The Vs. Studio Blog

“It gets dark as I sit here, and the fireflies add wonderful effects to the flowerbeds. The birds of the air, the flowers of the field–was ever Solomon in all his glory arrayed as one of these?…There are so many of those brief moments of waiting in our lives. It is wonderful how sweet these notes are to the heart, though often while one is taking them down they seem like commonplaces. But when they are read over again, they have a distilled sweetness. It seems to be God speaking.” – Dorothy Day, On Pilgrimage

“We should remember that even Nature’s inadvertence has its own charm, its own attractiveness. The way loaves of bread split open on top in the oven; the ridges are just by-products of the baking, and yet pleasing, somehow: they rouse our appetite without our knowing why.
Or how ripe figs begin to burst.
And olives on the point of falling: the shadow of decay gives them a peculiar beauty.
Stalks of wheat bending under their own weight. The furrowed brow of the lion. Flecks of foam on the boar’s mouth.
And other things. If you look at them in isolation there’s nothing beautiful about them, and yet by supplementing nature they enrich it and draw us in. And anyone with a feeling for nature—a deeper sensitivity—will find it all gives pleasure. Even what seems inadvertent. He’ll find the jaws of live animals as beautiful as painted ones or sculptures. He’ll look calmly at the distinct beauty of old age in men, women, and at the loveliness of children. And other things like that will call out to him constantly—things unnoticed by others. Things seen only by those at home with Nature and its works.” -Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

“All human nature vigorously resists grace because grace changes us and the change is painful.”
― Flannery O’Connor, The Habit of Being: Letters of Flannery O’Connor

First we need to take time to notice. The more we notice, the more we realize how much (including the everyday, quotidian) we can be grateful for. And the more we practice gratitude, the more room we have for grace to enter our lives. Which then leads to acts of love. It’s a virtuous and unending cycle of joy.

Anne Lamott writes beautifully about this in her book Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers. An excerpt is below…

Gratitude begins in our hearts and then dovetails into behavior…. We mysteriously find ourselves willing to pick up litter in the street, or let others go first in traffic….

When we go from rashy and clenched to grateful, we sometimes get to note the experience of grace, in knowing that we could not have gotten ourselves from where we were stuck, in hate or self-righteousness or self-loathing (which are the same thing), to freedom. The movement of grace in our lives toward freedom is the mystery. So we simply say “Thanks.” Something had to open, something had to give, and I don’t have a clue how to get things to do that. But they did, or grace did.

Saying and meaning “Thanks” leads to a crazy thought: What more can I give? We take the action first, by giving—and then the insight follows, that this fills us. Sin is not the adult bookstore on the corner. It is the hard heart, the lack of generosity, and all the isms, racism and sexism and so forth. But is there a crack where a ribbon of light might get in, might sneak past all the roadblocks and piles of stones, mental and emotional and cultural?…

How can something so simple be so profound, letting others go first, in traffic or in line at Starbucks, and even if no one cares or notices? Because for the most part, people won’t care—they’re late, they haven’t heard back from their new boyfriend, or they’re fixated on the stock market. And they won’t notice that you let them go ahead of you.

They take it as their due.

But you’ll know. And it can change your whole day, which could be a way to change your whole life. There really is only today, although luckily that is also the eternal now. And maybe one person in the car in the lane next to you or in line at the bank or at your kid’s baseball game will notice your casual generosity and will be touched, lifted, encouraged—in other words, slightly changed for the better—and later will let someone else go first. And this will be quantum.

The movement of grace toward gratitude brings us from the package of self-obsessed madness to a spiritual awakening. Gratitude is peace.

P.S. – Speaking of grace and gratitude…Happy Veterans Day to all those who’ve served and sacrificed for our country. We can never say “thank you” enough.

“After enlightenment, one is still the same as one was before. One is simply free from unreality and delusion. The ordinary person’s mind is the same as the sage’s, because Original Mind is perfect and complete in itself. After you’ve had this recognition, please don’t lose it.” – Pai-chang

“Enlightenment is man’s release from his self-incurred tutelage. Tutelage is man’s inability to make use of his understanding without direction from another. Self-incurred is this tutelage when its cause lies not in lack of reason but in lack of resolution and courage to use it without direction from another. Sapere aude! ‘Have courage to use your own reason!’- that is the motto of enlightenment.”
― Immanuel Kant, An Answer to the Question: What Is Enlightenment?

