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When you think of Clint Eastwood – who turns 80 tomorrow – it’s unlikely you associate him with self-help. It would be difficult to imagine Dirty Harry cultivating an “attitude of gratitude” or the anti-hero “man with no name” working on a list of well thought-out goals (unless it was a list of people to kill) but there are some recurring  themes in his life and works that are very familiar to people who are into self help and personal development. So, as a salute to Clint Eastwood good self help stuff offers you these thoughts on the world’s coolest 80 year old.

Managing your own career on your own terms

Even the quickest look at Clint’s career shows that he has not allowed other people to dictate what he can and cannot do. His first break was to become a regular in the TV series “Rawhide” but was criticized as being a good-looking lightweight who would not progress, however, he proved the doubters wrong when he made the switch to starring in Western movies. When they said that westerns are all he would ever do he made the switch to modern day action hero in the “Dirty Harry” movies and when he was typecast as a brooding tough guy he turned up in comedies like “Every Which Way But Loose” (co-starring with an orangutan, an inspired move!). As a director, Clint has made a remarkably broad range of movies – who would ever have thought he could come up “The Bridges of Madison County”? – and he has never let others decide what kind of movies he should make.

Dealing with setbacks

Clint Eastwood has made many hugely successful movies but he’s made some real flops too. You would have thought that movies like “Pink Cadillac”, “FireFox” and “Paint Your Wagon” are enough to have dented anyone’s self-belief but the great things about Clint Eastwood’s approach is that he always bounces back from a setback with another good movie. He quickly moves on from “failed” projects and comes up with something new. It’s as if his approach is “if you’re going to make great movies – make a LOT of movies”.

Take calculated risks

It would have been very easy for Clint to have stayed in the western genre and pumped out cowboy movies for the rest of his career but instead of taking the safe & easy option he has consistently taken risks. Sometimes they don’t come off but he has never been cowed into being typecast.

Be true to yourself

Whilst many of his movies have been panned by the critics and others  you strongly get the feeling that he has always made the movies that personally interest him and damn what anyone else thinks about it. The great thing about Clint Eastwood is that he has persevered and out-worked the people who have criticized him and he has remained “who he is” regardless of whether it is popular at that time or not.

It’s cool to be a man

OK this one doesn’t turn up very often in the literature but it should do! And Clint is a walking object lesson in masculinity.

One last remark – I find it hard to come up with just one favourite Clint Eastwood movie but, if pushed, I would have to say “The Outlaw Josey Wales” – what’s yours?

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