like, 'Okay, I'm out of work for two months.' That's two months I can paint.
Usually, you can live very well for two, three months, then you're in trouble. Every coach, I think, is like this. For two months, you're happy because you have time, and after two months, you miss adrenaline.
I feel like most actors just dig and dig and work and work in whatever way they do to try to do as much as they can to portray a character in the limited time they have to play it, whether it's six months or one month or one week of work, you know.
My experience says that if you put out a lot of personal work that's good, it tends to attract high dollar commercial work. But to be clear - I don't create art to get high dollar projects, I do high dollar projects so I can create more art.
What was once a fringe idea - finding a way to use the record levels of overseas capital to finance new projects in the United States - is now mainstream. The support is there; we just have to work out the details.
But lots of emerging racial tensions in California have nothing to do with whites: Filipinos and Samoans are fighting it out in San Francisco high schools. Merced is becoming majority Mexican and Cambodian. They may be fighting in gangs right now, but I bet they are also learning each other's language.
Months are different in college, especially freshman year. Too much happens. Every freshman month equals six regular months—they're like dog months.
Whatever vocation you decide on, track down the best people in the world at doing it and surround yourself with them. Aim high and be ridiculously persistent. Your happiness is at the intersection of your passions and learning from great people. Working at a big company sucks--avoid it. Smaller companies are 10 times better for learning. Be generous with your time and money--it has an amazingly fast payback. Be in the moment with everyone you love--and this frequently means tuning out work completely. And drive slow in parking lots.
People usually spend the first two months playing themselves up, not really being themselves. You waste those two months - and then they tell you, 'You're not who I was dating the first month!'
My social life goes in bursts, where I get like, "Oh, I gotta get out and do something, man, I gotta do something." And I'll plan a trip and go on a motorcycle trip down the Baja Peninsula for 900 miles and I'll hang out with my friends for like a month, and then they'll never see me for two months or three months or whatever, and I won't answer any calls.
Black History Month must be more than just a month of remembrance; it should be a tribute to our history and reminder of the work that lies in the months and years ahead.