The Vs. Studio Blog

“Be aware when things are out of balance. Stay centered within the Tao.” -Lao Tzu

““You paddle a little on the left and little on the right and you paddle a straight course.” -Jerry Brown’s “Canoe Theory” of Politics

Balance does not mean everything in harmony at all times. Yes, we ideally would love to have enough daily time and energy to attend to everything that’s important to us. Our spiritual, physical, mental, artistic, financial, etc…But let’s face it, when you embark on a passion project, it can be all consuming. Your overall balance will be out of whack. You’re like a car that’s out of alignment. It’s part of the trade off you make to do something you love. But trust that it’s only temporary and it’s worth it.

The key is to just be aware, and then the first chance you get, give time and attention to the other parts. Get tuned up and back in alignment. Back in balance.

And ready for the next project.

“There is one place that you have not looked and it is there, only there that you shall find the master.” –The Last Dragon

“I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.” -William Henley, Invictus

If you haven’t seen the 80’s cult classic, “The Last Dragon”, please do so immediately. The movie has it all–an awesome plot, killer soundtrack (courtesy of the film’s producer and Motown legend Berry Gordy), break dancing, giant boom boxes, kung fu, ninjas, a Harlem pizza parlor, music videos, and some of the coolest characters of all time including the stunning beautiful Laura Charles, the evil record mogul Eddie Arkadian, the wisecracking younger brother Richie Green, and of course, the one, the only…Bruce Leroy.

Still not convinced? What about the baddest ass villain of all time? Who actually glows he’s so bad? This dude…

Sho’nuff. The shogun of Harlem.

Are you freakin’ kidding me?!!! What a film!

Okay, but what does this have to do with making art?

Well…Bruce (his actual character’s name is Leroy Green) is on a quest to find “the master.” Leroy believes that when he finds the master, then everything will make sense. All his training and life’s work will be complete. Then, and only then, after finding the master, can Leroy confidently move forward, face his fears, face Sho’nuff, and be the person he wants to be. The person he was destined to be.

Is he right?

Will Leroy find the master?

Will he get the glow?

Will this blog post make any sense?

Sorry. No spoilers here. You’ll need to watch The Last Dragon and report back. I look forward to your quest to figure out “Who is the master?…”

“Today I will be master of my emotions. And with this new knowledge I will also understand and recognize the moods of him on whom I call…No longer will I judge a man on one meeting; no longer will I fail to call again tomorrow on he who meets me with hate today. This day he will not buy gold chariots for a penny, yet tomorrow he would exchange his home for a tree.” -Og Mandino, The Greatest Salesman In The World

You finally find your passion project. You decide to manifest it. You do so with excellence and generosity. You work your butt off. You’re proud of what you made as you truly feel you did your best. You’re excited to share it with others. You launch and…

…Crickets.

What helps in the face of this seeming rejection? This self doubt?

First, realize that this is just not for them.

Okay. But what about the people you were so sure would love what you made? Who would show up and enthusiastically support you? Who would tell the others? Who were the people that inspired you to make the thing in the first place?

What happens when they don’t show up? Or show up and are like “Meh.” Or worse, they dislike your art?

Now what?

Add two magic words to the end of the sentence, “This is just not for you…”

They are: “…right now.”

“This is just not for you right now.”

Say it to yourself over and over.

“This is just not for you right now.”

“This is just not for you right now.”

“This is just not for you right now.”

That sentence will keep you going in the darkness. It will help you stay focused and finish out the project as best you can. Upon completion, it will help you honestly reflect and learn from it. And most importantly, it will inspire you to find and manifest something else.

Because someday, they and many others will come around. Count on it.

Never stop making your art.

The old school way of making a decision by jotting down pros and cons still works. (Another great exercise to do in tandem is “fear setting” which Tim Ferris explains here.)

But it’s not just the number on each side that wins the day.

It’s how powerful and meaningful they are to you.

A single meaningful pro can outweigh a dozen less significant cons.

For if that lone pro is connected to a strong enough why, the decision to proceed will always be a good one. In the long run, anyway.

