“It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.” -Harry S. Truman
“Criticism is something we can avoid easily by saying nothing, doing nothing, and being nothing.” -Aristotle
Your true contribution to the world can be measured by how much criticism you’re willing to accept and how much credit you’re willing to reject.
(And if you’re in a position of leadership, realize that many of your greatest contributions are about preventing problems before they arise. You’ll never get credit for these. But you will most assuredly get criticized when things go wrong. That’s okay. That’s the job you signed up for. Accept it willingly. Do it dutifully.)
“The advice I like to give anybody who’ll listen to me, is not to wait around for inspiration. Inspiration is for amateurs; the rest of us just show up and get to work. If you wait around for the clouds to part and a bolt of lightning to strike you in the brain, you are not going to do an awful lot of work…All the best ideas come out of the process; they come out of the work itself. Things occur to you. If you’re sitting around trying to dream up a great idea, you can sit there a long time before anything happens. But if you just get to work, something will occur to you and something else will occur to you and something else that you reject will push you in another direction. Inspiration is absolutely unnecessary and somehow deceptive. You feel like you need this great idea before you can get down to work, and I find that’s almost never the case.” -Chuck Close
“When inspiration does arrive, it is invariably energizing. But it is not something to rely on. An artistic life cannot be built solely around waiting. Inspiration is out of our control and can prove hard to find. Effort is required and invitations are to be extended.” –The Creative Act by Rick Rubin
“The amateur tweets. The pro works.” –Turning Pro by Steven Pressfield
Amateurs rely on inspiration and the fickleness of feelings to get to work.
Professionals just get to work. Day in. Day out. It’s who they are. What they do.
Decide ahead of time what you’re gonna do and know why you’re doing it. Then take massive and continuous action.
“If it be now, ’tis not to come; if it be not to come, it will be now; if it be not now, yet it will come. The readiness is all.” –Hamlet
“So much of life isn’t about intelligence or luck but putting yourself in a position for success. The cash-rich investor thrives in crashes. The well-rested athlete outperforms the exhausted star. The student who studies daily aces the pop quiz. The employee who leaves early gets to the meeting with the CEO on time while the other person sits in the unanticipated traffic. All seem lucky, but they’ve positioned themselves to succeed. Master your circumstances before they master you.” -Shane Parrish
“It is good to carry some powdered rouge in one’s sleeve. It may happen that when one is sobering up or waking from sleep, a samurai’s complexion may be poor. At such a time it is good to take out and apply some powdered rouge.” -excerpt from Hagakure: The Book Of The Samurai by Yamamoto Tsunetomo(translated by William Scott Wilson)
“Being unexpected adds to the weight of a disaster, and being a surprise has never failed to increase a person’s pain. For that reason, nothing should ever be unexpected by us. Our minds should be sent out in advance to all things and we shouldn’t just consider the normal course of things, but what could actually happen. For is there anything in life that Fortune won’t knock off its high horse if it pleases her?” -Seneca, Moral Letters
“The story of spontaneity can be misleading. We don’t see all the practice and preparation that goes into priming an artist for the spontaneous event to come through. Every work contains a lifetime of experience. Great artists often labor to make their work appear effortless. Sometimes they might spend years meticulously crafting and refining a composition to appear as if it was made in a day or in a moment.” –The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin
You can’t control when or whether you even get the gig.
You can control doing everything in your power so that you’re ready for the gig.
Chemistry (chemistry) Chemistry (chemistry) You and me, we’ve got (chemistry) Chemistry You and me, we’ve got (chemistry) Baby you and me Could this be that (chemistry) Chemistry, baby you and me -song “Chemistry” by Arcade Fire
“I love the chemistry that can be created onstage between the actors and the audience. It’s molecular, even, the energies that can go back and forth. I started in theater, and when I first went into movies, I felt that my energy was going to blow out the camera.” -Glenn Close
For the director…
You can’t plan for chemistry. Nor you can force it or fake it.
