The Vs. Studio Blog

“Why do we love our writing teachers so much? Why, years later, do we think of them with such gratitude? I think it’s because they come along when we need them most, when we are young and vulnerable and are tentatively approaching this craft that our culture doesn’t have much respect for, but which we are beginning to love. They have so much power. They could mock us, disregard us, use us to prop themselves up. But our teachers, if they are good, instead do something almost holy, which we never forget: they take us seriously. They accept us as new members of the guild. They tolerate the under-wonderful stories we write, the dopy things we say, our shaky-legged aesthetic theories, our posturing, because they have been there themselves.” -George Saunders, author and Professor, from his essay “My Writing Education,” The New Yorker

“If you can’t explain an idea to an 8 year old, you don’t understand it…If you want to understand something better, teach it.” -Richard Feynman, Nobel Prize-winning Physicist and Professor

“Learning is a lifelong process. While we teach, we learn.” -Seneca

The idiom “those who can’t do, teach” originated from George Bernard Shaw in his play Man and Superman. It was originally intended as a cynical jab at political revolutionaries rather than an attack on educators. Over time, it morphed into a popular, often derogatory, stereotype suggesting that teachers are simply people who failed at their primary vocational goals. Which is so not true.

Interestingly enough, the original maxim goes all the way back to Aristotle which reads, “Those who know, do. Those who understand, teach.” In other words: Only those who truly understand complex ideas can break them down for others to understand.

Wanna know if you really grasp the fundamentals? Wanna get better at your craft?

Try teaching it. There’s no better test than that.

“Reinvention is a verb-created phenomenon. You don’t experience a reinvention. You reinvent. You don’t think your way into a new life. You don’t manifest it into reality. You don’t dream it. You act it into reality.” -Sahil Bloom

“You cannot think your way into a new life; you have to build your way into it. Drop the heavy blueprints, build a low-stakes prototype, and step into the future you want to experience…A prototype isn’t a commitment; it’s a conversation with your future self. Try stuff, gather the data, and let the real world guide your next move. Your life is always a work in progress.” –Designing Your Life by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans

I love this post about reinventing from Sahil Bloom.

If you’re seeking to make a big change in your life but feeling anxious about doing so, why not split the difference? Before outright quitting, try out the new thing. Take it for a test drive.

As Sahil advises, set a goal of 30 minutes a day for 30 days in a row of doing the new thing. Take action on it.

Depending on your desired change, this could involve things like:

-Having casual learning conversations with people who are doing the new thing you’re interested in.

-Having conversations with trusted friends and/or family members.

-Attending industry or networking events.

-Reading books or articles about your new field

-Reaching out to potential clients for your new business idea.

-Building your website or a simple landing page for your product/service offering.

-Writing a strategic or business plan, including budget and financial projections.

If 30 minutes for 30 days is too daunting, do 20 for 20. The point is, make a commitment to trying out your desired change (aka “prototyping“) and then do it.

You’ll either find out that you love the new thing and then be much more ready to go all in on it. Or, you’ll find you don’t love the new thing as much as you thought you did. You’ll stick with what you were doing, yet work to find something else.

And if you can’t or are unwilling to commit to trying out the new thing?…Well, now you know you’re not ready or it’s not the right thing.

“You cannot sell to someone unless you know who they are and what they want.” -Turney Duff

My friend Turney tells a great story on IG about selling. You can find it Here. And be sure to check out all his posts. They are chock full of phenomenal advice, especially for a young person trying to find their way in the world.

If you know exactly what you’re selling AND why it’s important AND exactly who you are selling to AND what they might want, then you can even sell sand to someone in the desert.

If you don’t know the above yet, start by finding your minimum viable audience. Which, per Seth Godin is “The smallest group that could possibly sustain you in your work.”

They will.

If.

You know specifically, who they are.

And.

You know specifically what you are building.

Yes, Roy Kinsella took a huge leap of faith. And didn’t really know why other than a strong voice telling him to.

But, he did know he was building a baseball field for baseball players to play on it.

Before building it, ask yourself, who’s it for and what’s it for?

Then you can leap.

“The vacuum of excitement and the sadness in the creative adventure is also a gift. It shows you that you’ve found something that unlocks a deeper part of you…the part that is willing to get sad. Of course it hurts. But there’s a lot of people walking around not doing anything they care enough about to be sad and frustrated when it doesn’t go to plan.” -Gabe Andersen

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss. -poem If by Rudyard Kipling

You busted your ass getting ready for the audition.

You spent countless hours preparing the pitch.

You planned the perfect event.

You trained like a demon and went all out in the race.

All that time.

All that energy.

All that work.

All that sacrifice.

But you didn’t get the job.

They didn’t like the pitch.

No one showed up to the party.

You lost the race.

Things didn’t go the way you hoped.

And I know. It stings. It hurts. A lot.

But damnit, you tried. You put yourself out there. And what a gift you had. To be able to want something and then go for it. So many people don’t get this gift. They don’t have anything they care enough about to risk. To go all out like you just did.

Take a moment to be sad. To grieve.

And then go find the next meaningful thing to care about.

If you can do that again and again and again, then you will have one helluva good life.

“Sorrow can be alleviated by good sleep.” –Saint Thomas Aquinas

“By helping us keep the world in perspective, sleep gives us a chance to refocus on the essence of who we are. And in that place of connection, it is easier for the fears and concerns of the world to drop away.” –Arianna Huffington

“We are such stuff as dreams are made on; and our little life is rounded with a sleep.” –William Shakespeare

“Having peace, happiness, and healthiness is my definition of beauty. And you can’t have any of that without sleep.” –Beyonce

The single best cure for your problems is a good night’s sleep.