Gradual bud and bloom and seedfall speeded up
are these mute explosions in slow motion.
From vertical shoots above the sea, the fire
flowers open, shedding their petals. Black waves,
turned more than moonwhite, pink ice, lightning blue,
echo our gasps of admiration as they crash
and hush. Another bush ablaze snicks straight up.
A gap like heartstop between the last vanished
particle and the thuggish boom. And the thuggish
boom repeats in stutters from sandhill hollows
in the shore. We want more. A twirling sun,
or dismembered chrysanthemum bulleted up, leisurely
bursts, in an instant timestreak is suckswooped
back to its core. And we want more: red giant,
white dwarf, black hole dense, invisible, all in one. -(May Swenson, “July 4th”)

Even the most amazing fireworks you’ve ever seen in your life replete with dizzying arrays of light and sound and M-80 sonic boom that command every second of your attention and imagination,

will pass

and become a distant memory.

Forgotten by you

and everyone else who was there to witness and celebrate.

Go make you art. Not because you want to be remembered. But because in that exact moment in time, you loved something so much that you just had to make it and share it with all of us.

“Free, free, set them free.” -Sting

Having trouble deciding? Saying no to something? Don’t want to disappoint or let someone down? Got a serious case of FOMO?

Just remember…

It’s not “No” forever.

It’s just “No” for right now.

If it’s meant to be, it’ll come back around.

Trust in that. Decide. Go forward. Move on.

(Also remember, most decisions can be reversed or changed pretty quickly.)

Today marks the halfway point of 2021 and a fresh start for the second half. Or for you fellow golfers, “Welcome To The Back Nine.”

What goal or project do you want to start or finish before the year expires? For the next three months?

As discussed in this prior post, you can divide the year into four quarters, almost like your own personal report card or basketball game. (Congrats to the Phoenix Suns and Chris Paul by the way for making it to the NBA Finals. I’m a diehard Laker fan but gotta give props to CP3.)

The author Gretchen Rubin takes it one step further. She advises breaking up each day into four quarters. She writes:

“Instead of feeling that you’ve blown the day and thinking, “I’ll get back on track tomorrow,” try thinking of each day as a set of four quarters: morning, midday, afternoon, evening. If you blow one quarter, you get back on track for the next quarter…Fail small, not big.”

Fantastic advice!

So go forward. Make a ruckus. Be energized with this “fresh start.” Good luck on your second half, your third quarter, your next month, your next week, your next day, and your next quarter day! I’m rooting for you big time.

P.S. – Today also marks the 18 month anniversary of The Vs. Studio Blog. Nearly 400 posts and no missed weekdays since inception. Thank you everyone for reading, for commenting, for encouraging and for caring. Hope this blog has provided a little daily boost of inspiration and perspective on your artistic journey. I promise to continue showing up each day and give you my best.

You don’t always have to be in “maker” mode.

Sometimes, just curating the best of what others have made is where you’re called.

If this is you right now, answer the call. And just like if you made it yourself, curate with excellence and generosity.

Is the reason you make it free or charge very little that you don’t want to be held accountable? That deep down, you don’t really believe in your product or service or offering? Or worse, you don’t believe in yourself?

Like most things, price and money are just stories we tell ourselves. If you want to charge more, first tell yourself a different story. Then tell others.

It’s one thing to set a goal, work hard at achieving it and along the way you see incremental progress. That progress signals you’re on the right track. Your efforts are working, which inspires you to keep going. It’s why losing weight and accumulating wealth are among the dominant topics in personal development. You see the pounds on the scale, the dollars in the bank account. Just like functions in mathematics, for every input of effort, there is a measurable output. Do “X”, get “Y.”

It’s an entirely different thing when you have no idea if the steps you’re taking are actually working. Artists can toil away for years, for decades, without seeing any tangible progress or fruits for their efforts. Monetarily speaking, it will probably never work out.

Jack Lemmon (my all-time favorite actor) was once asked how he knew to stay the course during all his lean acting years.

His response…

“Blind Faith.”