But if you’re blessed to have chemistry in your production, do everything in your power to nurture it and allow for it to flourish.
For it’s the magical X factor that will make your production one for the ages.
“The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant searching for fine pearls. When he finds a pearl of great price, he goes and sells all that he has and buys it.” -Matthew 13:45
“For it is said that humans are never satisfied, that you give them one thing and they want something more. And this is said in disparagement, whereas it is one of the greatest talents the species has and one that has made it superior to animals that are satisfied with what they have.” –The Pearl, a novel by John Steinbeck
“There is perhaps nothing worse than reaching the top of the ladder and discovering that you’re on the wrong wall.” -Joseph Campbell
“You find out when you reach the top / you’re on the bottom.” -Bob Dylan, song Idiot Wind
Whether you go up the ladder or down it, you position is shaky. When you stand with your two feet on the ground, you will always keep your balance. -“Tao Te Ching” by Lao Tzu (Stephen Mitchell translation)
One moment from an improv show (“The Armando Diaz Experience” at the Improv Olympic in Chicago) I saw over two decades ago that still haunts me…
The performer ended his opening monologue with these words:
“I got everything I thought I ever wanted and I’m still not happy.”
Silence.
You could hear a pin drop. You could feel the audience breathing with him through the sadness.
Then, the moment ended. The scenes and the comedy began…
What are you searching for?
What ladder are you climbing? Why are you even climbing it?
General William T. Sherman: “Well, Grant, we’ve had the devil’s own day, haven’t we?”
General Ulysses S. Grant: “Yes…Lick ’em tomorrow, though.” – Conversation between the two generals after the first day of the Battle of Shiloh during the American Civil War
All you lovers in the world (it’s a brand new day) Stand up and be counted every boy and every girl (startin’ up a brand new day) Stand up all you lovers in the world (it’s a brand new day) -song, “Brand New Day” by Sting
For the stage actor and the athlete…
You were great tonight.
So what?
You gotta do it all over again tomorrow night. For a brand new audience.
You were lousy tonight.
So what?
You get to do it all over again tomorrow night. For a brand new audience.
The waiting is the hardest part Every day you get one more yard You take it on faith, you take it to the heart The waiting is the hardest part -Tom Petty, song “The Waiting”
“Silence is God’s first language.” -St. John of the Cross
Do you have the patience to wait till your mud settles and the water is clear? Can you remain unmoving till the right action arises by itself?
The Master doesn’t seek fulfillment. Not seeking, not expecting, she is present, and can welcome all things. -“Tao Te Ching” by Lao-Tzu (Stephen Mitchell translation)
Make friends with waiting and silence.
For if you can do so, these two friends will guide you. They will clarify and amplify your heart’s true desire. And lead you to the inner peace you so desperately seek.
Marcel Duchamp: 1912 Painting “Nu descendant un escalier n° 2”
What has our arrogance profited us? And what good has our boasted wealth brought us? All those things have vanished like a shadow, and like a rumor that passes by; like a ship that sails through the billowy water, and when it has passed no trace can be found, no track of its keel in the waves.
Wisdom is radiant and unfading, and she is easily discerned by those who love her, and is found by those who seek her. She hastens to make herself known to those who desire her. One who rises early to seek her will have no difficulty, for she will be found sitting at the gate. To fix one’s thought on her is perfect understanding. -“Book of Wisdom”
“You got a life? Live it! Live the motherfuckin life!” -Toni Morrison, Song of Solomon: A Novel
Just because you’re older and wiser now doesn’t mean you should renounce your ambition.
It just means you now know what it’s all about. How to properly channel that ambition. Which is into…
Doing the work.
Loving the process.
Striving for excellence solely for the sake of excellence.
Being generous.
Having the discipline and courage to make and share your art. So that others will benefit from your passion and your vulnerability and your willingness to step out on the ledge and risk.
So, please keep your ambition. It’s your fuel. Your energy to make your art. To make the kind of change the world needs.
Just check your ego at the door. (Wisdom and experience are what enable you to do this.)
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