The Vs. Studio Blog

For the artist….

The odds of you being cast as a series regular (or booking consistent work) or your play being selected for production by a large regional theater (or any theater) or your novel being published by a major publisher (or any publisher) or any kind of commercial success in the arts, etc…are terrible.

There are just so many factors that go into these kind of outcomes that are beyond your control and your talent. That doesn’t mean you can’t keep shooting for it. If it’s your dream, then by all means, go for it. Just realize what you’re up against.

But if you want to beat the odds every time out. If you want to control your destiny. If you want to lead an artistic life, then here’s what you must do…

…Create and produce your own work.

Create and produce your own work.

Create and produce your won work.

It’s the way. The only way.

“We must discover the power of love, the redemptive power of love. And when we discover that, we will be able to make of this old world a new world. Love is the only way.” -Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

“A champion doesn’t become a champion in the ring, he’s merely recognized in the ring. His “becoming” happens during his daily routine.” -Joe Louis

“Think in the morning. Act in the noon. Eat in the evening. Sleep in the night.” -William Blake

“Over time, as the daily routines become second nature, discipline morphs into habit.” -Twyla Tharp

Inspired by The 5 Minute Journal (a terrific product by the way), here’s a simple AM/PM routine that jump-starts your day and puts you in a good frame of mind before bedtime.

AM Questions For Reflection:

“What am I grateful for?”

“What am I excited to work on today?”

“Who can I help and love?”

“How can I serve?”

Put the pen down. Get after it!

PM Questions For Review:

“What did I learn?”

“What did I do to get better and closer to my dream?”

“Who did I love? How did I serve?”

“Where did I find joy?”

Put the pen down. Turn off the light. ‘Night, ‘night.

P.S. – These are my focusing questions. Feel free to come up with your own. Experiment over time. Find whatever works best for you and the change you want to make.

“Not inventing, and not adopting new ideas, can itself be both dangerous and immoral.” Matt Ridley, book The Rational Optimist

“Pessimists sound smart. Optimists make money.” –Nat Friedman

“I’ve realized a new reason why pessimism sounds smart: optimism often requires believing in unknown, unspecified future breakthroughs—which seems fanciful and naive. If you very soberly, wisely, prudently stick to the known and the proven, you will necessarily be pessimistic…No known solutions can solve our hardest problems—that’s why they’re the hardest ones. And by the nature of problem-solving, we are aware of many problems before we are aware of their solutions. So there will always be a frontier of problems we don’t yet know how to solve.” -Jason Crawford, The Roots Of Progress blog

If you want to sound smart and fit in, be a pessimist. You don’t have to risk anything. You probably won’t be criticized. You might even get lots of compliments for your smart, pessimistic views.

If you want to inspire others and change the world (and in some cases, make a lot of money), be an optimist. Just be prepared to be endlessly criticized and told you’re wrong.

Your level of optimism can be measured by the amount of time you allow yourself to be “wrong” before you’re right.

“What does it mean that success is as dangerous as failure? Whether you go up the ladder or down it, your 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)

“Life should be lived on the edge of life. You have to exercise rebellion: to refuse to tape yourself to rules, to refuse your own success, to refuse to repeat yourself, to see every day, every year, every idea as a true challenge – and then you are going to live your life on a tightrope.” -Philippe Petit

“There is a time for being ahead,
a time for being behind;
a time for being in motion,
a time for being at rest;
a time for being vigorous,
a time for being exhausted;
a time for being safe,
a time for being in danger.” –Tao Te Ching by Lao-Tzu (Stephen Mitchell translation)

Don’t strive for perfect balance. It’s almost impossible to achieve and even if you do, it’s fleeting at best.

Instead, strive for balancing. (This assumes process and a constancy of effort.)

If you do, you’ll be much more open to whatever fate or fortune sends your way. You’ll recognize and be okay that sometimes life is a sprint and sometimes it’s a crawl. But whatever it is, you’ll adjust, you’ll iterate, you’ll dance with it all.

“Sua Sponte” is a Latin phrase that means doing something voluntary, or doing it “of its own accord.”

The U.S. Army Rangers (insignia pictured above) are known for the motto “Rangers lead the way.” It stems from the tremendous heroism and courage they displayed at D-Day. When they stormed the beaches at Normandy.

