The Vs. Studio Blog

“Clarity isn’t about knowing what you want to do with your life, it’s about knowing what you want to do this week. You don’t need to have it all figured out. You just need to know your next step.” -James Clear

“As you start to walk on the way, the way appears.” -Rumi

Do you have the patience to wait
till your mud settles and the water is clear?
Can you remain unmoving
till the right action arises by itself? –Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu (Stephen Mitchell translation)

It takes a lot of faith and clarity to make your art. (Or start your business, complete your project, accomplish your goal, etc.)

But the good news is that you don’t need that faith and clarity all at once.

You just need enough to have the courage to take one step.

And then, after you take it, you will eventually get enough clarity and faith to take the next one.

And then the next.

And so on and so on.

One faithful step at a time. That’s all you need. That’s how it all gets done.

Go make your art.

“The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short, but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark.” -Michelangelo

Perhaps the reason you’re not going all out, not giving it everything you have, is that you’re worried, “What happens if my best isn’t good enough?”

Far easier and safer to think to yourself, “Well, if I really wanted to, I would have tried harder. But I didn’t really want to.” That gives you an out.

But here’s the thing…that out, will always eat at you. At some point, that safe choice will turn into regret. And it will be a better pill to swallow.

Far better to know you tried your best at something, that you want after it with all your heart. And if it isn’t good enough, then so be it. You tried. You learned. You now know. No regrets.

On the other hand, what happens if your best IS good enough. What if it’s far better than you ever could have imagined?

You won’t know until you try,

Lakers coach and former NBA/Duke basketball player JJ Redick, once told a story about Coach K giving him some tough love…Duke lost to UConn in the Final Four and in an exit meeting Coach K told him that he didn’t work hard enough. He told Redick, “We didn’t win a national championship because you weren’t worthy of being a champion.’

While it stung in the moment, Redick realized that it was true. That he wasn’t working hard enough. That he was holding back because he was afraid his best wasn’t good enough. He was actually on the verge of quitting basketball. After that meeting with Coach K, Redick decided:

“No coach could ever say that about me again.”

That summer, he redefined his habits, his mindset, and his work ethic.

The result?

Over the next two seasons, Redick became the best player in college basketball, won National Player of the Year, and set Duke’s all-time scoring record.

P.S. – This scene.

“Compound interest is the eight wonder of the world. He who understands it, earns it… he who doesn’t… pays it.” -Albert Einstein

“No great thing is created suddenly, any more than a bunch of grapes or a fig. If you tell me that you desire a fig, I answer you that there must be time. Let it first blossom, then bear fruit, then ripen.” -Epictetus

“Excellence isn’t built in grand moments. It’s built in the ones no one sees. Making your bed when you’re exhausted. Starting the hard task first. Putting your phone away during dinner. These micro-choices seem insignificant, but they compound. Each small act of discipline is a vote for the person you’re becoming. Skip them, and you train yourself that commitments are optional. Keep them, and you build unshakeable character. Who you are in the small things is who you are.” -Veronica Joce

Even if you only improve by .01 percent every day, at some point in the future, the growth will look explosive.

Because the real takeaway about compound interest is that all the big gains come towards the very end. (See chart above)

You gotta stay in it to win it.

P.S. – This doesn’t just apply to money. It applies to you anything you want to accomplish in life.

“Your entire life will change the moment you realize it’s not supposed to be easy. The most valuable things in life are hard to earn. That’s precisely why they’re so valuable.” -Shail Bloom

It don’t come easy
You know it don’t come easy
It don’t come easy
You know it don’t come easy
Got to pay your dues if you wanna sing the blues -song “It Don’t Come Easy” by Ringo Starr

“The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.” -Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

You might be hating the struggle now.

But someday, after you’ve accomplished the task, you will look back and love the struggle.

Because we don’t value what comes easy.

We value what is hard. What requires our effort and focus. What truly costs us something.

So keep going and while you’re going, remember to love the struggle.

P.S. – The IKEA effect.

“Everybody wants a transformation. Nobody wants the hundred boring, thankless days it actually takes to get it. Progress feels like nothing’s happening when you’re mid-journey. You only see how far you’ve come once you stop and look back.” -Mark Manson

For whatever the project, goal or new initiative, ask yourself if you can commit to 100 boring days in a row. 100 boring days where it won’t feel like you’re making progress. 100 boring days where you’re frustrated, angry even. 100 boring days where the only thing keeping you going is the vision you had at the beginning of the project. 100 boring days where all you have is the blind faith that this is what you should do. Because it’s important and you want to make this change.

And then, go commit and do 100 boring days.

When you’re in it, it won’t feel like progress.  It will just be one boring day after another.

But on day 100, you will look back and see how far you’ve come.  You’ll be blown away. Then it will all make sense, and you’ll be so glad you did it.

P.S. – “Show me sand the floor.” This scene.

“To love is to will the good of the other, as other.” -Saint Thomas Aquinas

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ Matthew 22: 37-39

“If you want to know what love looks like, Rabbi Jesus is saying, here it is: Love crosses borders and boundaries; it makes new cultural rules; it cares for the stranger. Love turns strangers into friends.” -Rev. Dr. Jacqui Lewis

And so the first question that the priest asked — the first question that the Levite asked was, “If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?” But then the Good Samaritan came by. And he reversed the question: “If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?”

That’s the question before you tonight. Not, “If I stop to help the sanitation workers, what will happen to my job. Not, “If I stop to help the sanitation workers what will happen to all of the hours that I usually spend in my office every day and every week as a pastor?” The question is not, “If I stop to help this man in need, what will happen to me?” The question is, “If I do not stop to help the sanitation workers, what will happen to them?” That’s the question.

