“That was one of the best things I’ve ever seen in my life.”
It’s what we hope to feel every time we step into the theatre and see your production.
You have the opportunity to give us that. Don’t take it for granted.
Do it solely because you love it. Put your whole heart and soul into every single detail. Strive for excellence and generosity at every turn.
Go make your art.
“A brand is not a logo. A brand is a promise, a story and a shorthand. A brand tells us what to expect the next time we engage with you.” -Seth Godin
“The mission is critical. Once you lose sight of it, everything gets lost. You start doing side projects to satisfy a funder, a customer, an audience member, a board member, a town/city, or a host of other people with other missions…If you think you have a mission, and you are facing some big changes, then ignore everyone’s advice unless it’s mission critical. Unless the advice, or the potential change somehow fits your core mission, don’t do it. But, as you face those decisions remember that mission is independent of a lot of other things -you can change leadership, locations, mediums and formats – hell, what was IRL can be virtual or handled by a bot, perhaps. It might even mean painful changes, but if that is better for your mission, those are the changes you need to make.” -Brian Newman
Your mission statement is what you tell people you’re all about. (Most are too wordy, too vague or too boilerplate. Which is why no one remembers them.)
Your brand is what people actually believe you’re all about.
Hopefully the two are in alignment.
If not, go back and adjust one or both if need be.
P.S. – This excellent Seth Godin post and this newsletter from Brian Newman’s always superb and on-point, Sub-Genre.
“Attention is the most basic form of love.” -Tara Brach
“In the West there is a loneliness, which I call the leprosy of the West. In many ways, it is worse than our poor in Calcutta…We can cure physical diseases with medicine, but the only cure for loneliness, despair, and hopelessness is love. There are many in the world who are dying for a piece of bread but there are many more dying for a little love.” -Mother Teresa
“A Rabbit Noticed My Condition” by St. John of the Cross
I was sad one day and went for a walk;
I sat in a field.
A rabbit noticed my condition and
came near.
It often does not take more than that to help at times-
to just be close to creatures who
are so full of knowing,
so full of love
that they don’t
-chat,
they just gaze with
their
marvelous understanding.
Anywhere and everywhere you can, help people feel a little less lonely.
It’s not that hard. Start by noticing them. Give them your full, undivided attention. This is love.
Let’s give ’em something to talk about
Let’s give ’em something to talk about
Let’s give ’em something to talk about
How about love? -song, “Let’s Give Them Something To Talk About” by Bonnie Raitt
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” -Teddy Roosevelt, excerpt from his “The Man In The Arena” speech
After the play, on the drive home, they might talk about how great the production was and how great you were in it.
Or, they might also talk about how bad it was and how bad you were in it. They may even have a good laugh at your expense. That’s their prerogative as an audience member.
Either way, just remember, you were the brave one. You were the one out there on that stage, in that arena, taking a risk, putting it all out there.
You were the one who gave them something to talk about.
Go make your art.
“How short-lived the praiser and praised, the one who remembers and the remembered. Remembered in some corner of these parts, and even there not in the same way by all, or even by one. And the whole earth is but a mere speck.” -Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
When you seek praise, even if you get it, the praise will never live up to your imagination or expectation.
When you don’t seek praise and instead focus solely on doing the work for the work itself, you might get it anyway. And if you do, because you didn’t expect it, the praise you get will be better than you could’ve ever imagined.
“Show me the incentive, and I will show you the outcome.” -Charlie Munger
“Incentives: the most powerful force in the world. When the incentives are crazy, the behavior is crazy. People can be lead to justify and defend nearly anything.” -Morgan Housel, book Same As Ever: Timeless Lessons on Risk, Opportunity and Living a Good Life
“Incentives matter…People respond to incentives, not to mandates or regulations.” -Gary Becker
Before you “follow the money” as Deep Throat advised Bob Woodward in All The President’s Men, you should first, follow the incentive. You’ll then get to the money.
Nations, communities, companies, organizations and individuals, whether they are aware of it or not, are ruled by their incentives.
If you want to change the outcome, change the incentive.
P.S. – This FS article.
“Dance like nobody is watching; love like you’ve never been hurt. Sing like nobody’s listening; live like it’s heaven on earth.” -Mark Twain
Consistently making deadlines that others set for you (i.e. for your job) is a very important quality. It shows you’re reliable. You can be counted on to come through.
Consistently making deadlines that only you set for yourself. When no one is watching. Where nobody cares if you do or don’t come through. Where the only person you have to answer to is you…That’s next level.
P.S. – Hat tip to my friend Robin for inspiring this post.
“Ease is a greater threat to progress than hardship.” -Denzel Washington
“A blazing fire makes flame and brightness out of everything that is thrown into it.” -Marcus Aurelius
“We don’t rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training.” -Archilochus
“A smooth sea never made a skilled sailor.” –Franklin D. Roosevelt
The trials you face today will lead to your training. Be grateful for them.
The trials you face in the future will test the level and quality of your past training. They will reveal if there’s more or different work to be done. Be grateful for them.
Most highly successful people will underestimate how hard they worked at the beginning of their careers.
Just like it takes an enormous amount of escape velocity to get a rocket to leave the earth’s atmosphere, the same holds true for any passion project, let alone building a career.
Putting luck and circumstances aside, it takes a monumental amount of effort, you will make a ton of mistakes, have a lot of self doubt, and there is no guarantee you will make it to your intended destination.
It’s hard to remember that when you’re now floating in orbit.
“If you do need to do research because parts of your story deal with things about which you know little or nothing, remember that word “back.” That’s where research belongs: as far in the background and the back story as you can get it. You may be entranced with what you’re learning about the flesh-eating bacteria, the sewer system of New York, or the I.Q. potential of collie pups, but your readers are probably going to care a lot more about your characters and your story.” -Stephen King, On Writing
“Exposition is the easiest thing to write badly and the hardest thing to write well.” -John Yorke
“People always use words to not say what they mean. They constantly use language to avoid saying the things that are true. In Lady Bird when her mom is yelling at her about the room, what she wants to say is ‘I’m scared.’ And she can’t say that. So she says, ‘Why do you never clean up your room?’ -Greta Gerwig
The best writers excise as much exposition as possible. Whatever’s left, they then hide and structure in creative ways. They fully trust the intelligence and imagination of their audience.
The best actors find a way to make expositional dialogue compelling. Usually this is achieved through some sort of inner conflict. They fight against the line. “I don’t really want to have to tell you this, but…” Watch some procedurals. Notice how the stars do it.
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