The Vs. Studio Blog

“You must set your hands to tasks which you can finish or at least hope to finish, and avoid those which get bigger as you proceed and do not cease where you had intended.” -Seneca, On The Shortness Of Life

“If the first thing you do in the morning is to eat the frog, then you can continue your day with the satisfaction of knowing that this is probably the worst thing that will happen to you all day”. -Mark Twain

Of all the tasks on your to-do list, what can you complete today, tomorrow, this week? Start with those. Finish them off. You’ll be glad you did.

And for those other longer tasks/projects, ensure that you’ve given yourself a deadline for completion. (Remember your trusty ally, the work plan.) Otherwise, they wont get done. Or worse, they’ll grow into new, ongoing projects that never end. And your level of anxiety will grow commensurate with them.

P.S. – Speaking of changing your mind, listen to this podcast episode.

You can be gifted, but not talented.

Huh?

Hear me out…

Gifted means you have a natural proclivity for something.  It’s something you’re born with. You’re tall, strong, good at math, you can jump high, run fast, play an instrument perfectly for the first time, draw, paint, sing like a lark, etc…You didn’t do anything to get it. It’s a gift from the gods. Congratulations.

Talented is what you make of yourself. In many cases, it’s developing your gifts, yes. But sometimes, it’s not. There are plenty of examples of people who weren’t naturally gifted for something. But they loved the thing anyway. So much so that they busted their ass to master it. There are also plenty of examples of people who were really gifted at something, but for one reason or another, didn’t develop those gifts.

Either way, don’t worry if you’re gifted.

Go for being talented. Play the long game. Start by developing your taste.

I might be wrong, I might be wrong
I could have sworn I saw a light coming on
I used to think, I used to think
There was no future left at all
I used to think

Open up, begin again -Radiohead, “I Might Be Wrong”

“As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect.” -Franz Kafka, The Metamorphosis

When’s the last time you changed your mind about something you deeply cared about? Something in which you absolutely thought you were right, but then when presented with new evidence, new learning, new insight, you realized…you were wrong.

Let’s go a step further.

When’s the last time you changed your heart? The ancient Greek word (also found in Christian theology) Metanoia describes “a transformative change of heart; especially a spiritual conversion.” Setting aside any religious context, when’s the last time you had a metanoia?

One of the many wonderful things about art is its power to affect change. To open us up. To engender empathy for the entire human condition.

Mind Change leads to Heart Change which leads to Transformative Change.

Talent is taste. Knowing what specifically you love, why you love it and what about it is exceptional to you.

Your taste will lead you. It will force you to develop skills that match your taste and your ambition. It will not allow you to settle until you manifest that dream in your head. That’s how you become “talented.” The below excerpt from an interview with Ira Glass of “This American Life” says it all..

Nobody tells people who are beginners. I really wish someone had told this to me. Is that all of us who do creative work, we get into it. we get into it because we have good taste. you know what I mean? like you want to make TV, because you love TV. there is stuff you just like, love. ok so you got really good taste. you get into this thing … that i don’t even know how to describe it, but there is a gap. for the first couple of years you are making stuff, what you are making isn’t so good… ok, its not that great. it’s really not that great. its trying to be good, it has ambition to be good, but not quite that good. but your taste, the thing get you into the game, your taste is still killer. your taste is good enough that you can tell what you are making is a kind of disappointment to you, you know what i mean? you can tell it is still sort of crappy. a lot of people never get past that phase. a lot of people at that point, they quit. the thing i would just like say to you with all my heart is that most everybody I know, who does interesting creative work, they went through a phase of years where they had really good taste, they could tell what they were making wasn’t as good as they wanted it to be. they knew it felt short. [some of us can admit that to ourselves, some of us less able to admit that to ourselves] we knew like, it didn’t have that special thing that we wanted it to have. […] everybody goes through that. for you to go through it, if you are going through right now, just getting out of that phase, if you are just starting out and entering into that phase, you gotta know it is totally normal and the most important possible thing you can do is do a lot of work. do a huge volume of work. put yourself on a deadline so that every week or every month you know you’re gonna finish one story. you know what i mean? whatever it’s gonna be. you create the deadline. it is best if you have somebody who is waiting work from you, expecting work from you. even if not somebody who pays you, but that you are in a situation where you have to turn out the work. because it is only by actually going through a volume of work that you are actually going to catch up and close that gap and the work you are making will be as good as your ambitions.