When you wake up rested, more often than not, you will realize your problems weren’t really problems. Certainly not as monumental as you thought the day before.

Or, you will now have the energy, clarity and focus to deal with these problems effectively.

Either way, put the phone down, stop the worrying, and go to sleep.

Your mind and body will thank you in the morning.

P.S.- Also be sure to consult this self-care checklist.

“The more you say, the more common you appear, and the less in control. Even if you are saying something banal, it will seem more original if you make it vague, open-ended, and sphinxlike.” -Robert Greene

“I have often regretted my speech, never my silence.” -Publilius Syrus

“Those who know do not speak. Those who speak do not know.” -Lao Tzu

“Be silent or let thy words be worth more than silence.” -Pythagoras

“It takes two years to learn to speak and sixty to learn to keep quiet.” -Ernest Hemingway

“It’s not the notes you play, it’s the notes you don’t play.” -Miles Davis

The goal in writing or speaking or any form of communication, is to say as little as necessary to get your point across.

“Yes” and “No” are complete sentences.

For the actor…

Speaking of learning the lines, there are so many effective things you can do to prepare for an audition. Or, after you get the part, so many effective ways to start working on the character. Things such as:

-Creating a backstory.

-Breaking down the script into beats. And then coming up with strong actions.

-Doing sense memory and image work.

-Coming up with “as-ifs”.

-Determining your character’s spirit animal.

-Allowing your imagination to run wild.

-Reading the script 100-200 times (per Anthony Hopkins). Reading it out-loud too (per Harold Guskin).

-Finding the right psychological gestures (per Michael Chekov)

-Figuring out posture, how the character walks, and where their center is.

-Incorporating Alexander Technique and Laban movement into your character.

-Using improvisation to come up with the “moment before.”

-Doing Meisner “repeat” exercises.

-Coming up with the perfect costume that makes you feel like the character.

-Reading other scripts/material from the writer or about the writer (e.g., interviews).

-Watching films that might inspire choices for your character.

-Creating music that gets you into the character’s headspace.

And many others.

These are all phenomenal tactics and techniques and can also be very fun to do.

But if you had very limited time or wanted to 80/20 the process or could only do one thing and one thing only?…

Learn the lines.

Exactly as written.

Learn them so well they come out effortlessly. That you don’t have to think about them. That they are second nature to you. (Be careful not to lock in speech patterns though.)

Let’s face it, this memorization work is not fun. It kinda sucks. You will want to procrastinate.

But, besides the fact that you have to do it anyway, you might also find that by learning the lines first, either (a) some/all of the other techniques are un-necessary or (b) you get so much more out of these techniques. Because the work that you put into learning the lines allows you to then be way more informed and go way deeper with your character as you employ any/all of these techniques. Which then makes that work even more fun.

P.S. – If I had to pick the most important technique besides learning the lines, I’d go with breaking down the script and coming up with strong actions for your character. (But again, once you’re in the audition or rehearsal, throw all this beat/action work away. Nothing should be locked in or forced. Stay open. If it’s right, it will stick. Trust in that. Trust your instincts and craft. Be open. Listen and respond truthfully in the moment.)

“I would walk the streets of Manhattan, bellowing out the monologues as I rambled. I’d do it by the factories, at the edges of town, where no one was around. What else was I going to do? Where could I emote? That’s what you do when you’re obsessed.” -Al Pacino, Sonny Boy, a memoir

“Actors always want to know how I come up with interesting and creative takes on characters, characters that aren’t like me as I appear in daily life and that aren’t like each other. It’s simple: I let the lines and images connect with my imagination. I don’t worry about consistency; I let myself respond moment by moment, piecemeal, to the character’s dialogue and actions. Then I let my responses take me wherever they go, making mistakes and discarding them until choices start repeating themselves on their own no matter how arbitrary they seem at first. Then I know I’m on to something. But I don’t try to put the character together. I leave it in pieces. The script and story put the character together so my moment by moment performance seems like a creative take on the whole character.” -Harold Guskin, book How To Stop Acting

For the actor…

One of the most difficult things about this profession is the difficulty in practicing your craft. Because it is such a highly collaborative medium, there is some truth in the fact that you need to get the job in order to practice doing the job. Or at the very least, you need other actors and audience. Not easy to assemble. (That’s why classes and training are vital.)

But one deliberate thing you can do, on your own, no matter what, is to just find monologues from great plays, memorize them (exactly as written), imagine yourself saying them, and then roam the streets speaking them out loud.

No doubt all that work that went into selecting, memorizing, imagining and speaking will keep you sharp. It’s also much of the same work you will need to do when you actually get the job. (Or better yet, create the job for yourself and others.)

“Trust is one of the greatest economic forces on Earth.” -Charlie Munger

“Earn trust, earn trust, earn trust. Then you can worry about the rest.” -Seth Godin

“Attention, taken to its highest degree, is the same thing as prayer. It presupposes faith and love. Absolutely unmixed attention is prayer.” -Simone Weil

“Attention is the most basic form of love. By paying attention we let ourselves be touched by life, and our hearts naturally become more open and engaged.” -Tara Brach

If someone trusts you enough to give you their full attention, then (a) please recognize what a big deal that is. It is a sacred gift. And (b) do everything in your power to never, ever, lose their trust.