The Vs. Studio Blog

“The secret to happiness is work worth doing.” -Gretchen Rubin

“The question you should be asking isn’t, “What do I want” but “What would excite me?” -Tim Ferriss

“All that any of us need to make us really happy is something to be enthusiastic about.” -Og Mandino, The Greatest Salesman In The World, Part II

Not “what do I want?” That leads to thoughts of scarcity (not helpful) or consumption (not fulfilling).

The question to ask yourself (and continuously ask)…

“What would get me really f’ing excited to do or work on?” (Regardless of outcome, money, recognition, etc.)

Remember the formula…

Meaningful Work + Meaningful Community = Peak Artistic Happiness.

What small action can you take today to find work worth doing and community worth sharing it with?

And if you’re stuck on the answer, then how ’bout just bringing more meaning to the work you’re already doing and the community you’re already a part of?

“The first man to compare the cheeks of a young woman to a rose was obviously a poet; the first to repeat it was possibly an idiot.” -Salvador Dali

“I will continue to generate stupid, silly stories, even after technology has made me completely obsolete. If there’s one edge I have over AI, it’s this irrationality, this need to create something that has no right or reason to exist. I know it makes no sense. I’m starting to think it might also be what makes me human.” -Simon Rich

Do you see what I see?
Do you see what I see? -lyrics from the song “Do You Hear What I Hear” by Bing Crosby

The artist and the leader share something in common: they both “see it” before anyone else does. They’re often ahead of their time.

The price they pay for this gift is loneliness and dissatisfaction because no one else sees what they see.

If this is you and you “see it”, stop asking and waiting if others see it too.

They don’t.

It’s up to you.

Go make it.

Then, they’ll see it.

Or they won’t.

But at least you acted on your vision. You can live in peace knowing that.

When it comes to making your art, starting a business or any kind of passion project…if someone can can talk you out of it, then you’re not ready to do it.

Knowing this, you may want to closely guard what you’re cooking up until it’s fully baked.

“The ability to focus the mind is the ability to not let it run away with you. It does not mean not to think—but to be the one who directs your own thinking…Focus is not achieved by staring hard at something. It is not trying to force focus, nor does it mean thinking hard about something. Natural focus occurs when the mind is interested. When this occurs, the mind is drawn irresistibly toward the object (or subject) of interest. It is effortless and relaxed, not tense and overly controlled…Fighting the mind does not work. What works best is learning to focus it.” -W. Timothy Gallwey, The Inner Game of Tennis: The Classic Guide to the Mental Side of Peak Performance

Instead of trying to be more confident, just be more focused.

Unlike confidence which is elusive, focus is something actable, something you can achieve.

And when you do, confidence gets thrown in for free.

“Self-actualized people…live more in the real world of nature than in the man-made mass of concepts, abstractions, expectations, beliefs and stereotypes that most people confuse with the world.” -Abraham Maslow, Hierarchy of Needs: A Theory of Human Motivation

“In the pursuit of knowledge,
every day something is added.
In the practice of the Tao,
every day something is dropped.
Less and less do you need to force things,
until finally you arrive at non-action.
When nothing is done,
nothing is left undone.

True mastery can be gained
by letting things go their own way.
It can’t be gained by interfering.” -Verse 48, Tao Te Ching by Lao-Tzu (Translation by Stephen Mitchell)

“The fish in the water that is thirsty needs serious professional counseling.” -Kabir, 15th-century Indian mystic poet and saint

While the world screams “MORE! MORE!! MORE!!!”, you politely respond, “No, thank you. I choose less, less, less.”

That choice leads to you having…

less needs.

less desires.

less obligations.

less distractions.

less stuff.

Because less is actually more.

More peace of mind, more energy and more freedom to find and do what it is you truly love to do.

Less, less, less.

“A turtle step is the least I can do, divided in half. It’s also the only way I’ve ever achieved anything.” -Martha Beck

May you have the courage to listen to the voice of desire
That disturbs you when you have settled for something safe. -John O’Donohue, book “To Bless The Space Between Us: A Book Of Blessings”

Do you have a plan or strategy to get things done when you’re “not feeling it” or the events of the day seem to conspire against you?

If not, best make one.

We make our big dreams and plans when we’re feeling good, have some free time, got a good night’s sleep, are lit up by the muse or that inspiring cup of coffee with an encouraging friend.

And then it’s back to life, back to reality.

The dishwasher breaks, your car battery dies, your child is sick, work ran late, traffic was abominable, etc.

Yet it is precisely on those days (which come up often), when you’re not feeling it, when you’re up against it, when you wanna do absolutely nothing but veg out on the couch and watch tv…that if you can manage to still just get one small thing done towards your dream…those are the days that will define you and your project’s ultimate success.

One tip…know in advance something that will only take a few minutes to complete and that when you do it, you feel good about yourself. Before going to bed, you can think, “well, at least I did that.” Or what Martha Beck calls a turtle step.

P.S. – This excellent article on “Why 10 Minutes A Day Is All You Need.”

Numero uno, top of the pantheon, biggest life hack there is. Ready for it?

Are you sure?

Are you really, really sure?

Okay.

Here we go…

You are not your thoughts.

You are the one WATCHING your thoughts.

Say it with me.

Once more with feeling…

You are not your thoughts.

You are the one WATCHING your thoughts.

Bravo! Bravissimo!!

“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable.” -C.S. Lewis

Love is not a feeling. It’s an action.

And any time you take an action, you take a risk. You risk that this action might not work out.

If you love nothing, then do nothing.

If you love something, then gotta DO something. The first step is to open your heart and be vulnerable. Consequences be damned.

“If genius is the creative intelligence of an individual, Scenius is the creative intelligence of a group.” -Brian Eno

“You are the average of the five people you hang around the most.” -Jim Rohn

“Associate with people who are likely to improve you. Welcome those who you are capable of improving. The process is a mutual one: [People] learn as they teach.” -Seneca

Instead of figuring out your genius, why not find your Scenius?

So many of the greatest scientific discoveries, works of art, even businesses, have sprung from a community of people each inspiring and pushing each other to do their very best work.

Author Ryan Holiday talks about this in a recent blog post below…

There are very few solitary geniuses. There are very few artists, philosophers, or creators who do great work in isolation. Think of The Transcendental Club, the scene that coalesced (and was funded by) Emerson in Concord in 1836: Thoreau, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Margaret Fuller, Louisa May Alcott, and Elizabeth Peabody. Think Lost Generation, the social cohort of expat writers—Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, F. Scott Fitzgerald, T.S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, among others—that came of age together in Paris after World War I. Think of the Bloomsbury Group of the 20th century, which included Virginia Woolf, E.M. Forster, and John Maynard Keyes. Think of the Paypal Mafia—Peter Thiel, Reid Hoffman, and Elon Musk. Think of the students that hung around with Socrates, Xenophon and Alciabiades and Plato. Think of the Scipionic Circle, which met at the house of Scipio— one of Rome’s greatest generals—to discuss philosophy, share ideas and explore Stoicism.

No one does it alone. Find the others.

When you’re at the very beginning, in creation mode, besides admitting “this might not work”, it might also be useful to ask the question, “Is this a thing?”

After asking yourself and feeling satisfied that it is in fact a thing or could be a thing, you might then ask a few trusted collaborators the same question.

Not only can they affirm that it’s a thing, but they might also be able to provide advice on what might be the best form for your thing to take shape and flourish.