When it’s someone you’ve been following since you were a kid. Someone who has been so influential in your art.
It doesn’t matter if the tickets are partial view and that’s all there is.
You get in the room with them. That is a life milestone.
No matter what. When you have the opportunity to.
Book. The. Ticket.
Derren, Here I come!
Who is someone you want to be like?
I’m a massive fan of Fred Armisen. He’s a prolific writer, a talented musician and an insanely skilled actor.
A few years back I was trying to figure out how I could steal some of what he’s got; to be like Fred! I’d heard this advice:
To be the noun, do the verb.
In short- an actor acts, a director directs, a painter paints and so on and so fourth.
That was a little abstract for me and felt a bit vague and un-actionable. So I dove a bit deeper into this and thought more about all the things that Fred would do on a regular basis that contribute to him being the prolific creator he is.
Here’s some of the things I listed:
What Fred Does
Write scripts. Does stand up. Pitches ideas. Has meetings with like minds. Produces shows. Acts. Creates characters. Tests characters on friends. Observes people and uses it in his work. Listens to a wide range of music. Watches a wide range of film and tv.
This becomes a little guide map for how to be more like someone you admire. You could even put these in a hierarchy of things that are most important to the aspect of the person you aspire to be like.
Try doing those verbs a hundred times or a thousand. See where you end up.
(Definitely don’t just do it ten times and give up, that’s not good science- you need a big sample to make a call like stopping)
When dreaming into the future and setting goals, it’s easy to be seduced by the desire to win awards or competitions.
I think it’s totally fine to desire this; excellence should be rewarded! The tricky thing is, whether we win something or not is really not up to us. There are so many variables and if we hinge all our hopes on some arbitrary award, we could be setting ourselves up for dissapointment.
I’ve heard actors I know talk about wanting to win an Oscar, for instance. Again- there’s nothing wrong with this, give it a go!
I’m suggesting a slight shift in focus that allows us to win no matter what. It’s like with marathons, they say by the time you hit the start line on race day, you’ve actually already got what you came for. It’s the training that led up to that moment. It’s the culminated effort- it’s the distinctions made and learnings along the way that are the real gold medal.
And no, this isn’t ‘loser talk’. The real win is who you become in pursuit of any goal.
Don’t aim to be the person who wins the Oscar, aim to be the type of person who could win the Oscar.
The type of person who could win the gold medal.
The type of person who could write a Pulitzer winner.
Can you see the difference? One is in your control and one isn’t.
The pursuit of being the type of person who could achieve the things you want puts the responsibility and possibility of achieving the thing squarely on your shoulders.
And better still, if you never win an award in your life, you’ll still have the character, identity, beliefs, capabilities and actions of the type of person you want to me. And you’ll have the respect of the only person whose respect you ever need:
You.
What would you need to believe about yourself to be that person?
What would you need to believe about your work to be that person?
What would you need to do on a daily basis?
What skills would you need?
What resources do you already have access to?
All these questions and answers are completely in your control. Cool, aye?
I was clearing some old notes on my phone and I found a sweet little note titled:
Things I can do any time to feel good
I looked at the date and it was from the depths of the world wide covid lock down. They range from the sound wide spread advice like:
List three things I’m grateful for
Meditate (classic)
And some more peculiar ones that are very specific to me
Recite a monologue I like
Imagine a place I’ve been before and imagine what’s happening there now (Weird! But cool…)
I remember this list being very useful. It meant that I had done the thinking ahead of time so when I was feeling bored, tired, restless or unresourceful, I didn’t have to exert energy and creativity I didn’t have to try and change my state.
I don’t know about you but when I’m in that state, no idea is a good idea. So having 30 or so things on my list was great. Looking over these, I noticed they fell into a few categories.
Physiological changes
Things like running, breathing exercises or star jumps. These are great because your brain doesn’t have to do anything and if you change your body radically your brain will follow.
Practical tasks
Things that move the needle in your environment. I’ve written about doing the dishes in the past. These cleaning and house work tasks are awesome to me to get a wedge of productivity in the door. (Not that it’s all about productivity! But more on that soon…)
External focus
Things like sending a message to a loved one, doing a metta meditation or a random act of kindness. I liked these because they made me feel great and often I find I’ll do more for others than I will for myself. So with a shift of focus in this direction it reframed my boredom or tiredness as selfish and if there was the possibility to bring love or light to someone it brought me to life a bit and out of my funk.
Some other things that I think are funny or worth a mention:
Extreme laser focus- dedicate the next 10 minutes to one thing
Watch a new interview with someone I admire
Watch a documentary I know nothing about
Watch a movie I know I love
Watch a funny youtube video
Find 10 beautiful things around me
Listen to an entire album (and do nothing else, just sit there!)
Since beginning this blog too I find just starting to write a post here is an excellent cure for the boredom, lack of focus.
What’s on your feel good playlist?
Aristotle said that we are what we repeatedly do.
It’s a lot easier to identify as a writer if you write every day. You can call yourself a potter, but if you make one pot a year you might feel a bit like you’re lying to yourself.
A potter, by definition, makes pots.
A filmmaker makes films.
An actor acts.
You get the idea.
If you want a certain identity, your actions have to be in congruence with it. Not for anyone else, but just for you.
