Monthly Archive for November, 2005

“Get the Edge”: Day 2

Published
by
david chiu
on Tuesday November 15, 2005
· Filed under: Inspiration, Life
.

Today I finished session 2 of the 7-part series - “Get the Edge“. In this session Mr. Robbins challenges us to look at reasons why we don’t achieve our goals and dreams:

Rationalization
A lot of times we are able to come up with really good reasons why we can’t achieve our goals and dreams: I don’t have the time, I have other responsibilities, I don’t have the resources, etc, etc

We Don’t face the truth
We tell ourselves - I’m really not that fat, I’m comfortable where I am, maybe I’m just not meant to have it, etc.

We Don’t Have Discipline
We might be motivated and have the best of intentions, but we fail because we don’t have the focus or discipline to follow through.

Ineffective Strategy
Without a good strategy, plans always fail.

The first step towards your goals is eliminating rationalizations. Think about this: The only thing that’s keeping you from achieving your dreams is the story of why you can’t have it. But before I can eliminate my rationalizations, first I have to figure out what they are. What are the reasons I give as to why I can’t, or have not achieved what I wanted to?

• I don’t have time
• I can do it tomorrow
• There are more important things I have to contend to right NOW
• I need a break.
• I don’t have the money
• I don’t have the talent
• I don’t have the physical image

Why be satisfied with mediocrity? Live on the edge of what is possible.

So how do we inspire change?
• get distrubed/face the truth/become driven
• make a decision/RPM (result, purpose, massive action plan)

So what is disturbing to me, what do I want and why do I want it:

• What is disturbing?
 • finances,
 • my job/absence of acting career
 • my body
 • my lack of friends
 • lack of time and money to enjoy life and spend time with my wife

• what do I want
 • financial security and abundance
  • I want to be able to make max contributions to my retirement funds
  • I want a diversified investment portfolio worth at least $500k
  • I want at least $500k in liquid assets
  • I want to make all my money from residuals, investments, merchandising, intellectual properties and creative properties
  • I want to make enough money to be able to make significant philantropic donations

 • a fulfilling and long-lasting career in business and the creative arts
  • I want to be the best method actor
   • I want my charisma and acting abilities to be so strong that people can’t tell I’m acting
   • I want to be a critically acclaimed, highly successful film actor
   • I want to be a critically acclaimed, highly successful independent filmmaker
   • I want to be able to touch and inspire people with my acting and my films

 • body
  • I want to be in peak physical condition and look like be a muscle and fitness cover model.
  •I want to be full of life, energy and vitality.

 • relationships
  •I want to have more friends and have more meaningful friendships
  •I want to be able to connect more with my family and relatives
  •I want to have more time to spend with my wife
  •I want to be able to keep the romance and passion alive in my marriage.

I want to live a life full of magic and passion

Why do I want these things?
• because I need to make sure my wife and I are financially secure in the future
• because I don’t won’t to worry about money anymore
• because I want to be able to take care of my family
• because I can’t be stuck in an office in a small cubicle for the rest of my life.
• because I want fulfillment in my career and my life
• because I want to enjoy what I do and do it because I love it, not because I have to

7 steps to change
1. get disturbed
2. set the goal
3. make a plan
4. change limiting beliefs (beliefs control behaviour)
5. take action NOW!
6. surround yourself with people who will motivate you and support you

set yourself up to win by doing something that helps you enjoy the process

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My Finances - The Big White Elephant

Published
by
david chiu
on Monday November 14, 2005
· Filed under: Obstacles
.

If I would have played my cards a little differently in the dot-com era I probably wouldn’t have to work right now. But the reality is I do have to work because we have major debt, a house, pets, bills, and no multi-million dollar dot-com stock payout. This has proven to be a major obstacle in transforming myself into a working actor. Unfortunately it’s not that easy to jump into an acting career, or at least it’s not that easy if you have become accostomed to a certain standard of living. Especially if you have financial responsibilities.

In the “Get The Edge” series, Anthony Robbins says money is one of the biggest reasons why people don’t pursue their dreams. I can understand why. But money is just an obstacle. There have been plenty of people with next to nothing who didn’t let their financial situation get in the way of their dreams. So I have to do the same. I am going to find a way to repay all our debt, become financially abundant AND achieve my dreams. But how can we do this?

  • Get more freelance work.
    Luckily web development jobs are not that hard to find. The only problem is that I end up working non-stop which is taxing emotionally, physically and mentally.
  • List the house as a filming location.
    We always see TV and film production going on in our neighborhood. What I found out is that it’s possible to make a couple thousand dollars tax free if a TV or movie production wants to use your house. Just a few days ago a location scout for the show “Criminal Minds” was taking photos to show the DP and director.
  • Land a BIG national commercial.
    Being in a commercial could pay upwards of $20k or more in residuals. The only problem is that, like all acting jobs, it’s not that easy to get.

