The Vs. Studio Blog

“Recognizing that people’s reactions don’t belong to you is the only sane way to create. If people enjoy what you’ve created, terrific. If people ignore what you’ve created, too bad. If people misunderstand what you’ve created, don’t sweat it. And what if people absolutely hate what you’ve created? What if people attack you with savage vitriol, and insult your intelligence, and malign your motives, and drag your good name through the mud? Just smile sweetly and suggest – as politely as you possibly can – that they go make their own fucking art. Then stubbornly continue making yours.” -Elizabeth Gilbert

You put your whole heart and soul into making something and no one cares. Worse they hate it. What to do?

First, remember you can’t control their response. Nor should you try. It’s not up to you.

What is up to you is that you cared enough to look deep into your heart, found what you were passionate to say and why, decided to manifest it with excellence and generosity no matter what, and you were brave enough to share it with the world. Or as Teddy Roosevelt once exhorted, you “entered the arena”, you “dared greatly”, you “strove valiantly”, your face was “marred by dust and sweat and blood”…you did the deed. That’s all that counts.

Now, do it again.

Don’t try to play or convey a mood when you’re acting. Mood spelled backwards is “Doom.”

Mood always follows action.

“Sometimes, you just gotta say…what the f-ck.” -Joel Goodson, Risky Business

Feeling scared about attempting something today? Wanting to take a leap, but fear holding you back? Take Ben Folds’ advice from the Ben Folds Five song “Do It Anyway”…

You might put your love and trust on the line
It’s risky, people love to tear that down
Let ’em try
Do it anyway
Risk it anyway

And if you’re paralyzed by a voice in your head
It’s the standing still that should be scaring you instead
Go on and
Do it anyway
Do it anyway

There will be times you might leap before you look
There’ll be times you’ll like the cover and that’s precisely why you’ll love the book
Do it anyway
Do it anyway

To watch the music video (it’ll make you happy), click Here.

“The Sun himself is weak when he first rises, and gathers strength and courage as the day gets on.” -Charles Dickens, The Old Curiosity Shop

Just like a power plant generates electricity, your job–especially when producing a passion project–is to bring energy to everything you do and everyone you interact with. You won’t find it in external sources, it needs to come from within. YOU are the power plant.

Nor should you expect that just because you found your passion project, you’ll now automatically wake up every morning full of gusto, ready to take on the world. You will have plenty of low energy days. Plan for that. You might want to engage in regular morning practices and routines to help get yourself in that charged state. Those might include meditation, exercise, journaling, gratitude, walking, etc… Whatever works for you. Find something and stick to it.

And for a little extra motivation, follow Marcus Aurelius’ advice to himself:

“When you arise in the morning, think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive-to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love.”

There are no shortage of articles about someone’s process. How hard they worked. The steps they took. Their passion and unending dedication to the thing they wanted to create. These can be intimidating to say the least. Worse, they can cause us to shut down and never attempt the thing inside our head. (For example, reading that Daniel Day Lewis spends years working on a character and then stays “in character” for the entire film shoot might make you never want to attempt acting. Or quit if you are an actor.)

One reason these articles block us is that perhaps when we read them, we might think, “I should do that.” We don’t fully trust our own process and priorities. Because someone we admire or deem a success does things a certain way, we might feel compelled to emulate them exactly. Especially when we aren’t where we want to be. Inevitably when we realize we can’t live up to those ideals, we despair.

A mindset and syntax shift might help…

Instead of being intimidated, what if we let those articles inspire and inform us? Help us see what’s possible as well as all the different ways to do a certain thing.

Not, “I should do this.” Rather, “I could do this.”

“Most people do not listen with the intent to understand; they listen with the intent to reply.” -Stephen R. Covey

“Listening is about being present, not just about being quiet.” -Krista Tippett

One of the great gifts you can give another artist or anyone who’s contemplating a project is to simply listen. Listen to them without judgment. Without interruption. Without opinion. For as long as it takes. If they want your feedback, they’ll ask for it.

On the flip side if you’re the talker (assuming you’ve first thought things through and/or wrote down), a generous thing you can do is give the listener a heads up. Say something like, “I need to talk something out. Is it cool if I just download with you?”

These dual, generous habits serve us well. And will save a lot of time and unnecessary aggravation.

P.S. – Throw this advice away when you’re acting opposite someone. Yes, you absolutely must listen. But listen WITH judgment, opinion, expectation and a strong desire to interrupt. That means you’re active and on the road to conflict. Which then makes the scene alive. And really interesting to watch.

“I fear not the person who has practiced ten thousand kicks, one time. I fear the person who has practiced one kick, ten thousand times.” -Bruce Lee

“Ready, Fire, Aim” is a popular business book. While I haven’t read it, the title alone is catchy and offers good advice.

How often do we not start something because the conditions aren’t “perfect” from the get-go?

What if instead, we just start regardless of outlook, but then resolve to constantly evaluate and change as needed? We have faith and belief that as long as we’re passionate, that we’re pot committed, that we’re doing it for the right reasons, that we’re flexible and open-minded (best idea wins) and have a strong why, we will attract the right people and other things necessary to complete our undertaking.

But we need to start.

Put another way…what if we strive for 10,000 iterations. Not 10,000 hours.

And so should we.

I watched this terrific documentary (available on Amazon prime) about the sculptor Elizabeth King. Similar to the Bill Cunningham documentary I wrote about and loved, it’s all about an artist’s process and how one is called to something. Combining intimate figurative sculpture, stop frame animation and the ritual of theater is her vocation. Clearly she’s not doing it for money or accolades. Even her choice of materials is not “efficient.” But it’s what she sees in her head and is compelled to make. Watching her process is riveting.

My favorite part occurs at the end. She stops mid-sentence when talking about her work to observe a Red-tailed Hawk flying above. Her joy at seeing it is infections and talk about being in the moment!

What would happen if we took the amateur spirit–for me that’s process, doing something for no other reason than the pure love of the thing itself–and married it with the rigor, the discipline and consistency required of the professional?

What would we choose to create?

How far would we take it?

“A mirror will reflect all things perfectly, whether they are beautiful or ugly; it never refuses to show a thing, nor does it retain the thing after it is gone. The mind should be as open as this.” -Lin Ching-hsi

One of the great reasons for art is that it’s a mirror. We can hold it up to ourselves and the world and regardless of whether we like the image reflected back, it tells the truth.

The decision to act or make a change based on this truth is entirely up to us.