“The road to enlightenment is long and difficult, and you should try not to forget snacks and magazines.”
― Anne Lamott, Traveling Mercies: Some Thoughts on Faith

When you’re enlightened (or lit up by passion), you see something that no one else sees. Therefore, be wary of telling others what it is you see and expecting their assent. They won’t, because they don’t see it. And you risk falling into discouragement and inertia when that happens.

Instead, trust in your vision. And go execute on it.

Eventually, the right people will “see it” too.

It’s never going to be “the right time” to make your art.

You’ll always have some other distraction, let alone responsibility or need that requires your attention.

Stop waiting. Just decide that the right time is now. And start.

You’ll be amazed at how everything then falls into place and the universe cooperates with that single decision. It’s an inflection point.

Now is the exact, right time. It always is, always was, and always will be.

“Good checklists are precise. They are efficient, to the point, and easy to use even in the most difficult situations. They do not try to spell out everything–a checklist cannot fly a plane. Instead, they provide reminders of only the most critical and important steps–the ones that even the highly skilled professional using them could miss. Good checklists are, above all, practical…

We don’t like checklists. They can be painstaking. They’re not much fun. But I don’t think the issue here is mere laziness. There’s something deeper, more visceral going on when people walk away not only from saving lives but from making money. It somehow feels beneath us to use a checklist, an embarrassment. It runs counter to deeply held beliefs about how the truly great among us—those we aspire to be—handle situations of high stakes and complexity. The truly great are daring. They improvise. They do not have protocols and checklists. Maybe our idea of heroism needs updating.” -Atul Gawande, The Checklist Manifesto

So come on and chickity-check yo’ self before you wreck yo’ self
Chickity-check yo’ self before you wreck yo’ self
-Ice Cube, “Check Yo Self”

One of the many useful things about checklists is they take emotion out of decision-making. They’re straightforward. All you have to do is follow the list. (Or don’t, at your own risk.)

Seth Godin’s recent post about “project resistance” is magnificent. You can read it Here. If you’re wondering if your work isn’t good enough or you’re just facing “the resistance”, as Steven Pressfield brilliantly termed it in The War Of Art, consider all the possible symptoms Seth lists. Maybe print out and keep close at hand. It can serve as a checklist every time the resistance rears its ugly head. And rest assured, if you’re trying for something great, it will.

“Somebody may beat me, but they are going to have to bleed to do it.” -Steve Prefontaine

What makes my good friend Joe one of the world’s best handicappers is that he can evaluate how well a horse ACTUALLY ran a race. As opposed to how they finished. He uses tools like Beyer ratings, Sheets numbers, Pace figures, etc..as well as watching replays of past races. All that and more factor in to his analysis of a horse’s quality. He’ll be the first to tell you that a horse can finish second or third or even out of the money and run an incredible race (for example, maybe it had a bad jump or was boxed in or the jockey gave it a bad trip).

A great scene in the movie WITHOUT LIMITS–which is about the legendary distance runner, Steve Prefontaine–involves Pre and his coach, Bill Bowerman. Bowerman repeatedly challenges Pre to run from behind in order to conserve energy and win more easily. But that’s not Pre’s style. He only wants to sprint out front and win wire to wire. It’s his art.

But…Pre does listen to his coach one time for a big race.

Unfortunately it’s not a good outcome. Pre gets boxed in by the other runners and can’t make a closing move until it’s way too late.

But he does try. Coming from waaaay back, he runs the fastest single lap time ever recorded in the event; it’s an almost inhuman time. But not enough for the win and Pre is distraught. An apologetic Bowerman says he just ran the greatest race he’s ever seen in his life. And that he’s so proud to be his coach. From then on, Bowerman will let Pre be Pre.

You can’t control if you win the race. There are way too many other factors beyond your control that determine the outcome. But you can control your effort. Always, always, always.

Win the effort race.

“The first principle is not to fool yourself – and you are the easiest person to fool.” -Richard P. Feynman

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

“I did the best I could” is an admirable goal and something we should all shoot for. But at the end of the day it’s just a feeling. It’s entirely subjective and up to you.

Don’t fool or lie to yourself.

If at the end of the day, you feel you came up short, analyze why. Then forgive yourself. Turn the page. And go get after it tomorrow.