    • Option one is the most realistic. Option number two would actually require some money to be listed in a directory, and option three is more like winning the lottery. But ultimately I believe in investing in yourself first and foremost. That means investing in your dreams and always moving towards your goals. Just look at Shania Twain who was dirt broke and had to take care of her family when her parents died. She fully believed in talent, never gave up and became a country/pop sensation. Or JK Rowling who went from living on public assitance in Edinburgh, to becoming the writer of Harry Potter now a billion dollar empire. It’s all about believing in yourself and reaching for your dreams. Why live a normal life when your life could be truly extraordinary.

    “Success is in the mind and is determined with the actions you take when faced with challenges.” - Me

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    Kefir and other Raw Dairy Products

    Published
    by
    david chiu
    on Monday November 14, 2005
    · Filed under: Nutrition
    .

    It started with a trip to the Santa Monica farmers market on a Saturday morning. Heather and I walked through the stands of organic fresh fruits, nuts, vegetables and flowers and came upon a stand selling raw milk. What a coincidence since we had just been listening to a radio program on public radio about raw milk. This particular stand was setup by Organic Pastures - a company which specializes in raw organic dairy products. The guy at the stand was very friendly and offered us a taste of the raw milk. Now I have never been a huge fan of milk, but this milk tasted really good. The guy introduced us to all of the different products that they produce, the benefits of raw dairy and also explained how well their dairy cows are treated. We picked up some brochures from the table and did some more research on raw dairy products. The next weekend we returned and picked up a half gallon of milk which contained colostrum.

    I remembered hearing about colostrum a few months ago in one of my Muscle and Fitness, or Men’s Fitness magazine. This form of milk is created biologically in mothers during the first few days after giving birth. Colostrum has huge nutritional benefits for babies and research is being done to see if adult supplementation of colostrum has benefits as well. Initial research has shown that supplementation of bovine (cow) colostrum can boost the immune system and also help with building lean muscle, but the results are not conclusive.

    So Heather and I are now drinking raw milk, eating raw butter, and I am trying raw Kefir - a fermented milk product similar to drinkable yogurt which is also suppose to have a lot of nutritional benefits. What does it taste like? Yogurt mixed with champagne. Not bad. Just different.

    Do I think raw dairy has miraculous benefits? No. But I do think there are definite benefits of raw organic dairy and adding it to my diet along with other dietary changes can have a huge effect on my health and vitality.

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    It’s all about change

    Published
    by
    david chiu
    on Sunday November 13, 2005
    · Filed under: Acting, Life
    .

    I changed the name of this blog a few days ago after I had a conversation with my friend, and fellow actor Jeff Ross. He said that I should not concentrate on the fact that I’m an “Unknown Asian Actor”, but instead I should say I’m the “Best Damn Actor” in this town (my paraphrase). I think it’s funny ’cause I had not even mentioned the fact that I was reading books on positive thinking. But he was right. I’m trying to change my negative thinking and self deprecation into positive thinking and self empowerment. So this blog is now called “Yes. I am an Actor”. I also decided to revamp my other domain: http://davidchiu.com and make it a blog about my journey to transform my life and my acting career with the power of positive thinking. How these two blogs fit together I have no idea, but like my life - it’s a work in progress.

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    I’m Getting “The Edge”: Day 1

    Published
    by
    david chiu
    on Sunday November 13, 2005
    · Filed under: Inspiration, Life
    .

    Like usual I’ve become distracted by other things in life and have not proceeded past Day 1 in Anthony Robbins “Get the Edge” series. So tonight I decided to listen to Mr. Robbins seminar on Day 1 again to refresh my memory and get me back on track.

    If I were to give a summary of Get the Edge Day 1, I would say the over-arching message is that you create success through motivation and discipline. You need to train yourself to be successful. Just like Olympic athletes train everyday to compete in the Olympics. So if you want to transform your body, mind and spirit, which in result is your life - you have to train all of these things everyday. This leads to Anthony’s Robbins “Hour of Power”. Regardless of the funny name, the concept is to invest in yourself and to empower yourself by holistically training your body, mind and spirit. I think of it this way - on airplanes during the safety demonstration they always remind you that if the oxygen masks are ever deployed that you MUST secure your mask on first BEFORE you help your child. Is this selfish? No. How can you save your child or anybody else if you cannot save yourself first. You will be useless if you end up passing out before you are able to help your child. So by training yourself to invest in yourself you are actually increasing your capacity to help others and achieve success.

