The Vs. Studio Blog

“You must not be disheartened or sink into sadness if your actions do not attain the perfection you intended. What do you expect? We are all fragile, we are earth, and not every plot of land produces the fruit intended by the farmer.” -Saint Pio of Pietrelcina, Letter

A paradox…

Often we need the big dream, the big outcome, the big vision in order to set goals and then try to achieve them.

But rarely do we get the outcomes we seek. Or in the same timeframe.

Thus, we may think we failed.

We didn’t.

Thinks of goals as merely direction. As focus so as to not drift aimlessly. Seneca wrote, “If one does not know to which port one is sailing, no wind is favorable.” We need the goal to focus and know which port to sail into.

But the real value is in the attempt.

Because no matter the outcome, merely by the attempt, we grow as human beings. We learn new skills. We practice virtues like discipline and willpower and sacrifice and courage. We adapt. We develop. We stretch.

We went into the arena. We “dared to fail greatly.”

And that helps anything we do going forward.

Set the goal. Go for it.

But remember, the real value is in the attempt.

“The King leaned closer to me. ‘I have only one real applicable piece of advice for you, he said, his perfect diction piercing through the noise of the crowd. ‘Have a boring life and make your art thrilling.’ –A Bright Ray of Darkness by Ethan Hawke

“Be regular and orderly in your life, so that you may be violent and original in your work.” -Gustave Flaubert

“Discipline equals freedom.” -Jocko Willink

The more disciplined you can be in your regular life, the more out of control you can be in your art.

You know that feeling when you’re watching a play or any kind of live performance and you just love it so much? Emotions are stirring. You’re moved to your core. You don’t want it to end. You look around at the audience and wonder:

“Is anyone else seeing what I’m seeing?”

You just feel blessed to be there. To witness this little miracle.

Guess what?

When you find something you’re passionate about and decide to produce it and do so with excellence and generosity and put your whole soul into it, you have a chance of giving that exact same feeling to others.

That’s a helluva good reason to go make your art, isn’t it?

“I think there is much more going on than we are aware of and sensitive to and perceptive about , and the more we think we know what is possible and impossible the more we are foolish and arrogant and imprisoning ourselves in an idea.” – “The Daoine Sidhe” Essay from “One Long River Of Song”

“Sell your cleverness and buy bewilderment.” -Rumi

Buy this book. I highly, HIGHLY recommend. You will fall in love either for the first time or all over again with life. Especially with all the seemingly mundane, unremarkable and quotidian details. The late Brian Doyle, like all great writers, just paid more attention. He listened more. Observed more. Awed more. Wondered more. Appreciated more. Risked more. Dreamt more.

And as a result of reading and re-reading this superb collection of his essays, you will to.

P.S. – “Hoop” is my personal favorite. I look forward to hearing what’s yours!

“There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.” –Hamlet

“If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster; And treat those two impostors just the same…” –If by Rudyard Kipling

“When something is wrong of going bad, you just look at me and say, Good.” -Jocko Wilink

One of the many gifts that come from fully committing to your passion project, is that you now see everything that happens to you as fuel for your work. You don’t judge the events of your life. But instead you fully accept them and then look to them as inspiration. You continuously ask yourself the question, “How can I use this?”

To go a little bit deeper.

To be a little bit sharper.

To give and risk a little bit more of myself.

So that hopefully in turn, my work can inspire and help others.

Inspired by The Criterion Collection’s “Three Reasons” film promos. (watch this as an example; and definitely see the film!) here are three reasons to check out filmmaker Ed Burns and his work.

(1) “Head down. Ass up. Keep moving forward….What other choice do you have?” His mantra. Listen to this podcast.

(2) From superstar debut to being put in “directors jail” to an indie rebirth. A lesson in resiliency. Read this book.

(3) How he made The Brothers McMullen for only 25k and then nearly two decades later, Newlyweds for only 9k! He talks about it length and generously shares all on this podcast. And this one.

No excuses. Go make your movie.

How do you know if you have something to say? How do you “find your voice”? How do you attract and engage a readership?

You write a book. Ship it (as Seth Godin is fond of saying). Share it with the world. See what happens.

Then you do it again.

And again.

And again.

And…

You won’t ever know if you have anything to say.

Without actually trying to say something.

I get some form of this call or email with regularity…

“Hi there. I’m looking for a good producer for my upcoming theatre production. Know anyone who might be interested?”

My first thought, especially knowing it’s intimate theatre, is…

“Why are you trying to hire someone else? Why not do it yourself?”

It’s your baby. Your passion project. No one will ever care enough to sweat the details more than you. Nor should you expect them to.

Go Produce Your Art.

It’s easy to write a book. Discipline and commitment will get you there.

It’s really hard to actually have something to say.

“In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, in the expert’s mind there are few.” -Shunryu Suzuki

Know what Jack Nicklaus, the greatest golfer of his time and arguably of all time, would do after every golf season? No matter how successful it went?

He’d return home to work with Jack Grout, his childhood teacher since age ten. They’d review the basic fundamentals and start all over again. From scratch.

There is no getting to the top of the mountain.

There is no arrival.

There is no “I’ve got it down now. Just need to do my thing. I’m good.”

There is only the work. The process. The day after day.

And the humility and openness that comes from always thinking of yourself as a beginner.