I’ve recently been obsessed with George Lucas, which has led to all sorts of interesting reading and web exploration. Many people seem to believe Lucas has gone over to the “Dark Side” himself, only “in it for the money” with his projects (we’ll have to talk about that another time), but I’ve always found him to be an inspiring visionary.

Here’s why I’m interested: I believe that we can learn from successful, creative geniuses about how to bring our dreams to fruition.

I recently re-watched a documentary about the making of the original Star Wars trilogy. The insider’s look at the creation of a grand vision is utterly compelling.

What I love about watching George Lucas in action — particularly the George of the 1976 Star Wars production era — is seeing his absolute dedication and unshakable commitment to the creation of his art, his way.

Again and again, he steered clear of involvement with the Hollywood studios as much as he could (particularly later in the film series), and found ways to maintain his independence, like retaining merchandising rights (even when it wasn’t clear there would be a popular market for the merchandise).

He worked and reworked his script to be as precise as possible and checked and rechecked his story themes to make sure he was conveying the powerful mythological messages and meanings he wanted to convey.

He repeatedly overcame what looked like insurmountable odds to bring his vision to reality. With the first film, schedules were massively delayed, props were malfunctioning, costumes and sets weren’t living up to his vision, budgets were falling by the way side, and the studio was threatening to pull the plug, but still he kept on.

Clearly, Lucas experienced his own hero’s journey to create his films, along the lines of the story he tells of Luke Skywalker facing his own shadow and obstacles, reaching deep within himself to grow and expand into who he is meant to be and what he is meant to do in the world.

So what is it that enables one creative visionary to succeed, where another might fail? What can we learn from George Lucas about how to make our own visions real?

Here are 6 principles I’ve gleaned from my studies of him so far: