Category Archives: Uncategorized

“Compete like hell.” -Michael Jordan “I have a competition in me.”- Daniel Plainview in There Will Be Blood The best athletewants his opponent at his best.The best generalenters the mind of his enemy.The best businessmanserves the communal good.The best leaderfollows the will of the people. All of them embodythe virtue of non-competition.Not that they don’tContinue reading “Love and Competition and Cooperation”

Strive only for love and excellence and generosity. Release the need for institutional validation or commercial success. (Most often, it’s not correlated with talent or skill anyway.) If you do this, then you can rest assured in the knowledge that regardless of “industry trends” or “technological changes” or any other kind of shifts, your artContinue reading “Always In Style”

Speaking of good and bad thoughts and the power to choose our actions… The Trappist Monk Thomas Keating teaches this beautiful contemplative practice: Imagine yourself sitting on the bank of a river. Observe each of your thoughts coming along as if they’re saying, “Think me, think me.” Watch your feelings come by saying, “Feel me,Continue reading “Floating Down The River”

“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” -Viktor E. Frankl, Man’s Search For Meaning Good news…No matter how bad your thoughts are, no one knows them and no one cares. All that matters are yourContinue reading “Good And Bad Thoughts”

Speaking of doing things on spec and asking yourself how far you can take a project on your own… This article on the making of the just released, independent film “The Last Stop In Yuma County” is inspiring on many levels. I especially love the below quote from writer/director Francis Gallupi who after being fedContinue reading “As If It’s Happening”

Speaking of a regular “takeaway practice”, here’s a personal example re: VANYA… One of the greatest plays I’ve ever seen is…a film? Wait a second..Isn’t the whole point of theatre that you’re seeing something live and experiencing this “aliveness” with other people. Yes. But, the size of the venue matters greatly. If you see aContinue reading “VANYA: Takeaways”

Speaking of takeaways… Consider starting a regular “takeaway practice.” For any art you consume, immediately afterwards, without reading any external reviews, write down at least three takeaways from it. These can be good or bad as you didn’t necessarily have to like the art. (It might be good to keep a notebook or “art journal”,Continue reading “The “Takeaway Practice””

“The most effective way to do it, is to do it.” -Amelia Earhart “A goal is a dream with a deadline.” -Napoleon Hill “It took me a long time to figure out that I needed deadlines. Deadlines were the difference between a dream and something that you complete. And what happens with deadlines is thatContinue reading “Deadlines: Three Reasons”

“What separates the elite performers from everyone else? Not perfection, but consistency. This is why the most important thing is not to prevent mistakes altogether, but to avoid making a mistake twice in a row. Errors are part of the process, but they shouldn’t become part of the pattern. One mistake is just an outlier. TwoContinue reading “Nunc Coepi”

“The only kind of writing is rewriting.” -Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast Writing every day doesn’t make writing any easier. Like any creative act, it will always be hard and messy, especially at the beginning. But by doing it every day, you no longer fool yourself into thinking it should be any different. You acceptContinue reading “Everyday ReWriting”