I'm currently reading (actually listening to) Will Smith's
autobiography and it is absolutely amazing.
Something that has really impressed me is the methodology he uses and his attitude to achieving goals.
After the first season of The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, he set a huge goal...
To become the biggest movie star in the world.
To do this, he began by studying (with his manager) the top 100 grossing movies and what made them successful. He wanted to know what type of film to go for.
He also flew to Sydney to attend the opening of Planet Hollywood, in the full knowledge that Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger would all be there.
He interrupted their conversation and asked what it would take to be the biggest movie star in the world.
Arnold Schwarzenegger gave the answer. Read this next bit with an Arnie accent.
To be the biggest movie star in the world you have to get out of America, you have to be like a politician - kiss babies, be at every event, promote your movies and outwork everyone else.
He took this advice to heart and studied who (when it came to promotion) the hardest working actors were.
Tom Cruise outworked everyone. Will Smith contacted his publicists and found out how Tom Cruise promoted and made a commitment to work for two hours more per day than he did to promote a movie.
An average week for Will Smith looked like this:
Monday to Friday: Rehearse and record the Fresh Prince of Bel Air.
Friday night: Fly to Europe
Saturday and Sunday (every waking hour): Promote your latest movie, spend hours on the red carpet making sure that everyone gets an autograph. Do more interviews, be in more places, be more interesting than everybody else. He even started to put on gigs at Premiers for the people who couldn't get in!
Sunday evening: Overnight flight back to LA.
By doing this he could double the revenue of a movie in somewhere like Spain, the UK or Japan.
The movie studios loved him as he was going the extra mile to promote their movie.
He saw it as promoting himself as a personal brand; but with $150 million of a movie studios money to do it with!
It was a massive win-win and it wasn't long before Will Smith achieved his goal.
Are you prepared to outwork the ordinary to achieve your goal?
Because visualisation, affirmations and vision boards mean nothing without graft.
Be Brilliant!