    So the first step in the “Hour of Power” is to roll out of bed and start an aerobic warm-up. This gets the blood flowing which helps you to wake up. The second step is to spend some time being thankful for the things in your life. Whether it’s giving thanks to God or just being thankful to the universe. Personally I really like this suggestion because it trains you to start the day with a positive attitude, helps to connect you spiritually and reminds you of all the blessings you already have in life. The third step is performing meditative breathing during the warm-up. There are many benefits to meditative breathing and learning how to control your breath. It’s a key focus in Yoga, Martial Arts and even bodybuilding. Focused breathing helps in relaxation and focus. By changing your breathing you can affect your emotional and mental state as well. The fourth step is focusing on your goals and visualizing yourself achieving them. How else can you achieve your goals if you don’t stay focused. It also stimulates your subconscious to help you achieve that success. The example Mr. Robbins makes is when you are looking to buy a specific car. All of a sudden you see the car you want to buy all over the place. Those cars have always been out there, you just never saw them till now. The same thing applies to focusing on your goals. If you focus everyday on your goals all of a sudden you will start to see opportunities that can help you achieve your goals. The fifth step is what Mr. Robbins calls “inCANtations”. A red flag went up inside my head when I first heard it because it sounds mystical. But “inCANtations” is a way to program your mind to think and act positively. They are just phrases that you come up with that help you focus on your goals or helps you change your behavior. I will eventually go into this concept a little further once I myself have a better understanding, but basically this technique of repeating these phrases out loud is part of a study called NLP or Neuro-Linguistic Programming. More on that at a later date.

    The last step in this “Hour of Power” is capturing and remembering “magic moments” that happen in everyday life. In other words, training yourself to see the beauty in life no matter what it might be. To me this is like self motivation by focusing on the positive because as Mr. Robbins says, “success begets success” and “happiness begets happiness”.

    So the last couple of days I’ve tried to discipline myself to have my “Hour of Power” every morning and have had had moderate success. I’ve not quite embraced all the ideas here yet, but the idea is to just do it and create that momentum that will turn into discipline and eventual success.

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    NLP / Method Acting / AI - it all comes full circle.

    Published
    by
    david chiu
    on Friday November 4, 2005
    · Filed under: On Stage
    .

    I think I’ve found a way to combine/connect my computer geek past with my movie star acting aspirations. It’s called NLP or Neuro-Linguistic Programming. As far as I can tell it’s the current hot pseudo-psychological science that is being used by people like Tony Anthony Robbins and others to help transform peoples lives with positive thinking (simplistic explanation). From what I’ve read, NLP takes ideas and methodologies from early military psychological warfare and their work to quickly influence and manipulate people. It also extrapolates work from people such as Noam Chomsky whom I know from reading papers in high school on AI & NLP (Artificial Intelligence and Natural Language Processing). (Yes I am a geek). The basis of Neuro-Linguistic Programming is that language effects the mind and using certain words and ideas we can “self-hypnotize” ourselves and change our own thinking and behaviour. One of the examples goes something like this:

    A boy asks his mom, “What is Neuro-Linguistic Programming”? The mom responds, “I will tell you but first you have to ask grandpa how his arthritis is today.” So the boy walks over to his grapnda and asks, “Grandpa, how is your arthritis today?” The grandfather looks at his grandson and in a low voice answers, “It’s pretty bad today son”. The boy goes back to his mom and she asks “How is grandpa doing?” The boy answers, “Not very good. So what is Neuro-Linguistic Programming?” The mom responds, “I will tell you but now you have to ask grandpa of the funniest thing you ever did.” They boy somewhat frustrated returns to his grandpa and asks, “Grandpa, what is the funniest thing I’ve ever did.” The grandfather’s face lights up, he laughs and says, “That’s easy. It was the time…”. After the grandfather finished his animated story the boy finally returns to his mom and says, “Are you ever going to tell me what Neuro-Linguistic Programming is?” The boy’s mother answers, “You just did it.”

    In other words, NLP is the ability to manipulate states of emotions and behaviors in people through language. So I started thinking - that’s EXACTLY what method acting is! Some of the concepts in NLP are very similar if not exactly the same in method acting - such as the magic “if” statement. Or the concept of modelling behaviour, or the concept that movement and physiology changes ones emotions and state of mind. Or the concept of Anchoring - “The process by which any representation (internal or external) gets connected to and triggers a subsequent string of representations and responses. Anchors can be naturally occurring or set up deliberately. An example of an anchor for a particular set of responses is what happens when you think of the way a special, much-loved person says your name.” This is all method acting techniques. So what that means to me is that not only can NLP techniques affect me positively as a person, but they can also make me the best method actor in the world.

    Fascinating.

    2 Comments

    The first step towards the positive

    Published
    by
    david chiu
    on Tuesday November 1, 2005
    · Filed under: Life
    .

    “Everything in life happens for a reason.”

