Outflow Equals Inflow

Here’s my take on this topic. Outflow equals inflow. You get back what you put out there. What comes around, goes around. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction (Newton’s Third Law)

The following website, PhyiscsClassroom.com, provides some really cool examples of Newton’s Third Law in action: “For every action, there is an equal (in size) and opposite (in direction) reaction force…Action-reaction force pairs make it possible for fish to swim, birds to fly, for cars to move along roads…”

Hmmm, so “action-reaction forces” allow things to occur? It allows things to take flight and to move? So that means that this law can be applied to one’s career as well. Outflow equals inflow. What you put out there, you get back. And because the laws of physics are so precise, wouldn’t it make sense to be specific with what you put out there for your career? If we create specific outflow, we can give flight and tangibility to our careers. Shit, I don’t know about you, but I love to fly. I love the feeling of soaring. I love having dreams where I am flying majestically over cities and mountains and plains.

It’s really easy to just throw things out there, hoping and praying that something sticks. Easy to just throw things out there with no real intention or systematic approach. If and when something finally sticks, you are left with an unknown of how you got there, of how it happened. You think to yourself, “Shit, maybe it was luck. Maybe I got lucky this time around.” Or you think to yourself, “Damn! How do I repeat this and achieve similar, successful results?” I personally never want to be stuck with these kind of questions, so let me be specific instead. Specific outflow equals specific inflow. Specificity allows me to know what works and how to repeat successful actions.

When 2016 started, I wasn’t sure what I wanted this year to be about. I spent the first three weeks kind of meandering about with no clear purpose or direction (I think I was still daydreaming about those rookie Iowa cops I met and partied with on New Year’s Eve!)

I was clear about what I wanted on a personal level, and I shared it with you all, but I was not clear about what I wanted on a professional level. However, I DID know that whatever the professional focus was going to be, it had to be something that would fire me up, motivate me and push me forward throughout the year.

I finally sat down to get clear about my professional path for the year. I chose one of the postulates from my comprehensive DOIN’ that fired me up the most and created a whole separate DOIN’ for that one postulate. A DOIN’ stands for Declaration of Independence (aka a business plan)

I chose the following postulate to be my focus for 2016:

Cristela Alonzo, Tyler Perry, Mindy Kaling, Lena Dunham, Jorge Ortiz: Self-generating artists who carve a name and empire for themselves in Hollywood and in the world. Hollywood buys my undeniable product.

And with a specific DOIN’ created for this one postulate, I have been moving with clarity and intention. Outflow equals inflow. Each action I take will bring in things that will get me closer and closer to reaching and achieving my postulate. One week after I had an amazing meeting with a TV showrunner, I found myself submitting one of my pilots to a producer who invited me to share my written works with him. Let me repeat that: He invited me to share my written works with him. He has produced several feature films. I’ve submitted one pilot so far and I plan on submitting another pilot in the near future.

The outflow of meeting with a TV showrunner recently created the inflow of receiving an open invitation to submit my written works from this producer. And if we go back just a little bit, the specific outflow I did in 2015 created the inflow of the meeting I had with this TV showrunner. They’re all connected. Outflow with intention equals inflow. The consistent outflow of writing my latest feature film for James Franco (I’m currently in my 3rd draft) has pulled in two different contacts that are both one degree away from him. No accident. Using “My Story Can Beat Up Your Story” and the Contour software program–both created by Jeffrey Schechter–are forcing me to be specific with the outflow of words, plot points, landmark moments, character archetypes, etc. that I am typing onto the page.

Outflow works for me when it’s specific. Whether it’s with relationship map building to targeting shows to getting headshots to scene work, it has to be specific.

I am challenging myself this week to double my outflow efforts. I am excited to see what comes back either immediately or in the near future as a result of my efforts. Part of my outflow for this week will involve meeting an actor/writer/executive producer that I admire and have been engaging with for over a year on social media. Meeting her will be the apex of a week that includes concentrated efforts of specific outflow towards my acting and writing careers.

Stay tuned!