The Vs. Studio Blog

“Be regular and orderly in your life, so that you may be violent and original in your work.” – Gustave Flaubert

“We’re interested in (and give our attention to) lots of different kinds of people…funny, serious, contemplative, unlikable, talented, clumsy, innovative, annoying, sensitive, naive, confident, rebellious…The one none of us have time for is boring.” -Gabe Anderson

The legendary Broadway director Arthur Penn was interviewed in the 1990s about the state of the theater. He described going to a very mediocre professional production. Afterward he asks the director why a particular part in the play had been given to a particular actor:

‘He’s a great guy,’ was the response. ‘Prince of a fellow.’ Well, perhaps, but send him home to be a prince to his wife and children; he is a shattering mediocrity. But nice and easy counts for far too much these days. Another director told me—proudly—that he had just completed his third play in which there wasn’t one difficult player; not one distraction; not one argument. Can I add that these were among the most boring plays of our time? … All great work comes to us through various forms of friction … I keep hearing Kim Stanley was difficult. Yes she was: in the best sense of the word. She questioned everything; nailed everything down; got answers; motivated everyone to work at her demonically high standard … Is that difficult? Bring more of them on.

I’m not suggesting that for a production to be successful, it needs to be chock full of strife or tension or conflict. Or that people have to be assholes and egomaniacs. And there’s absolutely no place for toxicity.

But…

If a couple feathers aren’t getting ruffled…If people aren’t having deep discussions and healthy disagreements…If there’s no edge…(All in service of the work of course.)

Beware.

It might be a clue that people aren’t digging deep enough. They’re not risking. Not giving their pound of flesh.

And what you’ll end up with is far worse than a bad production.

It’ll be a boring one.

P.S. – Speaking of the great Kim Stanley, this scene. Watch the behavior. Watch her simmer like a boiling pot before she explodes. So good!

The giant pine tree

grows from a tiny sprout.

The journey of a thousand miles

starts from beneath your feet. –Tao Te Ching by Lao-Tzu, (Translated by Stephen Mitchell)

“Faith is to believe what you do not yet see; the reward for this faith is to see what you believe.” -Saint Augustine

“The work reveals itself as you go.” -Rick Rubin, book The Creative Act: A Way Of Being

Deciding to make your art is a giant leap of faith. You have no idea if it will work out, let alone all the steps you need to get there.

The good news is that you don’t need to know all the steps.

You just need to know (or believe in) one…The next faithful step.

And then take it.

Trust that after you take it, the next faithful step will then reveal itself.

And so on and so on.

Until you’ve reached the end of your creative journey. Looking back, you’ll have no idea how you got there. It was just the culmination of a thousand faithful steps.

Never make a decision based out of fear.

(Bad marketers and less than savory individuals and companies prey on that fear.)

Instead, be confident in your own decision-making capabilities.

When deciding, in the time that is allotted you…deliberate, journal, ideate, ask thoughtful questions, ignore sunk costs, be aware of your own cognitive biases, poll a few close allies…and then go.

Decide.

Trust that you made the best decision possible for all parties involved with whatever information you had.

Also, trust that if circumstances change or you get new information, you’ll make a new, best decision possible.

P.S. – To help with fear, check out this fear setting exercise from Tim Ferriss

Look, and it can’t be seen.
Listen, and it can’t be heard.
Reach, and it can’t be grasped. –Tao Te Ching by Lao-Tzu (translation by Stephen Mitchell)

“What could I say to you that would be of value, except that perhaps you seek too much, that as a result of your seeking you cannot find.” ― Hermann Hesse, Siddhartha

“The contemplative way of life is so called because it’s the way of life devoted to the cultivation of contemplative experience. That’s our starting place. To contemplate means to observe carefully, to pay close attention. Most of the things that we notice, we notice in passing, on our way to something else; then, every so often, something gives us reason to pause. Something catches our eye or draws our attention, and we’re drawn for a moment to ponder or to reflect on that which awakened us in this way.” -James Finley, “Turning To The Mystics” podcast

“I was found by those who did not seek me; I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me.” -Romans 10:20

“Life is like a finger pointing away to the moon. Don’t concentrate on the finger or you will miss all that heavenly glory.” -Bruce Lee, Striking Thoughts: Bruce Lee’s Wisdom for Daily Living

If you spend all your time seeking, you’ll never have any time finding (another word for finding might be enjoying).

And perhaps all that you seek, you already have. You just don’t realize it because you’re too busy seeking.

“Once we leave out the “and” (as in, I want to do this and be well paid, invited, approved of and always successful) then it’s way easier to do what we said we wanted to do.” -Seth Godin

“How do I create more value?” is a much more useful question than, “how do I find a better job?” -Seth Godin

“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters.” -Colossians 3:23

“Put your heart, mind, and soul into even your smallest acts. This is the secret of success.” -Swami Sivananda

Labor Day was first proposed by Matthew Maguire, a labor union secretary in 1882 in New York as a “tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.”

