When you are young and trying to build a career, it is very easy to think about yourself first. What job will you get? How successful will you become? How quickly will people notice you?Harrison Ford has a slightly different way of looking at it. According to the Hollywood actor, one of the most important things a young person can do is figure out how to be useful to the people around them.Ford spoke about this during a 2013 interview with Collider while promoting ‘Ender’s Game’. When asked what advice he would give young actors, he talked about working hard, not copying somebody else’s career and, most importantly, understanding how you can contribute to a larger team.Today’s motivational quote of the day reads: “What I think is important for a young person is to figure out how to be useful and not be so concentrated on themselves, but to see what they can do to make the overall collaboration with all the other people involved in a movie work better.”
What does the quote by Harrison Ford mean?
Ford’s point is actually pretty simple.When you are starting, you do not have to be the most important person in the room. You have to figure out what you can contribute. He was talking about filmmaking, where hundreds of people can be involved in making one movie. An actor is only one part of that process. There are directors, writers, editors, cinematographers, costume teams, sound crews and plenty of others working toward the same finished film. For Ford, being useful means understanding that bigger picture.In the same interview, he also said young people should not build their ambitions around somebody else’s career. Instead, they should work out how to use their own personality and understanding of themselves to help tell other people’s stories.That is probably the part worth remembering. You can admire someone else’s success without trying to become their exact copy.
How is the quote by Harrison Ford relevant today?
This advice works pretty well outside Hollywood too.Think about college projects or an internship. Every group has that one person who is mainly worried about what they will get out of the project. Then there is the person who notices what is missing and simply gets on with it.That second person can be incredibly valuable. Being useful does not necessarily mean doing everyone’s work. It can mean coming prepared, helping solve a problem, bringing an idea to the table or making someone else’s job a little easier.For young people trying to build careers today, that can matter just as much as having an impressive resume.Ford’s advice also takes some pressure off the idea that you need to have everything figured out immediately.
Early life of Harrison Ford
Harrison Ford was born on July 13, 1942, in Chicago and grew up in the suburb of Des Plaines. He attended Ripon College in Wisconsin, where he studied English and philosophy. It was there that he ended up taking a drama class almost by accident and discovered that he enjoyed performing.Ford eventually moved to Hollywood and began taking small acting roles. The work was not exactly pouring in, though.At one point, he turned to carpentry to support his family while continuing to look for acting opportunities. He taught himself the trade and eventually became a successful carpenter, even working on projects for people in the entertainment industry.Acting was still there in the background.
How did Harrison Ford rise to fame?
Ford’s first major film role came in George Lucas’ ‘American Graffiti’ in 1973. He later worked with Francis Ford Coppola and continued taking acting jobs while also working as a carpenter. Then came ‘Star Wars’ in 1977.Ford was cast as Han Solo, the role that turned him into a major Hollywood star. He returned as the character in ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ and ‘Return of the Jedi’.A few years later, Ford took on another character that would become almost inseparable from his name: Indiana Jones. He starred in ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ in 1981, followed by several sequels.His career went on to include films such as ‘Blade Runner’, ‘Witness’, ‘The Fugitive’, ‘Air Force One’, ’42’ and, much later, ‘Blade Runner 2049’. But Ford’s 2013 advice is less about becoming a movie star and more about how to behave when you are still finding your way.