George Lucas, The Creator of Star Wars

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The life stories of extraordinary achievers can provide you with a roadmap for your own life. You might be surprised to learn that someone like you has landed on the moon, started a media empire, or discovered the secret of DNA.

Try to find your role model from among the greatest achievers. You can use his or her experiences to guide you to make the best decisions in your life. If your role model could do it, so can you. Just keep moving until you get there. Here is an ordinary person who has achieved extraordinary things. Let’s meet George Lucas, the creator of Star Wars.

Q. What do you think was the first step that led you to today’s achievement?

George Lucas: The first step, I guess, was to set realistic goals. That was one of the hardest things for me to do. You don’t always know exactly where you’re going. For me, studying subjects I had some interest in was a big goal, and I focused on that.

I decided to go to film school because I loved the idea of making films. Everybody said it was a crazy thing to do because in those days there was no way into the film business unless you were related to somebody. So everybody thought I was silly.  They said, “You’re never going to get a job.” But I didn’t let them change my mind. I set the goal of getting through film school and just focused on that. Eventually, I developed the goal of making a film once I got to school.

Q. Can you tell us about your first movie in film school?

George Lucas: One of the most telling things about film school was that there were a lot of students wandering around. They said, “Oh, I wish I were in a production class. I can’t get in that class. I can’t make a movie.”

The first class I had was an animation class, not a production class. They gave us one minute of film to put into the animation camera. I took that one minute of film and made it into a movie. It was a movie that won about 25 awards in film festivals around the world and changed the whole animation department. It is important that you have passion about what you do and do your best no matter what the situation is. Your passion can open a door for you as the animation class did for me.

Q. Do you think you had a natural talent for making films?

George Lucas: Everybody has talent, and it’s just a matter of moving around until you’ve discovered what it is. A talent is a combination of something you love enough to lose yourself in and something that you have a natural ability to do very well. Usually, those two things go together. However, a lot of people like to do certain things only to find they’re not very good at them.

Keep going through the things that you like to do until you find something that you are actually extremely good at. It can be anything. There are lots of different things out there. You just need to find the right one for you.

Q. In your opinion, what personal characteristics are the most important for success in any field?

George Lucas: If you want to be successful in a particular field, I think perseverance is one of the key qualities. It’s very important that you find something that you have a deep passion for because you’re going to have to overcome a lot of hurdles.

You have to find something that you love enough to be able to break through the walls that are always going to be placed in front of you. If you don’t have that kind of feeling for what you’re doing, you’ll stop at the first giant hurdle. So I think you’ll never make it unless you have perseverance. I think that’s one of the most important characteristics.

Q.  Looking back on the struggles in your career as well as your successes, what advice would you give to a young person?

George Lucas: Working hard is very important. You’re not going to get anywhere without working extremely hard. No matter how easy it looks on the outside, it’s a very difficult struggle. You don’t see the struggle part of a person’s life. You only see the success he or she has. But I haven’t met anybody, here or anywhere else, who hasn’t gone through years and years of very difficult struggle through the whole process of achieving something. And there’s no way to get around that. The secret is just not to give up hope. It’s very hard not to, because, if you’re really doing something worthwhile, I think you will be pushed to the brink of hopelessness before you come through the other side. You just have to hang in through that.