Author Archives: thevsstudioblog

“Pain + Reflection = Progress.” -Ray Dalio Pain without reflection is just…Pain. And because you didn’t take time to reflect and figure out what to do better next time, how you can grow, you will just end up doing the same thing again. Which will bring on more…Pain.

“The most terrible poverty is loneliness, and the feeling of being unloved.” -Mother Teresa “When so many are lonely as seem to be lonely, it would be inexcusably selfish to be lonely alone.” — Tennessee Williams. Right now, we’ve got a whole lotta loneliness going on. Especially here in the United States where the surgeonContinue reading “Every Time Smile”

If you’re a leader, then I’ve got good news and bad news for you. First the bad news…You’re not going to get the tap on the shoulder you might be hoping for. I know institutional validation is a powerful thing and it makes things way easier. But uh-uh, this is not for you. Now forContinue reading “Leadership Tap”

“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.” -Henry David Thoreau, Walden “Running for me was a daily pactContinue reading “Beautiful Effort”

One of the cool things about gratitude is that it’s a limitless supply. You’ll never run out of things to be grateful for. And you can’t say thank you enough. Gratitude is also a practice. The more you do it, the more you’ll want to do it. With that in mind…While I’ve said it before,Continue reading “Unending Gratitude”

“You have the right to work, but never to the fruit of work. You should never engage in action for the sake of reward…Those who are motivated only by desire for the fruits of action are miserable, for they are constantly anxious about the results of what they do.” –The Bhagavad Gita When you findContinue reading “The Right Work”

Give this video a watch. About 5 minutes. Powerful, vulnerable stuff. Everyone is walking around with a story playing in their head. The practice of sonder allows us to have empathy for that. Lastly, no couldawouldashoulda’s. No regrets. Whatever you’re thinking about making or doing, do it now.

“It’s not the mountain that we conquer, but ourselves.” -Sir Edmund Hillary The best antidote for a negative thought is inquiry. Don’t beat yourself up for having the thought. Don’t pretend it’s not there. Don’t try to force a positive thought in its place. Just observe the thought. Without judgment. Then ask it questions. BeContinue reading “Inquiry”

The inexperienced actor wants more lines. The experienced actor wants less. The veteran actor wants none. They know they can say it all with just a look.

“You’re one of a kind… thankfully.” -Don Rickles “After a while I went out and left the hospital and walked back to the hotel in the rain.” -final sentence in A Farewell To Arms by Ernest Hemingway “I didn’t have time to write you a short letter, so I wrote you a long one instead.”Continue reading “Oners”