“Yesterday all my troubles seemed so far away.
Now it looks as though they’re here to stay.
Oh, I believe in yesterday.” The Beatles, Yesterday

“I will live this day as if it is my last. …I will waste not a moment mourning yesterday’s misfortunes, yesterday’s defeats, yesterday’s aches of the heart, for why should I throw good after bad?” -Og Mandino, The Greatest Salesman In The World

“With a tear for the dark past, turn we then to the dazzling future, and, veiling our eyes, press forward. The long and weary winter of the race is ended. Its summer has begun. Humanity has burst the chrysalis. The heavens are before it.” -Edward Bellamy, Looking Backward

The only reason to look back is to look forward. Let your past inform your present. Learn from your mistakes and your triumphs. Ask yourself what worked, what didn’t and why? Even nostalgia if left unchecked, can be detrimental.

Today, today, today.

Forward, forward, forward.

“You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist.” -Friederich Nietzsche

The reason why nobody can really explain “The Method” when it comes to acting is because there is no method. (Read this excellent New Yorker article about the just released book ““The Method: How the Twentieth Century Learned to Act”)

There are wonderful tools for your toolkit and you should learn and study them all. See what works for you and what doesn’t. Pick and choose. Be a grocery store artist. Know and be deeply committed to your craft

But also realize that acting is art. It’s alchemy. Elusive. A little bit magical and mystical. And however you get there is entirely up to you.

“It gets easier. Everyday it gets a little easier. But you gotta do it everyday, that’s the hard part.” -BoJack Horseman

“Any time you see what looks like a breakthrough, it is always the end result of a long series of little things, done consistently over time.” -Jeff Olson, The Slight Edge

For almost any goal, the easy part is figuring out what to do. It’s just a series of steps. Small, deliberate actions.

The hard part is doing them every single freaking day.

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.” -Ecclesiastes 3:1

Hang on to your hopes, my friend
That’s an easy thing to say
But if your hopes should pass away
Simply pretend that you can build them again
Look around
The grass is high
The fields are ripe
It’s the springtime of my life -song lyrics from Simon & Garfunkel’s “Hazy Shade Of Winter”

As much as I try to inspire people to “go make your art” in this blog, there are times when life just isn’t complicit with your artistic ambitions. Maybe you’re in one of those periods right now. Rather than force the issue or feel bad because you can’t seem to make it happen, just take a step back. Bring awareness to your situation, priorities and obligations and be okay that your art has to take a backseat.

For more on this, read this excellent blog post from Margo Aaron. I especially love the examples she gives of people who still find a way to be artistic in the margins. Even if for just a couple minutes a day. It’s inspiring.

Lastly…remember it’s not no forever. It’s just no for right now.

“The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.”

The concept of the above proverb dates back as the poetry of Publius Ovidius Naso, better known as Ovid (43 BC – 17 AD), who wrote Fertilior seges est alenis semper in agris (“the harvest is always more fruitful in another man’s fields”). It was more a warning to not covet what someone else has or does.

While yes a warning that’s wise to heed, it can also hold us back from attempting to do something that’s in our heart. Explore a deep curiosity. Make the change we desperately wanna make. And that’s when stasis and complacency and bitterness set in.

Sometimes the only way you’ll ever know if the grass is truly greener is if you actually go to the other side and see for yourself.

If you’re struggling to figure out what constitutes meaningful consumption, ask yourself the following question prior to doing any activity…

Will this help me achieve my dreams and/or the change I’m trying to make in the world?

(And it’s okay if at times, the answer is “No.” The key is you’re aware of what you’re consuming and why.)