But the Rangers official regimental motto is “Sua Sponte”. It refers to “their ability to accomplish tasks with little to no prompting and to recognize that a Ranger volunteers three times: for the U.S. Army, Airborne School, and service in the 75th Ranger Regiment.”

Much like the Latin phrase, “Ars Gratia Artis” which means “art for arts sake”, if you set out to do something or lead others or make art…do it voluntarily. No prompting. No glory. No reward.

Just do it for its own accord. For the love of the thing itself.

Do it Sua Sponte.

“I didn’t want to be a big star. I wanted to be a really good actor.” -Laurence Fishburne

I love the below note from Laurence Fishburne at the beginning of his play RIFF RAFF. I’ll just let it speak for itself…

P.S. – This 2000 LAT article

“When choosing a new habit many people seem to ask themselves, “What can I do on my best days?”
The trick is to ask, “What can I stick to even on my worst days?” Start small. Master the art of showing up. Scale up when you have the time, energy, and interest.” -James Clear, book Atomic Habits

“Over the long run, however, the real reason you fail to stick with habits is that your self-image gets in the way. This is why you can’t get too attached to one version of your identity. Progress requires unlearning. Becoming the best version of yourself requires you to continuously edit your beliefs, and to upgrade and expand your identity…It’s hard to change your habits if you never change the underlying beliefs that led to your past behavior. You have a new goal and a new plan, but you haven’t changed who you are.” -James Clear, book Atomic Habits

When you first set out to create a good habit (e.g. working out, eating healthy, reading great literature, meditating, taking a walk, etc.), you can’t imagine doing the thing every single day. The road ahead seems long and arduous.

You’ll know if you’ve succeeded (aka created a “sticky habit”) when you get to the point that you can’t imagine NOT doing the thing every single day.

“There is nothing worth doing that is not scary. There is no one who has achieved greatness without wrestling with their own doubts, anxieties, limitations, and demons.” -book, Courage Is Calling: Fortune Favors the Brave by Ryan Holiday

“Be scared. You can’t help that. But don’t be afraid.” -William Faulkner

“When He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold.” -Job 23:10

“If you don’t stand for something, you fall for anything.” -song, Harder Than You Think by Public Enemy

True courage doesn’t mean that you lack fear.

Quite the opposite.

True courage involves feeling tremendous fear and doing the right thing anyway. Sometimes in the face of widespread opposition.

A virtue like courage can only emerge when one is tested.

“We are most productive when we focus on a very small number of projects on which we can devote a large amount of attention.” -Cal Newport

“Attention Residue is the scientific concept that there is a cognitive switching cost to shifting your attention from one task to another. When your attention is shifted, there is a “residue” that remains with the prior task and impairs your cognitive performance on the new task.” -Sahil Bloom

“People think focus means saying yes to the thing you’ve got to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully. I’m actually as proud of the things we haven’t done as the things I have done. Innovation is saying no to 1,000 things.” -Steve Jobs

“Attention is the most basic form of love.” -Tara Brach

Sahil Bloom recently wrote an excellent article about attention residue and how to not let it derail you. Check it out here.

In it, he provides some great strategies including having a “boot up” sequence when switching between tasks. This may involve taking a walk, doing a quick meditation, listening to classical music, etc…Anything that helps get you back on track and in flow.

Setting this advice aside, the best thing you can do happens at the outset. Which is deciding what projects (have as few as possible) are worth your consistent effort and attention.

In a world that is increasingly vying for your attention, your “No” is just as important, if not more so, than your “Yes.”

“A lot of the time I hate the theater. You think, ‘I have to climb Mount Everest, again, tonight.’ Oh, the theater is a scary place to be.” -Alan Rickman

“It is not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves.” -Edmund Hillary

“Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again.” -Samuel Beckett

For any big goal you want to accomplish, like climbing Mt. Everest for example (as pictured above)…

You will spend 99.9999 percent of your time on PROCESS (trying, failing, iterating, trying again)

You will spend (assuming you even reach the top) 0.0001 percent of your time enjoying the view from the summit. (Then you have to get down from the mountain which is its own process.)

Therefore, if you’re gonna attempt to do something really hard, then you…

Must.

Love.

The PROCESS.

P.S. – Speaking of mountain climbing, check out this trailer from my friend John’s hilarious mockumentary “The Hillist.”