Perseverance (noun)

: continued effort to do or achieve something despite difficulties, failure, or opposition : the action or condition or an instance of persevering : STEADFASTNESS

“I will persist until I succeed. The prizes of life are at the end of each journey, not near the beginning, and it is not given to me to know how many steps are necessary in order to reach my goal. Failure I may still encounter at the thousandth step, yet success hides behind the next bend in the road. Never will I know how close it lies unless I turn the corner. Always will I take another step. If that is no avail, I will take another, and yet another. In truth, one step at a time is not too difficult. I will persist until I succeed.” -Og Mandino, The Greatest Salesman In The World

“If you are going through hell, keep going.”  – Winston S. Churchill

“Real courage is when you know you’re licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what.” 
– Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird

“It always seems impossible until it’s done.” – Nelson Mandela

“The brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough. They’re there to stop the other people.” – Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture

What’s common among all stories of people who show tremendous courage and perseverance–from ancient tales of the Spartans to Biblical narratives like the Canaanite woman to Louis Zamperini in “Unbroken” to today’s single parent working multiple jobs to provide a better life for their child–is they all have no idea if what they’re doing will actually work. In fact, the initial feedback is that it’s not working and they should just give up.

So what is it that allows these folks to persist against all odds and evidence to the contrary?

I believe it’s the following:

A burning desire.

An unwavering and at times, irrational belief in themselves and their mission.

A refusal to give up.

And as my favorite actor Jack Lemmon said about his own career…”blind faith.”

To persist is to win.

Keep making your art.

P.S. – Pictured above is the Mars rover. It’s been looking for signs of life on Mars since landing there on 2021. 960 days and counting. Nothing yet. But not giving up. Its name?…Perseverance.

“A finite game is played for the purpose of winning, an infinite game for the purpose of continuing the play. -James P. Carse, book Finite and Infinite Games: A Vision of Life as Play and Possibility

A finite game is one bounded by rules and time. Think of your favorite sporting event for example. Whoever has the most points at the end of the set period wins. To win is the purpose of the game.

An infinite game is boundless. Wins, losses and keeping score do not matter. The purpose of the games is to just keep playing.

Can you turn your passion project into an infinite game? Sure, there might be finite games/measuring sticks along the way. But overall, as long as you get to keep playing, keep making, keep learning, keep growing…that’s the win.

Put another way…if you’re alive and are pursuing something you care deeply about, you won. Now, keep playing.

P.S. – Can you guess what movie the above image is from?

“God’s one and only voice is silence.” -Herman Melville

“I need to be alone. I need to ponder my shame and my despair in seclusion; I need the sunshine and the paving stones of the streets without companions, without conversation, face to face with myself, with only the music of my heart for company.” – Henry Miller, Tropic of Cancer

“How much better is silence; the coffee cup, the table. How much better to sit by myself like the solitary sea-bird that opens its wings on the stake. Let me sit here for ever with bare things, this coffee cup, this knife, this fork, things in themselves, myself being myself.” ― Virginia Woolf, The Waves

“You have a grand gift for silence, Watson. It makes you quite invaluable as a companion.” – Arthur Conan Doyle, The Complete Sherlock Holmes

Hello darkness, my old friend
I’ve come to talk with you again
Because a vision softly creeping
Left its seeds while I was sleeping
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sound of silence

In restless dreams I walked alone
Narrow streets of cobblestone
‘Neath the halo of a street lamp
I turned my collar to the cold and damp
When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light
That split the night
And touched the sound of silence

And in the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never share
No one dared
Disturb the sound of silence -Simon & Garfunkel, song “The Sound Of Silence”

Perhaps the answer or creative breakthrough you seek can only be found by listening to the silence.

Spend valuable time each day cultivating it.

P.S. – This scene/montage from my all-time favorite movie.

“You have to become undeniably good at something. Nobody ever takes my advice, because it’s not the answer they wanted to hear…but I always say, ‘Be so good they can’t ignore you.’ If you are just always thinking, ‘How can I be really good?’—people will come to you.” -Steve Martin, memoir Born Standing Up

What sticks out to me the most from the above Steve Martin quote is “nobody ever takes my advice, because it’s not the answer they want to hear.”

If you ask and receive advice from someone who’s uber-successful in your desired field, why wouldn’t you take it? Or at least try it for a set period of time?

Which begs the question…Are you really seeking advice? Even if it’s a cold comfort.

Or are you just seeking affirmation of a prior belief and confirmation of what you’d like to hear?