The Vs. Studio Blog

The things just started changing with your touch
Yesterday, tomorrow just didn’t mean as much
And I’ll be all the finest man can be before I stop
And if you’ll just hold the ladder, baby, I’ll climb to the top – song “If You’ll Hold The Ladder” from the film Tender Mercies

“Mercy is the love we deserve the least, yet the love we need the most.” -Fr. Mike Schmitz

And the mercy seat is waiting
And I think my head is burning
And in a way I’m yearning
To be done with all this measuring of truth.” -Nick Cave, lyrics from the song “The Mercy Seat”

Woah, ah, mercy, mercy me
Ah, things ain’t what they used to be – lyrics from the song, “Mercy, Mercy Me” by Marvin Gaye

“Look you can’t stay here. Uh-uh. I’m not gonna rat you out, whatever you decide, I won’t do that. I’ll show you some mercy…more than you’ve shown me anyway.” – Abby to Ben in the play, The Mercy Seat by Neil LaBute

If you gave someone mercy, thank you. We need more of it.

If you were the recipient of someone’s mercy, be grateful. Then, go and do likewise for someone else.

P.S. – This song/scene. And this song. And this song. And this song.

P.P.S. – This clip. Ah, good times.

“First do what is necessary. Then do what is possible. And before you know it, you are doing the impossible.” – Saint Francis Of Assisi

“Progress equals happiness.” – Tony Robbins

For anything you want to accomplish, first get out a pen and paper and write down all the possible steps from start to finish. Don’t worry about having enough skills, time, money, or resources to accomplish the steps. Assume you have everything you need This is more brainstorming than anything else. When done, call this your “perfect plan.”

Next, go back through all the steps and put an asterisk next to the ones you deem integral to just getting the job done. Not a great job mind you, but just finishing. Maybe like a C or D on a test or term paper. Call this your “acceptable plan.” (Or inspired by Seth…your M.V.P. Your Minimum Viable Plan.)

Then, start working on the asterisks. Whatever they are…Make that phone call. Send that email. Do the research. Etc.

Pretty soon, you’ll start to gain momentum and energy as you knock out the asterisks. You might find that things weren’t as hard or took as long as you originally thought. If that’s the case, then add back some of the other steps.

When all is said and done, what you’ll most likely end up with is a cross between the perfect plan and the acceptable plan. Call it, the “perfectly acceptable plan.”

Most important, it represents progress. Which is a whole heck of a lot better than doing nothing at all.

”You get a feeling of electricity. Sparks seem to shoot from him.” -Sportswriter Jack Zimmerman writing about Walter Payton (aka “Sweetness”), legendary Chicago Bears running back

You will get nothing and go nowhere by half-assing it.

Instead, as my good friend Tony Ciccone used to advise when we were kids…

“Johnny….Explode into it.”

Don’t play it safe. Be aggressive. Make the first move, attack, and when you do… EXPLODE!!!!

Yes this applies to sports. Think of Walter Payton punishing his would be tacklers.

But I believe it applies to all of life.

Go all out. Whatever you decide to do, give it everything you got.

Explode into it.

You owe it to yourself and everyone around you.

You do that, you explode into it…you can live with any result.

In addition to the both us being super famous movie stars, Matthew McConaughey and I have one other thing in common…(Okay. He’s the movie star. I was just testing to see if you’re paying attention.)

We both have dads who believed in us.

In his excellent and engaging book/memoir Greenlights (I highly recommend the audio version), Mr. McConaughey tells the story about the first time he told his dad he wanted to be an actor. I lit up at the passage. Because his dad’s response was almost exactly what my dad said to me when I first broke the unfortunate news that I wanted to devote my life to acting.

(Long ass pause. Then…)

“Well son, don’t half-ass it.”

Whatever you’re gonna do, give it everything you got. You owe that to yourself and everyone else around you.

Don’t half-ass it.

Don’t half-ass anything.

P.S. – For extra motivation.

Inspired by a prior post from James Clear’s weekly newsletter (terrific, by the way):

A great question to ask yourself when working on habits:

“What am I optimizing for?”

Or put another way, “Why am I doing this?”

If you can’t answer cogently, then why optimize.

It’s also a great question to ask yourself repeatedly throughout the day. It immediately focuses you on the larger task at hand.

“No.”

“Nope.”

“Not interested.”

“Not for me at this time.”

“No, thank you.”

If you’re truly passionate about something, then you won’t be able to take “No” for an answer. You’ll either (a) get them to “Yes”, (b) realize it’s not for them, (c) do it on your own.

Two core principles that might help with mindset…

One. “No” is just the first word in any negotiation. It’s like the opening in chess. How you respond, what you do from there, matters far more than the initial move.

Two. “No” is a gift. It forces a decision. Forces you to check your idea and yourself. How passionate are you really about it? If you are, then you’ll either iterate or double down on your intensity and enthusiasm.

P.S. – “So you’re here to sell me some land?”

coherence (noun)

from the Latin word – “to stick together”

1. the state of cohering or sticking together
2. logical and orderly and consistent relation of parts

Strive for coherence in your life.

Values.

Beliefs.

Goals.

Thoughts.

Actions.

All consistent. All aligned,

Put another way…when what you feel, believe, strive for, think and do are in harmony.

The way to true inner peace.

“Your current life is the result of your previous choices. If you want something different, begin to choose differently.” -Joe Tichio

Belief leads to decision.

Decision leads to outcome.

Assuming your belief is strong, if you want a different outcome, then make a new decision.

“You have to believe in yourself, that’s the secret. Even when I was in the orphanage, when I was roaming the streets trying to find enough to eat to keep alive, even then I thought of myself as the greatest actor in the world. I had to feel that exuberance that comes from utter confidence in yourself. Without it you go down to defeat.” -Charlie Chaplin

“Belief carries disproportional energy.” -Rick Rubin

True belief in yourself and your dream is what matters.

Whether it’s “right” or “logical” or “smart” to do so is irrelevant.

“I would turn every minute into an age, nothing would be wasted, every minute would be accounted for.” -Prince Pushkin in Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novel, The Idiot

In the above passage, the character, Prince Pushkin, faces death at the scaffold, and wonders what he’d do if he had another chance to live. It was actually inspired by a real-life incident in 1849 in which the Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky was sentenced to death for allegedly engaging in anti-government activities inside a radical intellectual circle, named the Petrashevsky Circle. (Members also included Hegel, Kant, and Marx.)

Sentenced to death by firing squad, Dostoevsky and others were lined up and tied to the posts. Guns were raised. Everyone awaited the command to fire…

…But the command never came.

Turns out the Tsar had written an order of reprieve beforehand, and wanted it delivered at the last possible second so as to make a spectacle of the “conspirators.”

Getting a second chance on life, Dostoevsky vowed from then on, to make every minute count.

His death sentence was downgraded to four years in a Siberian work camp. He served those years, and when they were done, Dostoevsky wrote all five of what are now considered his major works and some of the greatest novels of all time: Notes From the Underground, Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, Demons, and Brothers Karamazov.

Today and everyday going forward, turn every minute into an age.