Here are 10 things we’ve taken away from the Sheen Dream.

1. “Can’t is the cancer of happen.”

This is self explanatory however for the sake of philosophizing: As people with goals and ambitions we cannot allow the word can’t enter into our game plan. At every turn there will be reasons to doubt, and obstacles in our path, however, the word can’t is usually self imposed. Therefore, we have to keep a firm grip on the vocabulary we use on our dreams, and not allow words like can’t derail our plans.

2. “There’s been a tsunami of media, and I’ve been riding it on a mercury surfboard.”

Even in a moment of apparent failure, find the momentum. For Sheen it was in the media attention. Most people hide away for a spell to gather their thoughts and strategy. Well…sometimes the strategy has to be ride with what you have, using your momentum to turn your weakness into a strength. Whether your momentum is rising, or in Sheen’s case falling, as this quote suggests, make the absolute most out of the situation by riding the wave of interest.

3. “I’m shakin’ a tree. I’m shakin’ all the trees. ”

Explore all options. Over here we call it “Checking your traps” you never know which call, meeting, or twitter conversation is going to yeild fruit. So shake all of the trees.

4. ”I have one speed. I have one gear. Go.”

Once you commit to doing something DO IT all out. There’s no need in pussyfooting around dibbling and dabbling. By all means operate at full capacity. Sometimes you may not have it in you to go all out, however with whatever you do have at that moment– use it all.

5. “I’m celebrating me, every day.”

Realizing dreams is NOT for the faint at heart. The process will test the boundaries of every relationship in your life.Every last one. You have to be responsible for your emotional balance. Its just you on that part. if you feel yourself slipping down manufacture a way to get back up (sans illegal chemical substances). Celebrate you. Make yourself the champion of yourself!

6. “I’m on a quest to claim absolute victory on every front.”

You have to start out with the attitude that you are going to take it ALL the way. No team sets out to win a few games they want to be champions. So should you.

7. “And for those that are not onboard, it’s like, ‘Catch ya in the rearview, losers.”

Surround yourself with supporters of your movement. If you come across people who don’t see your vision (and you will) keep blowing past them. Don’t harp on the fact that they dont see it, just gather you team and win. At that point you’ll realize that the time has a way of dealing with the past.

8. “Don’t live in the middle.”

You can’t win by being half-way into what you do. You have to commit to being absolutely immersed in your craft.

9. “Change your brain.”

Nowadays everything is moving so fast you have to stay fluid.As Alvin Tofller says ” the illiterate of the 21st Century will not be those who can’t read or write but that who are unable to learn,unlearn and relearn”

10. “I should’ve been making 3 million an episode.”

If you don’t value your product, who will? Verbalize your worth and back it up with tangible results.

Now go WIN!!

As writers for Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, Bashir Salahuddin and Diallo Riddle create funny sketches for Fallon and his celebrity guests, mostly with the musical backing of The Legendary Roots Crew.While their day at the office seemsmuch more interesting than ours, their circuitous path to National TV began less auspiciously.

After leaving their jobs to make comedy their full time occupation, the financially strapped duo and their comedy troupe, Cleo’s Apartment,  filmed a spoof of the HBO documentary Hookers at the Point and uploaded it to youtube. That video,  Pimps up Bears Down, caught the attention of a friend at HBO. One thing led to another and they ended up writing and producing a series of spoofs and a web series called The Message for HBO.com

Fast forward a few years– Armed with network experience and proven sketches like Hubble Got You, Slow Jam the News, and the instant classic History of Hip-Hop, they have no plans on stopping now. Through their production company, Paper Planes, the duo teamed up with Felicia Gordon, a fellow Harvard classmate, and filmed their first film, a 20 minute short titled All Access. We recently sat down with them to discuss the film, their work, and why a good ass job is not enough.

It was the closing of 2002.  I’d built three recording studios in Atlanta. It couldn’t be better. I got operations.  I got any kind of car you can think of. Everybody in Atlanta knew me.

So [choreographer] Divine Stephens was like, “Listen, man, what you going to do with your life?” While I was locked up, I’d created a plan for what I planned to do when I got out and it was focused more on music. At the time Divine’s working with Puffy so he used all his contacts. He called Bernard Alexander who was working with Def Squad. Bernard flew in from L.A., listened to the music, was blown away. He was like, “Yeah, I can get you a deal by tomorrow.”

He flew to New York, met up with Kenny Burns who was vice president of Roc-a-Fella. Kenny heard the music and called back with Steve Rifkind on the phone. Kenny was like, “It’s critical, we’re trying to reach you now.” Steve was playing basketball and broke his nose and was on the way to the hospital in his car playing the music.

He calls like, “I just broke my nose.  I want to come to Atlanta first thing tomorrow.  Do not talk to nobody. I’m interested.”  But we had other offers. So Steve was like, “I’m coming to Atlanta tomorrow.”

The next day, we’re sitting upstairs and we see this white guy with two Secret Service looking guys parked out front. I was like, “Shit!  Fuckin’ fed.  What the fuck they want now?”

I open the door. “Steve Rifkind.” We click instantly. Everything that we were going to tell him we want to do, he just said it. He understood it.  He wasn’t offering much money compared to the other labels. But these other labels want me to switch up and be more commercial and he wanted to give me all creative control and let me do what I do. I told myself it’s less money but I think this is more of a question of whether I believe in myself or not. It’s going to come later.

So we decided to go with Steve.  The fact that he had a broken nose and showed up, I was impressed.