Failure is NOT an option

It really is amazing what can happen when you approach something with this particular attitude. I forget the exact quote, but I believe it was Napoleon who said something along the lines of: "I focus on the goal - the obstacles merely move aside." In other words, you focus on what you need to do, and somehow you find a way to do that.

I discovered this past week, that this is remarkably true. I had been hired to be the Lighting Designer for a dance concert. I knew there would be video used in the concert, so I would have to adjust for the projection. I knew there would be some level of technical coordinator work involved, as I would be in charge of the hang/focus of the lights - what I didn't expect, was to walk into the space and have everyone look at me and say "here are the keys, you tell us what to do" - for everything. There was no-one there who belonged to the space who knew how to get what I needed, so nearly 1/3 of what I needed showed up (after much begging), about an hour before we were supposed to start cueing (ie, setting the lighting) for the dance pieces. Needless to say, I ran a day over with tech, just getting it ready for cueing.

The deadline was fast approaching to cue the pieces - I still had 6-7 hours worth of work to do, and I was by myself (oh, did I mention that I had no experienced crew to do the hang/focus, and only 12 hours to put it all together when it would normally take about 30 hours?). I was on the verge of a breakdown - it was physically impossible for me to finish everything that needed to be done.

Note: the space I am working in is ridiculously badly laid out. A good third of the circuits needed overhead are nowhere near the area where they are actually needed, the dimmer box is a rats nest of cables that are hand-plugged, and the overhead grid are all illegal extention cords that are not rated for the kind of heat that the lights generate - it's rather scary, actually. And the scaffolding doesn't have a gate on it, so getting in and out is a scary adventure.

Fortunately, by the grace of God, I found out one of my stagehand friends got back a couple weeks early from England. When he heard what I was going through, he changed his plans for the day, and in 6 hours accomplished more than the inexperienced crew did in 12 (and fixed some of the things they did improperly and unsafely as well).

We started cueing 15 minutes late, finished late because it was the first time the dancers had been in the space (they didn't allow time for the dancers themselves to get used to being in a new place), but we got it done.

There were some sound issues that made us open the house a little late (fortunately, I am not in charge of sound *grin*), but we opened. Failure was not an option, and we found a way to make it happen.

When you refuse to make excuses, focus on your goal, you really do find a way to make it happen.

When failure is not an option, you learn how to make miracles happen. :)