The Vs. Studio Blog

“Love is for today; programs are for the future. We are for today; when tomorrow will come we shall see what we can do. Somebody is thirsty for water for today, hungry for food for today. Tomorrow we will not have them if we don’t feed them today. So be concerned with what you can do today.” -Mother Teresa, A Call To Mercy

“Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.” -Arthur Ashe

So okay, maybe you can’t solve all the world’s problems.

But don’t let that daunt or overwhelm you.

Because you can solve just one problem. The one right in front of you.

Solve that.

Speaking of which, this beautiful story from Pam Kearney (h/t to Sahil Bloom for providing)…

I visited Matthew, the owner of Lucy’s Flour Shop a little while back. As I nibbled on an enormous chocolate chip cookie I began to tell him a story.
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A few years back on a bitterly cold December evening, there was a visitation at the funeral home across the street from his bakery.
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The people, bundled up in coats, scarves, and blankets were lined up around the building waiting to hug the family of the deceased.
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Seemingly out of nowhere, a man showed up and began giving away hot coffee to the people outside. People who entered the funeral home with coffee in their hands whispered of a mysterious man handing out free coffee, and how much they appreciated it.
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I looked at Matthew and said, “I have a suspicion that you were that man. Is that right?”
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Matthew very humbly replied, “Yes, I felt so bad for them and wanted to do something, but all I could do was make coffee, so I made coffee.”
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I responded that he blessed so many people that night by helping them warm up and by showing there’s good in the world. He added a positive note to a devastating situation.
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I paused, then added, “That visitation was for my sixteen-year-old son. Thank you for being so kind.”

“When we take the focus off ourselves and what we want, we inherently become more creative with our messaging because we have to imagine what someone else would want, which moves us away from our assumptions and the familiar.

Because most of the anxiety we experience often comes from worrying about ourselves and what will happen to us.

It’s primitive and instinctual, so for many of us, it’s natural to focus all of the attention on our own experience.

But the magic happens when we take that pressure off and just take a moment to think about the other person’s experience.” -Michael Roderick

It’s not about you.

It’s about the work. And your audience’s experience with the work.

Let that free you to take the necessary creative risks to make great work.

And humble you to keep your ego in check.

Because it’s not about you. It never was.

It’s about the work.

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence is a habit, not an act.” -Aristotle

“Excellence is one of the most authentic and human experiences there is, and it must be earned. The payoff is a deep internal satisfaction, a genuine self-respect based on effort and competence, a sense of aliveness and resonance that you won’t find anywhere else.

Excellence is also about creating a better world. It is the generative force that leads to scientific breakthroughs, inspiring athletic feats, beautiful creations, and meaningful relationships. When you strive for excellence, you contribute to this universal dance in your own unique way.” -Brad Stulberg, The Way Of Excellence

We’re hardwired to strive for excellence. When we’re in that zone, it’s about the most human and alive we can be.

But it’s also a habit.

Good or bad, our habits make us. We have to choose them.

Will you choose excellence?…The world could sure use it.

“At dawn, when you have trouble getting out of bed, tell yourself: ‘I have to go to work — as a human being…'” — Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

“We do not choose our own parts in life, and have nothing to do with those parts. Our duty is confined to playing them well.” -Epictetus

Life is sad
Life is a bust
All ya can do is do what you must
You do what you must do and ya do it well -song “Buckets Of Rain” by Bob Dylan

Sometimes the only reason to do a certain task is because it’s your duty to do so. You derive no pleasure from the task. It won’t get you anywhere, won’t lead to anything. You won’t get paid extra, No one will recognize you for it.

You just feel it’s your duty to do so. So you do it.

But now here’s the question..Can you do it well? And consistently over a long period of time?

If yes, then you can do anything. You are a master.

I have climbed highest mountains
I have run through the fields
Only to be with you
Only to be with you
I have run
I have crawled
I have scaled these city walls
These city walls
Only to be with you
But I still haven’t found what I’m looking for
But I still haven’t found what I’m looking for -song “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” by U2

“At the center of your being, you have the answer. You know who you are and you know what you want.” -Lao Tzu

If you’ve searched far and wide and still haven’t found what you’re looking for, then consider asking yourself these questions:

(1) Do you really, specifically know what it is you’re looking for? And why you’re looking for it?

(2) Have you reached out to others for help in your search?

(3) Should you change (iterate) your approach?

(4) Perhaps what you’re looking for resides just around the corner? You just need a little more time and a little more consistent effort.

(5) Is what you’re looking for, what you should be looking for? Is it the best fit for who you are and the person you want to be? (Go back to question one.)

(6) Could it be that you actually have found what you’re looking for and you just don’t realize it? Look within.

They may not ever know if you tried your best, if your intentions were pure, if you behaved virtuously. Perhaps you got away with it. Or were wrongfully criticized.

But you know.

And that’s the only thing worth knowing anyway.

If you’re working for a company or organization and at the regular staff meeting the new person shows up and is brave enough to ask questions like “why exactly do we do this?” or “I’m trying to better understand…can you explain this?” or “I’m not sure I’m following…what do we do here?”, etc…honor that curiosity (even though you just want to get the meeting over with). It’s a gift. It’s a chance for you to examine your systems and processes that you don’t do, but now you have to do. in order to explain it to the new person.

And if you can’t explain it coherently or your answer is akin to “because that’s what we always do”, then that means you don’t have good systems and processes.

Thank the new person for asking the questions.

And then get to work on fixing those systems and processes.

So that way, you can explain them to the next new person at the next staff meeting.

There isn’t some magical moment where you will cross everything off your to-do list, accomplish every one of your goals, reach the highest level of success, etc…and suddenly feel like “I did it. I’ve arrived. I’m good.”

The reason?

Because all the joy is found in arriving. Not in having arrived.

Lean in to and love the process.

And when you accomplish something, find something else to do that will give you another process to fall in love with all over again.

“If we’re looking for purpose and fulfillment we need to carry weight…and creativity is an honorable weight to put on your shoulders. When we feel the hurt and pain of the weight we get to remember that what we chose is hard but it’s worth it. The goal is not to get rid of the weight. It’s to find a weight we don’t want to ditch when it gets heavy.” -Gabe Andersen

A life devoted to making art carries an especially heavy weight. But it’s worth it.

And remember, you chose this. It didn’t choose you.

Also know that we all have to carry weight at some point in our life.

It’a lot better when you get to choose. Instead of it being chosen for you.

So what’s it gonna be? Which weight will you carry?

“A writer – and, I believe, generally all persons – must think that whatever happens to him or her is a resource. All things have been given to us for a purpose, and an artist must feel this more intensely. All that happens to us, including our humiliations, our misfortunes, our embarrassments, all is given to us as raw material, as clay, so that we may shape our art.” -Jorge Luis Borges

“Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.” -Romans 5:3-4

“Sweet are the uses of adversity,
Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous,
Wears yet a precious jewel in his head;
And this our life, exempt from public haunt,
Find tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,
Sermons in stones, and good in everything.” -William Shakespeare, As You Like It

“In some ways suffering ceases to be suffering at the moment it finds a meaning, such as the meaning of a sacrifice.” -Viktor E. Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning

No one wants to suffer.

No one knows why we suffer.

But we do get to make meaning from our suffering. That’s what makes us uniquely human.

Think of it all as clay. Use it. Shape it. Make it into a beautiful bowl that you can give someone else to help them when they suffer.

And by doing so, you give a gift to yourself too.