Consistency builds congruence.
James Clear said every time we act in accordance with who we want to be, we cast a vote for that identity.
You can proclaim an identity
Or you can be your identity through the actions you take consistently. Identity isn’t static it’s in your movemennt.
Who do you want to be? And what are you going to do about it?
The big thing is the dream. Your grand vision, the 10 year goal, the 1 year milestone, the six month outcome.
These are important. They fuel us and they provide us the clarity of direction only a finely tuned compass can.
We go this way, not that way.
We need the big things. We need to dare to dream big- boldly- and look at those dreams often.
But-
…and it’s a little but…
We need the little things. The little things are the steps along the way.
What am I focussing on this month toward the big thing? What am I doing this week? Today?
Ask yourself these questions.
What is the big goal I am heading toward and how are my actions this week taking me there?
These are pointy questions. It’s that way on purpose. They clarify the major outcome (the big thing) and make it searingly obvious if what you’re doing now (the little thing) is actually connected.
It draws a bold line to what you’re doing now to where you want to be. Like a long bridge arching into the morning mist.
We don’t have to be certain the little things will work- just that they are the best we’ve got right now.
Keep asking this question of the little things and you’ll get to the big thing.
Because is a powerful word.
I was watching Grand Designs and there was an amazingly positive, vibrant lady on there whose house build was being documented. I was struck by how magnetically optimistic she was; against all odds, she seemed to be grooving along and riding the waves of life, loving every minute.
She was ambitious and able to enjoy the process.
I zoomed in closer to see if I could figure out what it was she was doing in order to be the way she was. How does she have such a great time even when things are tricky? Of course we can’t know everything from the outside, but there are certainly clues.
One of these clues was in her language. The host asked how they were funding the project without financing or knowing exactly where the cash would come from. He was probing for drama as is necessary in that part of the show. She automatically said “That’s exciting because we don’t know”.
Did you catch it?
‘Because’ is a causative word. It links two things in a cause and effect seamlessly and helps us believe it and thus changes our perceptions and feelings about a thing.
She did a judo move when she used ‘because’. She linked the not knowing to being exciting using because.
A simple way I’ve been playing with this is to complete the phrase “But that’s great because…” and insert the difficulty or unexpected thing.
This is optimism in action. A simple way to link a positive spin on a tricky moment and so access a more resourceful perception for yourself to open new possibilities going forward. Possibilities that perhaps you wouldn’t have seen had the thing remained an difficulty or a road block.
Because opens the door to new possiblities by gently wedging open what might have been a sealed door.
How do ideas pop into our heads? What can we actively do in order to generate them?
Recently I’ve found it useful to quite literally sit still, look at the world around me and see what connections my brain makes in the inactivity. This is new to me and an approach I can’t quite trust.
I think with a commitment to make something and a little space, the beginning of an idea can be sparked. I also think it’s entirely possible to flail in that moment. Luckily in my recent exploration that hasn’t happened yet. Though I suspect there’s a clue from the Goethe quote- action has magic in it.
Start moving with an idea and see where the pursuit of excellence within that takes you. Also see what in that idea you can really connect to and get excited about.
That’s my strat at the moment anyway.
What you say to yourself over and over you tend to experience. Sometimes we say things in our heads like:
This sucks.
I’m tired.
Why am I so dumb?!
Our poor brains! We get hypnotized by these little thoughts that fly under the radar and disguise themselves as innocent narrations or running commentaries.
We can edit these and choose BETTER ones! Almost like you’re a cartoon character with catchphrases (I sometimes feel like that). Here’s some of the catchphrases I accidentally say about 10 times a day. I’m not mad about these little accidents, by the way, they make me feel great!
What a time to be alive
Anything is possible
I can do anything (This one is especially useful if I catch myself saying I can’t do something, this phrases is now my knee jerk reaction to that).
These sound kind of cheesy written out like this, but I KID YOU NOT, I say these of the REGULAR. Try it out!
I sometimes have the urge to save my best ideas. I get an idea and I say to myself something along the lines of ‘oh that’s great! I’ll save it for when I’m more well known, have enough budget, the right team…’
A great idea for a scene and I’ll save it for a feature film.
The new song I think I could write. I can make that when I have the whole album.
That character I’d like to play in a show one day.
The film, the album and the show don’t exist yet; but the idea does.
I understand the fear: good ideas are scarce! Only a few come around.
It’s not true. It isn’t. The more ideas I have and use, the more come to me. It’s win win, the thing gets made and I get more ideas.
The belief that you have to hoard ideas because they’re scarce is self fulfilling.
The belief that great ideas are abundant is too (I know which I’d choose).
There’s sometimes the argument of quality. Sure it could be better if you waited, but as Mark Duplass said, I’d rather have a film made for certain now rather than one that might be made in the future. This is the opposite of the “one donut now or two donuts later” thing. We’re usually rewarded for waiting. For delaying gratification. But this is different. You’re letting your art die now for the empty promise of tomorrow.
It still doesn’t mean you do a bad job- you do your best. You’re probably not as good as you want to be. You certainly won’t get better by not making a thing, or only making your mediocre ideas a reality and not sharing your work. Thats how you get better.
Use your best. Do your best. And move on
