Author Archives: thevsstudioblog

“There is no better than adversity. Every defeat, every heartbreak, every loss, contains its own seed, its own lesson on how to improve your performance the next time.” -Malcolm X “Plenty and peace bring cowards. Hardness ever of hardiness is mother.” -William Shakespeare “Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” -MikeContinue reading “Dear Adversity,”

“To me, acting doesn’t really feel that different, one job to another. The set’s different, and we had no money, and we had small catering and stuff, a small crew, but it doesn’t feel that different. If you play basketball on a playground, and then you play in a college game, you’re playing basketball. IfContinue reading “Just Find A Way To Play”

It doesn’t matter that anyone ever notices the details you cared so much about and sweated over to get just right. It should only matter to you. That you cared enough to sweat them in the first place. Consider this excerpt from Walter Isacsson’s excellent biography of Steve Jobs… Nobody but Apple’s engineers would knowContinue reading “Detail Oriented”

“The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts.” -Marcus Aurelius, Meditations Every event has two handles, one by which it can be carried, and one by which it can’t. If your brother does you wrong, don’t grab it by his wronging, because this is the handle incapable of lifting it. Instead,Continue reading “View And Do”

“Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.” -Anton Chekov “Show the readers everything, tell them nothing…The dignity of movement of an iceberg is due to only one-eighth of it being above water. -Ernest Hemmingway Show us. Don’t tell us. In your art. In your life. Don’tContinue reading “Show, Don’t Tell”

“What would this look like if it were easy?” is a question author and investor Tim Ferriss routinely asks himself before starting a project. It’s not about avoiding hard work or running away from obstacles. It’s about setting yourself up to succeed. Being efficient. Building an elegant system and process that will sustain and inspireContinue reading “Easy”

The sense of danger must not disappear:The way is certainly both short and steep,However gradual it looks from here;Look if you like, but you will have to leap… A solitude ten thousand fathoms deepSustains the bed on which we lie, my dear:Although I love you, you will have to leap;Our dream of safety has toContinue reading “Will You Leap?”

What’s one thing you can do today to be better and get closer to achieving the excellence you’re striving for? And what’s one thing you can do today to help someone else achieve the same? You do both, it’s a helluva day.

“All good writing comes out of aloneness.” -Sam Shepard At Q&A’s Stephen King is often asked what kind of writing implement he uses. The answer: A Blackwing 602 #2 pencil, pictured above. And a fountain pen. And a typewriter And a computer. He’s used all of the above at various times in his life. TheContinue reading “Just Write!”

“The person who says he knows what he thinks but cannot express it usually does not know what he thinks.” —Mortimer Adler Richard Feynman (1918–1988) is widely regarded as one of the most important physicists of all time. He pioneered an entire field: quantum electrodynamics (QED), his work on light and matter won him theContinue reading “The Feynman Technique”