Lessons Hidden in Award Ceremonies

It’s award season in the entertainment industry. The Golden Globes and Screen Actors Guild Awards, followed by the BAFTAs, Oscars, Grammys and Emmys, with others to follow in the calendar year.

But aside from pointing out the best of entertainment, they award excellence in the artistry of storytelling. Joseph Campbell, whose works in the fields of mythology, comparative religion, cross-cultural communication, and self-awareness have given us concepts like The Hero’s Journey and “Follow Your Bliss”, says artists are the ones who guide our understanding of the world through stories.

"Myth must be kept alive. The people who can keep it alive are artists of one kind or another…. The mythmakers of earlier days were the counterparts to our artists”."

- Joseph Campbell from The Power of Myth, with Bill Moyers.

So let’s see what the most lauded and recognized artists in the entertainment industry can teach us about life…

Not Just Pretty Faces

We may be drawn to stars for their looks, but the ones who keep us coming back are more than just pretty faces. They’re extremely good at something, or a lot of things.

So in the same way, we can recognize that it’s a matter of using whatever is in our personal toolboxes to make the most of life. And once we recognize the tools we have to work with, we need to use to use them to the best of our abilities and become artists creating our lives.

“A real artist is the one who has learned to recognize and to render... the 'radiance' of all things as an epiphany or showing forth of the truth.” - Joseph Campbell

Be yourself – the best YOU you can possibly be, and let YOUR truth shine!

Behind Every Success

It takes a team to make them look this good. Before any star arrives on screen or on the red carpet, they have been planning and preparing for quite some time. They have teams of people who help them manage the details from where to be when, to what to wear, and how to do their hair and makeup.

We need to keep that in mind in our lives and seek out help. The individualist idea that we can do it all by ourselves is a myth. We need each other! We need others to support us so we can focus on doing what we do best.

In real life, our teams are our families, our teachers, coaches, co-workers and bosses. Our hairdressers and dry cleaners. The people who work at our supermarkets, fast food places and car repair places. Appreciate your people!

It Takes All Kinds

The creation of a film or television show, or a music recording or music video, or a play requires the collaborative efforts of many people of different talents and abilities. There are those who conceive of the story and write it. Those who decide to translate it from the written word to screen or stage. The people who deliver the lines and embody the character as well as the director whose vision guides them. There are visual artists who decide what the setting will look like, and how to translate the feel of a place through colors, light, décor, or props. There are people who are experts at capturing things on film, or recording sounds. There are musicians who help create mood and tone. There are editors and distributors, theaters and promotional tools.

Any endeavor requires bringing together people with different expertise.

“Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors for you where there were only walls.”
― Joseph Campbell

Find where you fit. You are needed!

The Reason Behind the Work

It’s easy to forget, when we see people looking fabulous and confident, but by the time awards shows come around the work has been done and received positive attention. But before they could enjoy the afterglow, there was the work and pressures behind the scenes that we may never know about.

There are challenges in everything we do, the key is to learn to manage them and rise above them. We need to hold on to what makes all the challenge worth it for us.

“The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are.”
― Joseph Campbell

Transcend pressures by choosing work that lets you shine your light and something to care about that makes it all worthwhile. That can translate to doing something you’re good at to support your family, or buy gifts for loved ones, or take a fulfilling vacation—where your hard work is rewarded, and you get feel fabulous, confident, relaxed and happy.

Overnight Success is Evolution in Process

Overnight success is what we see from our point of view. The reality is that it is just another stage in the evolution of the individual or the team.

Everything begins with an idea. We give our ideas weight and substance, arms and legs when we act upon them. With practice and repetition, we become skilled, and our energy attracts others of like mind going a similar direction. So what was inside us is reflected in our outer world, and the experiences behind us shape what lies before us. Once one level of attainment is reached, a new challenge is sought and onward we go.

“We're not on our journey to save the world but to save ourselves. But in doing that you save the world. The influence of a vital person vitalizes.” ― Joseph Campbell

Let your inspiration evolve and move others in the process.