1.Have you started on the journey to doing what you love in life?
2.If it hasn’t worked out, how can you redefine your goal for yourself and give it another shot?
Power Your Life WITH IMAGINATION
“Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere.”
—Carl Sagan
Power Your Life WITH FEARLESS PROGRESS
“Don’t shortchange the future, because of fear in the present.”
—Barack Obama
Power Your Life BY LETTING YOUR LIGHT SHINE
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
—Martin Luther King, Jr.
Power Your Life BY STANDING ON THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS
“I am where I am because of the bridges that I crossed. Sojourner Truth was a bridge. Harriet Tubman was a bridge. Ida B. Wells was a bridge. Madame C. J. Walker was a bridge. Fannie Lou Hamer was a bridge.”
—Oprah Winfrey
Acknowledge Doubt, but Don’t Give In to It
Writer, Producer, and Author Paul T. Scheuring
When you say the name Paul Scheuring, the first thing that comes to the minds of many is his hit show Prison Break, but he has had a remarkable career as a writer and producer. In 2017, he added another title to his name, Amazon Top 100 Bestseller, with the debut of his first novel, The Far Shore. When we talked about his career and the journey to powering his own life with positivity and believing in himself and his abilities, it was obvious he had found his calling.
CW. Paul when you reflect on the life that you have been able to have and all that has come your way, do you think it is the result of your knowing what you were meant to do and staying true to that?
PS. I mean obviously as a screenwriter you often are a writer for hire and you have to write to what a studio or a network wants. You know there are certain projects, both in Hollywood and obviously personally with writing a book, where you write characters, and you know essentially who they are, when they start, and you have a fundamental idea of where you want them to go—but really it’s a far more immersive process.
I think that’s what keeps writers coming back. It is that process of discovery daily. If you allow yourself as a writer to just go, saying to yourself:
I don’t know exactly what’s going to happen here, but I am going to follow the moment and see what’s real from the character.
For the moment you know that’s your calling and the reader discovers that as well.
CW. When did you know for you that this was a gift that you had, that this was something you were put here to do?
PS. You know, that’s interesting. I think a lot of people look at it differently, and I am always suspect of people referring to their own gift, because:
I don’t know that I have a gift—and I think that most creative people are full of doubt.
But you have kind of this mission, this thing that it can really hurt to do … and that is to creatively express yourself. It’s filled with uncertainty and often you want to quit, but there is nothing else that you can do. There is nothing else that you can see yourself doing, and it becomes this kind of holy burden where you know this is the thing that I guess I am put here to do and develop how can I use that.
What’s unfortunate is that so many people sit down to write a screenplay or a book or whatever, and they find out how excruciating it is, and then they quit after that one. And generally speaking, the first one is really just a foundation for the second, which in turn is the foundation for the third and the fourth and the fifth—and then all of sudden you’ve written ten or twenty or thirty, and now you are actually some version of a writer, and all of a sudden people are paying you, and there is a funny saying in Hollywood, which is: “Stick around for ten and we’ll have to hire you, because the rest of the people quit.”
CW. I’m glad you bring up the longevity, because I think that is so important to anything that we choose to do. I also want to ask you about the reward. Has that been one of the things that’s been interesting for you along the way as to how you define success for yourself?
PS. Yes, absolutely. I came to realize very early on that success isn’t measured by how much money you make or how many awards you win or people that you know. Or even, in this day and age, by how many tweets and how many likes you get and that kind of stuff. All that is totally hollow, because if that’s the only wagon that you hitch your horse to, you are going to be empty. I am keeping my eye on the things that really matter. I think we as creative types can contribute to the world if somebody—and I do think there will be people out there—will read something we’ve done and say, “Wow, you know that makes me think differently. That makes me want to go out and explore and expand my boundaries and become something more than what I thought I could be.”
If you are doing that as a writer or a singer or what have you, then you are adding value, because you know:
At the end of the day if the only reason that you are doing it is so that people will pat you on the back, you are going to be miserable.
But if you feel like you know at the end of the day you’re making a difference, and you are on your deathbed and you can say, “You know what, a few people gained from what I did,” then you can say it was worth it, and that’s what I am hoping to do.
1.How can you evaluate what you are doing and how you might can be of service to others and not just make it about yourself?
2.Like Paul, is there a way to gauge how you can “power up” your life and make it more fulfilling by doing something that you truly love?
Power Your Life BY GIVING BACK
“Each of us has the potential to contribute. You have a great opportunity to make a new shape
of the world.”
—14th Dalai Lama
Power Your Life BY FOLLOWING THROUGH
“To accomplish great things we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe.”
—Anatole France
Power Your Life WITH HUMILITY
“I also am other than what I imagine myself to be. To know this is forgiveness.”
—Simone Weil
Power Your Life WITH DARING
“Never be limited by other people’s limited imaginations.”
—Dr. Mae Jemison, first African-American female astronaut
Actor, Producer, TV Personality, and
Author LeVar Burton
Everyone knows him from Roots, but I have been a fan of LeVar Burton since I was a kid. Before he was a part of Star Trek: The Next Generation, he was the host of Reading Rainbow, the show that made me want to have a platform to encourage reading and meaningful conversations. To talk with him about life, his impact on others, and the possibilities for us all was not just