I had wanted to be an actress when I was little, but I wasn't very good at it, so I tried a lot of different things.
I've moved on to Plan B now, writing novels.
My plan always was to play college football, hope to get a few snaps in and then go on to medical school. As I went further in my career and got to my junior year, I realized as I looked around, 'I got a shot here, and I might as well go after it.'
If you reach for something and find out it's the wrong thing, you change your program and move on.
I understood that I might fail, but I wouldn't let it happen because I changed my compass along the way.
My goals for myself have changed as my career has evolved and as I've grown as a writer.
I always wanted to be an athlete. Then when I realized that I can't run very fast, jump very high, or catch anything, I thought, 'Maybe if this doesn't work out, I can be an actor.'
When it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached, don't adjust the goals, adjust the action steps.
In 13 years I've come to the conclusion that I need to play for second or third place.
If you set out to do something and you give it your all and it doesn't work out, be willing to modify your goal slightly. Have the ability to look in another direction. A small shift could guide you to the real purposes of your life.
I am constantly re-evaluating my goals and trying to strike items from my to-do list that aren't critical.
It is not something I ever envisaged doing when I set out - thinking, 'Oh yeah, I'd love to be a third-choice keeper' - but your situation changes as your career goes on.
The vision that we laid out in 2004 was designed, at best, for a 10-year period. And it was pretty clear that the vision that we laid out in 2004 by the time we arrived in 2010-11 was not working anymore.
