The Vs. Studio Blog

“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.” -Mike Tyson

Dear Adversity,

Wow. What a surprise. Uh….Thank you so much for dropping by. Welcome. Welcome. Come on in. I wasn’t expecting you but, uh…yeah…Oh cool. You brought gifts. I didn’t get you anything–hope that’s okay–but let’s see here…You brought…

FUEL. Yes! I’ve been looking for motivation, a reason to get out of bed in the morning and work and train. I have it now. Amazing. Thank you.

GROWTH. Seriously?…I get to test my limits? Push past them? Acquire new skills? Get stronger? Wow. Thank you.

EMPATHY. Man oh man…I now have a deeper understanding and feeling for what others are going through. The trials they’re facing. How unbelievably courageous they are. Day in day out. I had no clue before. Okay. Thank you.

KNOWLEDGE. Whatever things I had to learn to overcome you, I can now share those same things with others. Give back. Help. Solve. Thank you.

Again, I so appreciate you being here today adversity. I’ll hope you’ll be staying for a while. Looking forward to our time together.

Sincerely,

A Willing Human Being.

“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. If you’re playing guitar in the park with some guy, or you’re playing on a big album, you’re playing. It doesn’t feel that different to me.” -Interview with writer/director/actor Tom Noonan

The above quote is in reference to Tom Noonan’s low budget, 1994 indie directorial debut, “What Happened Was.” If you haven’t seen this film, I highly, highly recommend you seek it out. (Hat tip to my friend Kevin for first turning me on to it.) It’s phenomenal and inspiring on so many levels including what you can do with just two actors, one room and a whole lotta passion, thought and care. (Oscilloscope just released a beautiful 4K restoration as even though the film won the 1994 Sundance Grand Jury prize, it was previously only available on VHS. It’s also currently streaming on The Criterion Channel.)

Whatever you’re doing–writing, acting, painting, playing a sport, etc…–what are the simplest tools you need to be able to actually do the thing you love. To practice your desired craft. Pen and paper? Canvas and paints? Ball and a hoop? Your imagination?

Once you acquire those simple tools, then find a way–even if it’s just a few minutes throughout the day–to do it.

The budget and size and circumstances might be different, but the actual doing of the thing is exactly the same. So 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 know what the printed circuit board inside the Mac would look like, but Jobs was critiquing it based on how it looked.

An engineer said to him, “The only thing that matters is how well it works. Nobody is going to see the PC board.”

Jobs response according to Isaacson: ““I want it to be as beautiful as possible, even if it’s inside the box. A great carpenter isn’t going to use lousy wood for the back of a cabinet, even though nobody’s going to see it.”

“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, use the other—that he is your brother, that you were raised together, and then you will have hold of the handle that carries.” -Epictetus

I love the Zen Buddhist Proverb, “How you do anything is how you do everything.”

But let’s add a dash of Stoicism to it, shall we? Here goes…

“How you view anything is how you will do anything which is how you will do everything.”

“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’t talk about it. Be about it.

“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 inspire you.

When it looks easy, that just means an incredible amount of care, love, thought, precision and hard work was behind it.

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 deep
Sustains the bed on which we lie, my dear:
Although I love you, you will have to leap;
Our dream of safety has to disappear. (excerpt from W.H. Auden’s poem “Leap Before You Look“)

Just like you can’t control who you fall in love with, you can’t control when a project seizes you so much that you just have to do it.

But falling in love is just the first step.

After that, it’s a decision. Will you or won’t you take the 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.

The point is…it doesn’t matter what you use.

Sam Shepard wrote the first draft of “Simpatico” driving a truck across the country. One hand on the wheel, one hand jotting down the play on a pad of paper.

It doesn’t matter how.

It just matters that you have a burning desire to do it.

If you wanna write, just write!

If you wanna do, just do.

“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 the Nobel prize in 1965, he contributed greatly to the advancement of nanotechnology, quantum computing and particle physics. He even helped solve the cause of the space shuttle Challenger disaster. Albert Einstein attended Feynman’s first lecture as a grad student and Bill Gates called Feynman “the greatest teacher I never had.” Feynman was also a philosopher, author and intellectual. He was passionate about helping people synthesize seemingly difficult material and learning concepts faster and better.

He came up with a four part technique which I briefly list below. For a deeper dive I encourage you to check out this Medium article and this one from Farnham Street. Both are comprehensive and excellent.

So here are the parts…

One…Choose a concept you want to learn about.

Two…Explain it to a 12 year old.

Three…Reflect, Refine and Simplify.

Four…Organize and Review.

Let’s apply this to making art.

Step One…Find something you’re deeply passionate about. So much so that you want to spend a ton of time learning about it and then creating it.

Step Two…Try to explain your passion project to a child. If you can get them to understand and be interested, chances are you’ll be to get an audience too.

Step Three…Keep refining. Keep making everything better. The art, the producing, the marketing, etc…

Step Four…Stay organized and review. If it’s a stage play for example, constantly update your work plan and budget. Keep taking stock of where you’re at from pre-production all the way to closing night. And remember the post show notebook practice: “what worked, what didn’t and why.“