    I definitely believe this. Even more so tonight as I put down my notebook on the coffee table next to the play “Doubt“. This was the play that was assigned to me in my scene study class and that I have been working on for three weeks now. How appropriate this all seems now that my last major critique was that I doubt myself and my abilities and therefore am preventing myself from living truthfully on stage. So on my continuing quest for self worth and self confidence, today I started listening to “Get the Edge” by Anthony Robbins. I’ve never listened to him before but I’m familiar with his work through his appearances on other shows on TV. Honestly I was skeptical at first but after listening for 10 minutes I realized that this guy really knows what he’s talking about. It’s not all smoke and mirrors or hype. There is a very positive message with practical suggestions presented in a very down to earth way. The “Get the Edge” series is actually a 7 day program and today I finished listening to the first day of the program. Here are my notes:

    • If you only live up to what is expected of you, you won’t live an extraordinary life.

    • Where do you spend most of your time emotionally?
       If I’m honest with myself, I would say I spend most of my emotional life being dissatisfied and frustrated.

    • Emotion is created by motion. The way you walk, talk and gesture dictates your emations and psychology.

    • If you want to chang your emotions and psychology, change your motions. Learn to use and master your body. Move, breathe, gesture differently. Create dynamic movement.

    • We spend most of our lives in a box. We live in a box. We wake up and get in a box to go to work where we spend all day sitting in front of a box (the computer) in a box (an office or cubilce) contained by a bigger box. When we leave work we go back to a box where we sit in front of another box (the TV) then go to sleep and repeat. IT”S TIME TO BREAK OUT OF THE BOX.

    • Don’t “should” all over yourself (I should exercise, I should eat better). Just do.

    • There is no “trying”. You either do or you don’t do.

    • Wake up every morning and spend the first hour doing the following:
      •Get up and start walking, jogging, etc.
      •Spend 10 minutes being thankful for everything you have.
      •Spend 10 minutes meditating and breating 10/40/20
      •Visualize obtaining goals and focus on your wants.
      •Exercise at 70% effort while reciting incantations outloud
      •Celebrate future successes

    • Capture a “magic moment” everyday.

    • Success begets success / happiness begets happiness

    • Life IS beutiful. Take the time to notice it.

    • Live with passion today and everyday.

    These notes are so perfect for personal growth and growth as an actor. I’m so glad I’ve found the tools to help me become a better artist and person.

    0 Comments

    The First Step Away From Doubt.

    Published
    by
    david chiu
    on Tuesday November 1, 2005
    · Filed under: Acting, Life
    .

    “Everything in life happens for a reason.”

    I definitely believe this. Even more so tonight as I put down my notebook on the coffee table next to the play “Doubt“. This is the play that was assigned to me in my scene study class that I have been working on for three weeks now. How appropriate this all seems now that my last critique was that I doubt myself and therefore am limiting myself on stage and in life. So on my continuing quest for self worth and self confidence, today I started listening to “Get the Edge” by Anthony Robbins. I’ve never listened to him before but I’m familiar with his work through his appearances on other shows on TV. Honestly I was skeptical at first but after listening for 10 minutes I realized that this guy really knows what he’s talking about. It’s not all smoke and mirrors or hype. There is a very positive message with practical suggestions presented in a very down to earth way. The “Get the Edge” series is actually a 7 day program and today I finished listening to the first day of the program. Here are my notes:

    • If you only live up to what is expected of you, you won’t live an extraordinary life.

    • Where do you spend most of your time emotionally?

    • Emotion is created by motion. The way you walk, talk and gesture affects your emotions and psychology.

    • If you want to change your emotions and psychology, change your motions. Learn to use and master your body. Move, breathe, gesture differently. Create dynamic movement.

    • We spend most of our lives in a box. We live in a box. We wake up and get in a box to go to work where we spend all day sitting in front of a box (the computer) in a box (an office or cubilce) contained by a bigger box. When we leave work we go back to a box where we sit in front of another box (the TV) then go to sleep and repeat. IT’S TIME TO BREAK OUT OF THE BOX.

    • Don’t “should” all over yourself (I should exercise, I should eat better). Just do.

    • There is no “trying”. You either do or you don’t do.

    • Wake up every morning and spend the first hour doing the following:
      • Get up and start walking, jogging, etc.
      • Spend 10 minutes being thankful for everything you have.
      • Spend 10 minutes meditating and breating 10/40/20
      • Visualize obtaining goals and focus on your wants.
      • Exercise at 70% effort while reciting incantations outloud
      • Celebrate future successes

    • Capture a “magic moment” everyday. Find and appreciate the beauty in life everyday.

    • Success begets success / happiness begets happiness

    • Live with passion today and everyday.

    So far I find this series fascinating because the principals are very similar to method acting - finding ways to dynamically alter your emotions and state of mind to act differently on stage or in life.

    0 Comments


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