The Vs. Studio Blog

Don’t ask a question or seek feedback if you’re not ready to hear a truthful reply.

Otherwise, why are you seeking it?

Maybe you think you’re ready to lead. But until you’ve burned your boat, thrown your hat over the wall and gone all in, don’t expect to anyone else to get behind you.

One thing I love about producing live theatre is that you have to set a date for opening night.

You don’t have to be ready now. You just have to know that you’ll do whatever it takes and be ready when it’s go time.

“The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it.” -Michelangelo

Maybe you’re not quite giving it everything you got because deep down you’re afraid your best isn’t good enough.

That’s a real fear and it holds us back. Allows us to rely on the crutch of “Well, I didn’t really try my best.”

But don’t you wanna know how you measure up? And have no regrets knowing you left it all out there? You can live with that.

And…what if your best is extraordinary? Something the world’s been waiting for?

The best decisions are often what you eliminate or say “No” to doing.

Similarly, the best art often arises from what you left out.

Consider the last line (maybe one of the best last lines in all of literature) from Hemingway’s A Farewell To Arms:

“After a while I went out and left the hospital and walked back to the hotel in the rain.”

The power of this sentence comes from yes, everything that came before in the novel, but also in all that Hemingway left out here. What he didn’t write. The result is a sentence that is spare and beautiful and haunting and we feel it all.

“You know what the scariest thing is? To not know your place in this world. To not know why you’re here…It’s hard for many people to believe that there are extraordinary things inside themselves, as well as others…Go to where people are. You won’t have to look very long.” -Elijah Price’s advice to David Dunn in the film Unbreakable

“A man can be destroyed, but not defeated.” -from the book The Old Man And The Sea by Ernest Hemingway

You don’t have to be an unbreakable superhero to make a big impact in the world. (Many of our greatest contributors where once broken people who healed themselves, found their purpose and went on to do amazing things.)

But you do have to have an unbreakable spirit.

Find the need and go to it.

Feel like nobody cares about your art?

Good.

You’re free to make what you want. Whatever lights you up inside.

Now go make it.

P.S. – No one will ever care if your aim is to get them to care. They may end up caring because you risked. Because you made something from your heart and had the courage and generosity to share it.

“There is no better than adversity. Every defeat, every heartbreak, every loss, contains its own seed, its own lesson on how to improve your performance the next time.” -Malcolm X

“Plenty and peace bring cowards. Hardness ever of hardiness is mother.” -William Shakespeare

“Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” -Mike Tyson

Dear Adversity,

Wow. What a surprise. Uh….Thank you so much for dropping by. Welcome. Welcome. Come on in. I wasn’t expecting you but, uh…yeah…Oh cool. You brought gifts. I didn’t get you anything–hope that’s okay–but let’s see here…You brought…

FUEL. Yes! I’ve been looking for motivation, a reason to get out of bed in the morning and work and train. I have it now. Amazing. Thank you.

GROWTH. Seriously?…I get to test my limits? Push past them? Acquire new skills? Get stronger? Wow. Thank you.

EMPATHY. Man oh man…I now have a deeper understanding and feeling for what others are going through. The trials they’re facing. How unbelievably courageous they are. Day in day out. I had no clue before. Okay. Thank you.

KNOWLEDGE. Whatever things I had to learn to overcome you, I can now share those same things with others. Give back. Help. Solve. Thank you.

Again, I so appreciate you being here today adversity. I’ll hope you’ll be staying for a while. Looking forward to our time together.

Sincerely,

A Willing Human Being.

“To me, acting doesn’t really feel that different, one job to another. The set’s different, and we had no money, and we had small catering and stuff, a small crew, but it doesn’t feel that different. If you play basketball on a playground, and then you play in a college game, you’re playing basketball. If you’re playing guitar in the park with some guy, or you’re playing on a big album, you’re playing. It doesn’t feel that different to me.” -Interview with writer/director/actor Tom Noonan

The above quote is in reference to Tom Noonan’s low budget, 1994 indie directorial debut, “What Happened Was.” If you haven’t seen this film, I highly, highly recommend you seek it out. (Hat tip to my friend Kevin for first turning me on to it.) It’s phenomenal and inspiring on so many levels including what you can do with just two actors, one room and a whole lotta passion, thought and care. (Oscilloscope just released a beautiful 4K restoration as even though the film won the 1994 Sundance Grand Jury prize, it was previously only available on VHS. It’s also currently streaming on The Criterion Channel.)

Whatever you’re doing–writing, acting, painting, playing a sport, etc…–what are the simplest tools you need to be able to actually do the thing you love. To practice your desired craft. Pen and paper? Canvas and paints? Ball and a hoop? Your imagination?

Once you acquire those simple tools, then find a way–even if it’s just a few minutes throughout the day–to do it.

The budget and size and circumstances might be different, but the actual doing of the thing is exactly the same. So just find a way to play.

It doesn’t matter that anyone ever notices the details you cared so much about and sweated over to get just right.

It should only matter to you. That you cared enough to sweat them in the first place.

Consider this excerpt from Walter Isacsson’s excellent biography of Steve Jobs...

Nobody but Apple’s engineers would know what the printed circuit board inside the Mac would look like, but Jobs was critiquing it based on how it looked.

An engineer said to him, “The only thing that matters is how well it works. Nobody is going to see the PC board.”

Jobs response according to Isaacson: ““I want it to be as beautiful as possible, even if it’s inside the box. A great carpenter isn’t going to use lousy wood for the back of a cabinet, even though nobody’s going to see it.”

“The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts.” -Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

Every event has two handles, one by which it can be carried, and one by which it can’t. If your brother does you wrong, don’t grab it by his wronging, because this is the handle incapable of lifting it. Instead, use the other—that he is your brother, that you were raised together, and then you will have hold of the handle that carries.” -Epictetus

I love the Zen Buddhist Proverb, “How you do anything is how you do everything.”

But let’s add a dash of Stoicism to it, shall we? Here goes…

“How you view anything is how you will do anything which is how you will do everything.”