We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Dino Sardella a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Dino , we’re thrilled to have you sharing your thoughts and lessons with our community. So, for folks who are at a stage in their life or career where they are trying to be more resilient, can you share where you get your resilience from?
I think that “resilience” is a skill/ quality that you gain with time. I am an insecure person who always doubts himself and what he does and I have always been since I was a child. I think “insecurity”, when faced in a positive way, is a very healthy trait to have because it makes you question yourself and your surroundings and allows you to understand that nothing comes for granted.
And I believe that my resilience lives in my insecurity because it reminds me that I have to prove to myself that “I can do it”.
Of course, a good dose of “pride” is always necessary but “insecurity” helps keep it at a decent level and it feeds resilience.
Even in my work, the constant need to demonstrate my value helped me overcome failure and rejections and, without noticing, also achieve important milestones.
How to develop resilience? By simply having healthy conversations with yourself and embracing your insecurities, is the best way to work on them and use them to your advantage.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
The best part of what I do is the fact that everytime I do it I get to know something more about myself. I am constantly focused on developing my craft and tell stories that can resonate first with my self and with what I need to accomplish personally and professionally, then, like a ball that always rolls, these stories end up resonating also with other readers/ viewers. I think it’s important to have a good knowledge of yourself and of what you like in terms of tastes and stories, that is the only way to create things that can be appreciated by others and that others can identify with.
The most fascinating side of writing and producing (Films, Shorts, Music etc.) is that you play with yourself and with your emotions, you take parts of your brain and mix them together and once you see it on screen or you hear it on the radio, the sense of accomplishment and liberation is reassuring and quite difficult to put into words.
Of course this comes with lot of challenges, nerve-wracking situations and lot, lot, lot of rejections/falls/failures. But they are all part of the game and if you are willing to accept them then you are in for great satisfactions.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
As we mentioned before, “Resilience” for sure. But I would say also “Curiosity” and “Adaptability”. I Believe that one is a consequence of the other. My curiosity led me to explore a lot of different areas of entertainment but also pushed me to live in different cities and different Countries, to learn different cultures and different languages.
This have helped me to develop a solid ability to adapt to different situations (and people with different background than mine) and therefore to face different challenges in the best way.
The advice I have for those who are early in their journey is to be “curious” and to feed their curiosity through exploring and studying the world and the people around them. As they say: “The more you know, the more you grow”.
As we end our chat, is there a book you can leave people with that’s been meaningful to you and your development?
Well, of course “The Odissey” by Homer. The real beginning of storytelling. When I studied it at school I was completely blown away by the amount of creativity that you can breath through each page.
It was the book the made me decide that I wanted to be a storyteller and that my goal would be to bring stories to life, following my idea of art and beauty that has been definitely shaped by the studies of Classic Literature.
The Odyssey shows the epitome of “Hero’s Journey” which is the narrative stricture that we still follow today in films, theater and even, in some cases, music.
But besides the artistic value of this Poem, it’s its cultural statement that survived the test of time. The journey described in the book teaches us so much about us as humans and our relationships, what it means to be loyal and what it means to be just. Definitely a great example and a great reading for every person that wants to begin a career in Films or in writing.
The most impact nugget of wisdom I received as a child was to always nourish my mind with things that I know nothing about so to stimulate my curiosity to know more about them. I think I owe to this great suggestion my love for Literature and books and, as a consequence, my passion for my job.
Because just like George R.R. Martin said: “A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies” and what a great advice this is for who wants to become a storyteller. Just think about how many adventures and characters you can create if you live a thousand lives.
Contact Info:
- Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/dinosardella
Image Credits
Alice Esposito Broadvision Pictures
