Jim Carrey Wrote Himself a Check for $10 Million Before He Was Famous

Before Jim Carrey was one of Hollywood's biggest stars, he was a broke young comedian trying to make it in Los Angeles. In 1987, Carrey drove his beat-up car to the top of Mulholland Drive and wrote himself a check for $10,000,000, dated Thanksgiving 1995 and marked 'for acting services rendered' — a visualization exercise for his goals.

He kept the check in his wallet, where it deteriorated over the years. Just before Thanksgiving 1995, he learned he would receive $10 million for his role in Dumb and Dumber. His father had always dreamed of him becoming a comedian; when his father died, Jim placed the tattered check in his father's coffin. This story became one of the most famous examples of visualization and the power of goal-setting in popular culture.