Make sure you take time out today for a much needed and well-deserved rest.

Also, remember and be thankful to all those who’ve been on strike in the past or present for better working conditions. We owe them a huge debt of gratitude.

Finally, if you’re unhappy at your current job, if you’re struggling to find meaningful work, before leaving, ask yourself if instead you can bring more meaning to the work you already have.

If the answer is no, great, time to move on.

If the answer is yes, give that a shot first. Inject value and purpose into all you do. See what happens, how you feel. You might be surprised to find out that the meaningful work was always right there, all along, hiding in plain sight.

“If an opinion contrary to your own makes you angry, that is a sign that you are subconsciously aware of having no good reason for thinking as you do. If some one maintains that two and two are five, or that Iceland is on the equator, you feel pity rather than anger, unless you know so little of arithmetic or geography that his opinion shakes your own contrary conviction. The most savage controversies are those about matters as to which there is no good evidence either way. Persecution is used in theology, not in arithmetic, because in arithmetic there is knowledge, but in theology there is only opinion. So whenever you find yourself getting angry about a difference of opinion, be on your guard; you will probably find, on examination, that your belief is going beyond what the evidence warrants.” – Bertrand Russell

“We have the power to hold no opinion about a thing and to not let it upset our state of mind–for things have no natural power to shape our judgment.” – Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

While the world and social media beckons us to have an opinion on every single topic and to publicly state said opinion as much as possible and on as many platforms as possible, realize you do have a choice.

You can choose to not have an opinion.

And if you have an opinion, you can choose to keep it to yourself.

It doesn’t mean you don’t care. You care deeply about the world and humanity. But having a fully-formed, nuanced opinion and then sharing it should take a lot of time and energy. You need to observe, read, think, write, converse, engage, explore and reflect.

It’s okay to sit this one out.

There are only so many causes and topics that you can put your shoulder behind.

A good hitter doesn’t swing at every pitch.

Light that’s focused is way more powerful than light that’s dispersed.

The difference between where you are now and where you want to be lies in the decisions you make and the actions you take.

Choose wisely my friend.

P.S. – If you don’t know where to start, find someone who does. Help them get to where they want to be.

“Games make us happy because they are hard work that we choose for ourselves, and it turns out that almost nothing makes us happier than good, hard work.”
― Jane McGonigal, book Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World

“The awful thing about life is this: Everybody has their reasons.” -Octave in The Rules Of The Game, film by Jean Renoir

“Your brain against mine. Your woodcraft against mine. Your strength and stamina against mine. Outdoor chess!” – from The Most Dangerous Game, short story by Richard Connell

“A finite game is played for the purpose of winning, an infinite game for the purpose of continuing the play…There is no finite game unless the players freely choose to play it. No one can play who is forced to play.” -James P. Carse, book Finite and Infinite Games: A Vision of Life as Play and Possibility

For anything you’re wanting to do, first ask yourself if there’s a way to turn the work, the process, into a game. That’s how you’ll stay engaged and in flow.

Next, figure out what are the rules of the game. If there are none, design your own. That’s part of the fun!

Last, decide how long you want to keep playing. Is this game bounded by time and space? Does it have specific deadlines? (Producing a play for example.)

Or is it infinite? (Becoming a better artist and human.)

And remember, you have agency. For any specific game that comes your way, you can always choose not to play.

So I’d like to know where, you got the notion
Said I’d like to know where, you got the notion
To rock the boat (don’t rock the boat, baby)
Rock the boat (don’t tip the boat over)
Rock the boat (don’t rock the boat, baby)
Rock the boat -song, “Rock The Boat” by The Hues Corporation

no·tion /ˈnōSH(ə)n/ noun

Etymology: Latin “notio” which means “idea.”

1. a conception of or belief about something.

2. an impulse or desire, especially one of a whimsical kind.

Term papers are about stating a thesis and then proving it with evidence so as to persuade the reader towards your point of view.

But stating and then trying to proving a thesis is the death of your art.

Instead, start with a notion. (I love the second definition listed above.) Something that gets you intensely curious to find out more. Stay open. See where that notion takes you. Don’t judge. Don’t try to prove anything. Just follow that notion. Remain curious. Remain open. It will take you where it takes you. Trust in that.

This is what playwrights mean when they say “I just put my characters in a room and get ’em talking.”

“Men lie, women lie, numbers don’t.” – Jay-Z

The old adage that “numbers don’t lie” is true.  But perhaps not for the reasons you think.

Numbers are inanimate objects.  By definition, they’re incapable of telling any kind of lie.  Or truth.  They’re inanimate.

However, the fundamental takeaway from any Intro to Statistics class is that numbers can be used by anyone, to tell any story, at any time, in any way they see fit. Including telling a lie.

Know this and tread cautiously my friend.