Let us rise up tonight with a greater readiness. Let us stand with a greater determination. And let us move on in these powerful days, these days of challenge to make America what it ought to be. We have an opportunity to make America a better nation. And I want to thank God, once more, for allowing me to be here with you. -excerpt from Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I’ve Been To The Mountaintop Speech” (1968)

God is love.

That is a true and powerful statement and says everything.

But you know what else?

The reverse of that statement is also true and powerful and says everything.

Love Is God.

“He has the most who is most content with the least…It is the privilege of the gods to want nothing, and of godlike men to want little.” -Diogenes

Speaking of wisdom and wishes…

The Greek and Roman historian Plutarch tells a famous story about Alexander the Great visiting the impoverished Greek philosopher Diogenes of Sinope. Diogenes was resting and soaking up the sun in the public marketplace of Corinth. Alexander, who long admired Diogenes, offers to grant him any wish he wants. To which Diogenes replied: “Yes. Could you get out of my light.” (Or another translation: “Stand a little out of my sun.”)

Instead of being angry, Alexander was amazed by the man’s bold attitude and total lack of fear. As he walked away, Alexander reportedly told his men, “If I were not Alexander, I should wish to be Diogenes.”

When you’re grounded. When you’re doing what you want and living the life you want. When you’ve learned the secret of enough…Nothing and no one, no matter what they offer, can ever take that away from you. You’re free from needing. And that is everything.

P.S. – Hat tip to my friend Alex (aka “Admin Alex”) for telling me another terrific Alexander the Great story. This one, from 322 BC, was reported by Josephus Flavius and is also enshrined in the Babylonian Talmud…Alexander asks Shimon Hatzadik – the High Priest from the Hebrew Temple in Jerusalem, “Who is wealthy?” To which the priest answers: “One who is satisfied with his lot”.

There’s an adage in basketball that says the team that usually wins the last two minutes of every quarter or half, wins the game.

Apply that to your life.

No matter how bad today went–whether in or outside your control–stop whatever negative habit you’re continuing to do. And right now, before you go to sleep, do one productive thing, one right thing, one thing that you know you should do. Even if it’s just for a few minutes.

You’ll be amazed how good that will make you feel. Almost like you won the day. Which will put you in such great shape to win tomorrow.

The LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream at night.
God said, “Ask something of me and I will give it to you.”
Solomon answered:
“O LORD, my God, you have made me, your servant, king
to succeed my father David;
but I am a mere youth, not knowing at all how to act.
I serve you in the midst of the people whom you have chosen,
a people so vast that it cannot be numbered or counted.
Give your servant, therefore, an understanding heart
to judge your people and to distinguish right from wrong.
For who is able to govern this vast people of yours?”

The LORD was pleased that Solomon made this request.
So God said to him:
“Because you have asked for this—
not for a long life for yourself,
nor for riches,
nor for the life of your enemies,
but for understanding so that you may know what is right—
I do as you requested.
I give you a heart so wise and understanding
that there has never been anyone like you up to now,
and after you there will come no one to equal you.” -1 Kings 3:5, 7-12

“Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.” -Proverbs 4:7

“Knowing others is intelligence; knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; mastering yourself is true power.” –Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu

“If you wish to be wise, love wisdom; to love wisdom is to love what is true and to act accordingly.” -Seneca

“There is no freedom without wisdom, there is no wisdom without freedom.” -Ryan Holiday, book Wisdom Takes Work

If you’re ever lucky enough to find a magic lamp and a genie pops out and says he will grant you three wishes, tell the genie that you only need one.

Grant me wisdom to make good choices.

If you have this wisdom, everything else will take care of itself.

(Without it, you don’t stand a chance.)

“Serve Who Shows Up.

No matter the size of a group, I show up and give them my best. I’ll bring the same energy and heart to a room full of five people that I will to a room of 500. And I’d suggest you do the same.

Truth be told, you’ll never know how full or how empty the rooms will be for the things you create, but every single person who shows up makes an investment of their time to see you. It can sometimes get discouraging when things aren’t as busy as we would like or when we don’t see the crowd out in the audience we were expecting. But if there are people out there, even a few, that’s an accomplishment and for us a responsibility.

Serve who shows up, and I promise you’ll make a big impression, even if the audience is small.” -Michael Roderick

There’s an old adage in the theater: you don’t perform if there are fewer people in the audience than in the cast.

I don’t know that anyone follows this and it certainly contrasts with another adage: the show must go on…But one of the greatest shows I’ve ever done was the day after our opening of a play called Waste of Shame. The play was written and directed by my good friend and uber-talented artist, Ron Klier. (At the old Elephant Lab space, now the Broadwater Plunge bar.) Opening night was great. Sold out house, tons of energy, and great audience feedback. Everything you hope for in an opening, especially a World Premiere.

The next day?…There were two people in the audience. (Well technically three, if you count Ron.). And those two people were comps.

Our cast size?…Three.

Backstage, we debated what to do. Should we perform or just tell the two people the show was cancelled and offer to have them come another night? We didn’t want it to be a weird experience for them.

After deliberating, we decided to do the show anyway. No pressure. Have fun. But we made a pact to give those two people the best show of their lives. We felt enormous gratitude that they were there.

The show was incredible. Way better than opening. All three of us felt so connected and alive in the play. We could feel that the two people were with us in every moment. That gave us confidence to keep trusting. To keep playing free and loose and live in the world of the play.

When the show ended, the two people gave us a standing ovation. They were super enthusiastic. And on the way out, they told Marcy, our box office manager, that it was one of the best pieces of theater they’d ever seen.

Oh, and they insisted on paying full price for the tickets too.