The Vs. Studio Blog

“False ideas about yourself destroy you. For me, I always stay a student, that’s what martial arts are about, and you have to use the humility as a tool”. –Frank Shamrock

There’s a great chapter in Ryan Holiday’s book, “The Obstacle Is The Way” about the mixed martial artist, Frank Shamrock and his unique training system. Shamrock termed it the “Plus, Minus and Equals” formula. Though it’s endemic to MMA fighting, I think it can be applied to making art or anything we’re trying to do.

The formula in a nutshell…

PLUS. Find someone more skilled than you. Someone you can learn from, who will expose your gaps. It might be a coach. It might be a sparring partner who’s on a higher level than you. The “plus” can provide mentoring, training guidance and knowledge of techniques that can help develop your skills.

MINUS. Find someone of lesser skill than you. Someone you can teach and help grow. Someone who’s hungry to learn. In the process of teaching the “minus”, you gain a deeper understanding and appreciation of your skills. (And you’re doing a good deed. Nothing wrong with that.)

EQUALS. Find someone who’s roughly at the same skill level and can match you in sparring. You and your “equal” can motivate each other, have fun competing and learn from one another. And because you started at the same place, you can measure your progress against one another.

Holiday says the value of this system for people is “to get real and continuous feedback about what they know and what they don’t know, from every angle. It purges out the ego that puffs us up, the fear that makes us doubt ourselves and any laziness that might make us want to coast.”

Plus, Minus Equals…what a great structure to adopt for our personal and artistic growth.

Quick productivity tip to battle the resistance and the insidious nature of perfectionism…

Write down everything you think you need to do today. Once you’ve finished your list, go back and put an asterisk next to everything you “absolutely have to do”, “no questions asked”, “this is it”, “I gotta get it done or else” tasks. Those are your minimums. Your “at least I did that” tasks.

Everything else on your list, only tackle after you’ve accomplished your minimums. Those are your maximums. The “if I had 72 hours instead of 24, didn’t need to sleep or eat, and had the energy and strength of a superhero” tasks.

At the end of the day, when you’re writing down your “I Did It!” list, you won’t have done all your maximums. But you’ll probably have done a little more than the minimums. You’ll be somewhere in between.

Most importantly, you’ll be proud of your effort. And be that much more excited for the possibilities of tomorrow.

Fan is short for fanatic. To be a fan of something, that means you are fanatical. You obsess about it. You can’t wait, you’re chomping at the bit for the band’s next record or the writer’s next novel or the director’s next film. There’s nothing casual about your love of the thing.

What, if anything, in your life are you fanatical about? And why?

And when seeking true fans, what can you do such that they will be fanatical for your work?

“Mama always told me not to look into the sights of the sun. Woah, but mama, that’s where the fun is.” -Bruce Springsteen, Blinded By The Light

You could ski straight down a mountain. But where’s the joy in that? And how do you get better?

We have to explore the edges. Especially in our art.

“Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.” -John Lennon

How much better would we feel if for everything that happens to us, we simply took a breath and uttered these words to ourselves?…

“This is exactly what was supposed to happen.”

How much unnecessary stress and strain and aggravation could we eliminate if instead of fighting life, we made it our dance partner?

“This is exactly what was supposed to happen.”

I’m by no means advocating passivity. Sitting back and doing nothing. (Although sometimes, being like driftwood is the right approach.). Often we’re spurred into action by some event that happens to us or some change we seek to make in the world. And that’s a great thing. But for those times when we don’t understand, when we can’t make sense of things, when we’re not inspired to take action…let us take a breath, let us have faith in our own resiliency, let us trust that this will make sense at some point in the future–that the obstacle will become the way–, and let us say to ourselves….

“This is exactly what was supposed to happen.”

We all have a to-do list–which I like to call my “get” to do list–and no doubt, it’s important. But just as important is to celebrate our daily wins, no matter how big or small. One way to do that is by creating an ‘I Did It!” list (yes, the exclamation mark is intentional).

In the evening, write down all the things you did that day. Take a moment to celebrate each of your accomplishments. Think about what went well and if there’s anything you would do better. Then move on.

This consistent practice keeps your spirits up during the long slog. It counters the resistance. And gives you an added jolt of motivation to get up early the next day and Get After It.

November is National Gratitude Month. No doubt, you’ve read some article espousing the benefits of a regular gratitude practice. I believe, and there is plenty of research to back this up, that when done meaningfully and consistently, practicing gratitude is transformative.

But we should also practice appreciation. Which I think is different than gratitude and speaks to the heart of what it means to be a generous artist.

Appreciation means respecting your craft. Reading and learning about those who came before you as well as those presently doing the kind of work you want to do.

If you’re a theatre artist for example, that might mean reading tons of plays by a wide variety of playwrights. Different time periods. Different genres. Even ones you might not necessarily care for. If nothing else, just to learn and cultivate your taste. It might mean reading other books on the craft of acting, directing, writing, theatre history, etc…Seeing as many plays as you can (even if just streaming right now). Watching and studying great films and television shows. Leave no stone unturned in your search.

Appreciation also means respecting your audience. Appreciating how busy they are, just how little time they have, and how difficult and expensive it is for them to leave their house. That appreciation might be the motivation for you to find and manifest your passion project and do it with excellence. Or if you’re doing something right now, having appreciation motivates you to work a little bit harder, practice more, go a little bit deeper, ask more questions, etc… Whatever you can do to make the work the best it possibly can be. For those who generously gave their time and money to see your art.

So yes, keep practicing gratitude throughout this month and thereafter. But also add appreciation. You’ll become a better, more complete artist and human being.

It’s not enough for the artist to see or feel or think, they must also SHARE. It’s one of the most generous acts we can do.

If we’re lucky (we shouldn’t expect or plan for it), our art will affect someone else. Might even help them feel a little less alone in the world. Like when you read a great passage in a book and think, “Wow. I feel that way too.”

P.S. – In the spirit of this post, the picture above was taken this morning. I went out for a run, noticed the awesomeness of the sky, and was compelled to snap a photo. I wanted to share it with you. Enjoy.

Things probably won’t turn out the way you originally pictured them in your head.

What if they turn out better than you ever imagined?

Go make your art.