“The Great Way is universal; it can apply to the left or the right. All beings depend on it for life; even so, it does not take possession of them. It accomplishes its purpose, but makes no claim for itself. It covers all creatures like the sky, but does not dominate them. All things return to it as to their home, but it does not lord it over them; thus, it may be called ‘great.’ The sage imitates this conduct: By not claiming greatness, the sage achieves greatness.” -34th Verse of The Tao Te Ching by Lao-Tzu
The more you realize that your job as an artist is to just get out of the way and let things happen. To channel the magic. Be the medium.
The less need you’ll have for credit or thanks or praise.
“If you have to eat two frogs, eat the ugliest one first. This is another way of saying that if you have two important tasks before you, start with the biggest, hardest, and most important task first.” -Brian Tracy, book Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time
Life is sad Life is a bust All ya can do is do what you must You do what you must do and ya do it well -Bob Dylan, song “Buckets Of Rain”
“Change happens when the pain of staying the same is greater than the pain of change.” -Tony Robbins
“It’s not that bad” might be a good mantra to help you get through the difficult times.
But beware being stuck in that mindset for too long.
One day you’ll look up and realize it never got good. Because just like the boiling frog, you didn’t make the change you needed to make when you needed to make it.
“I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work, the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no ‘brief candle’ to me. It is sort of a splendid torch which I have a hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it over to future generations.” -George Bernard Shaw
Today and every day going forward, give it everything you got. Squeeze every juice out of that lemon. No regrets. Be thoroughly used up.
You’ll sleep comfortably knowing you did just that.
And will be replenished to do it all over again the next day.
You’ll never regret giving yourself an arbitrary deadline. Yes it’s hard to do. We want more time to get it “just right.” And who would ever voluntarily put their back against the wall?…But when all is said and done, you’ll be glad you did.
On the other hand, you will regret not giving yourself one.
When asked to do something difficult or faced with a new challenge…
The cocky person says “I got this.” And then does nothing other than relying on their self-perceived “talent” to come through. They usually don’t.
The confident person says “I think I can do this.” And then works their tail off/acquires new skills/does whatever it takes to come through. They usually do. If they don’t, at least they can live knowing they did the absolute best they could.
“It seems to me that every step forward in my life has been one that brings me to a better understanding of this: that you do your thing every day the best that you can, and you approach any success at it with humility.” -Val Kilmer
“Expose yourself to your deepest fear; after that, fear has no power, and the fear of freedom shrinks and vanishes. You are free.” -Jim Morrison
I’ve blogged before about the greatness of the documentary VAL Here. If you haven’t seen, please do so immediately. You will love it.
One of my favorite parts is Val making his own audition tapes for directors he admires. You can watch a clip Here.
At the time, Val was coming off TOP GUN and was being offered tons of money for traditional leading man roles. But he still had the heart of a character actor and just wanted to work with his directing heroes…Kubrick, Scorcese, etc…He wasn’t being considered for their films and couldn’t even get an audition. But he didn’t let that stop him. Shelving any movie star ego, he made his own “home movies” with him playing the character in their scripts. At one point he flew six thousand miles miles to hand deliver the tape to Mr. Kubrick himself.
None of the home movie ploys worked. He wasn’t cast. But that didn’t matter. What did matter is he gave it everything he had. He risked. He followed his heart. He was vulnerable. He knew deep down he did everything he possibly could. He could live knowing that.
And it’s probably no coincidence that the universe rewarded him shortly thereafter with the role of a lifetime…Jim Morrison in Oliver Stone’s THE DOORS.
“If you’re not feeling those butterflies, you’re not taking a big enough risk.” -Ray Manzarek
A perfect mantra or tattoo or billboard or t-shirt would be:
“No risk. No art.”
And it actually is a t-shirt…The actor and director Fisher Stevens once made his own with the above quote and wore it constantly. To remind himself to always be risking. What a perfect encapsulation of our inspiring definition of art! (H/T to my friend Gareth for this backstory).
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