Tag: ritual

Some Things Professionalism Is

Post author By jrlsage
Post date February 16, 2016

Professionalism has a wide berth

Yesterday I went over some byproducts of professionalism, but not professionalism itself. I did that because I am a huge fan of subtraction. Getting rid of the stuff around you is a great way to increase focus, and by focusing on what professionalism isn’t is a chance to increase the focus.

So, once you’ve read that post, take on this one.

The great thing about adding things with focus is that you can experiment. I’ve seen professionals in a lot of disciplines, and a lot of their habits are different. Since I have that experience, this is by no means an exhaustive list. There are just too many things I see professionals do. With that said, I consistently see these three behaviors.

These are the three behaviors

Rituals – Rituals get professionals in a mood to work. The great thing about rituals is that they are anything you want. Maya Angelou famously got a hotel room to sit in and work. Twyla Tharp gets a cab every morning to work out. George Gershwin wouldn’t take off his pajamas when he sat to compose. Rituals work – because they get you to execute without expending precious willpower. [Read this: Daily Rituals: How Artists Work]

Questions – Professionals question as often as they need. Questions bring understanding, allowing the professional to see boundaries. If you take what someone gives you without investigation and you allow fear to creep in and take over your decision-making (by not asking questions) then it’s the opposite of professional. [Read this: A More Beautiful Question: The Power of Inquiry to Spark Breakthrough Ideas]

Respect – Professionals use respect to build relationships. Respect people’s trust, time, and energy. Saying thanking, having gratitude, keeping negative energy away, and most importantly, listening all give professionals the chance to keep the people around him feeling and working well. [Read this: Just Listen: Discover the Secret to Getting Through to Absolutely Anyone]

It takes some time

I’ve had trouble with all three of those behaviors throughout my life. I am striving to add more professionalism in my life daily. They aren’t easy to maintain, especially when trouble strikes. I’ve noticed, though, if I follow those three things, I get through troubling situations with much less headache. To keep them up, through, I have to stay vigilant and recognize that when they do fall apart, how can I get back on and get back to work.

The great thing is, this isn’t an exhaustive list. Some professionals are big on calendars, some are big on assistants, some need to run every day, and some need to get some Call of Duty gaming time in. There are a ton of behaviors that make professionals tick. That gives you a wide berth to try things out, understand your own ticks, and build on this list to make your own professional chart.

But, there is no better place to start than the list above. If you want to become truly professional start here.

Tags consistency, development, drive, failure, Focus, Habit, listen, professional, professionalism, questions, respect, ritual, slip, Success, trust, Understanding, willpower

Blog Post

Habit and Training

Trying to reach zen, from all that I have read, is an arduous process. It requires tireless practice, supreme dedication, and drive.

My latest read – Zen in the Art of Archery left an impression. The subject of the book, the author, is tirelessly working on finding zen in archery, and generally has to throw everything he knew about mastery away to unlock something greater.

While reading, it made me think of two things that are outlined in the book.

1) The main purpose of training is to get back to your own intuition.

This seems to be counter intuitive, but the goal is to get back to yourself. You ultimately have the secrets that work for you. No one else can engage you for your best work.Ultimately the goal of any practice is to reduce latency between you and the action so far that even the tool you use is an extension of your brain.

Ex. The legend of the blind swordsman, where a person, even with no sight, can feel the danger and knowing his faults, mitigate his weakness and concentrate on his strengths.

2) Ritual is important.

One of the things that the master stresses to the author is that you cannot cheat process. The author does once after years of failure(his version of failure was not hitting the target) and is almost expelled. The masters point is that he was thinking of the wrong thing. Mastering the ritual, the habit, will make the target inconsequential.

The ritual, the keys to unlock the best work, gets you where you need to be.

Ex. In the book, the master is blindfolded and hits a target in the dark twice, in the center, splitting the first arrow. His ritual and habits connected him with his weapon and art, and he felt his target. His consciousness led him where he needed to go.

Tags reading, ritual, Training

Blog Post

Ritual and Perception

After reading the Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg, I have been really interested in finding more about the subject. There seems to be a real power behind it. Because of that, I have been reading Daily Rituals by Mason Currey.

This book on routine is really interesting. I am currently reading about the routines of great creatives, whether they are writers, painters, philosophers etc. and it seems like the great ones always had a routine to create output. A recurring theme is inspiration is for amateurs. James Joyce, who wrote Ulysses, says it took 20,000 hours to get it done.

Would you sacrifice 20,000 hours to write something that would last 1,000 times that in terms of enjoyment for the rest of the world? It was all based in habit, to get it done. And that is the discipline that I need.

It is the reason this blog has been going on everyday since I finished The Power of Habit. I need to create that output, to have something to show if I am asked for it. All this work in the dark leads nowhere if I have nothing when I have a light shown on me.

600+ words a day help. I am starting to see that I have to keep this pace, because by establishing the habit, and making myself used to pushing out something, I build muscles. These muscles will allow me to do some of the heavy lifting it takes to become more cerebral, and get more creative.

Learning how to build these muscles is why I want to diversify myself out here in Comedy. I have been looking for other ways of output other than stand-up. I think this will sharpen my skills with a pen, doing things like writing jokes, penning sketches, or shooting and directing videos. Stand-up is my love, but trying to make a living at it becomes a lot easier when I can create.

For the sake of that, it is imperative that I have something going. I think it can be really simple, something like 30 minutes a day to keep me growing as an artist. It is surprising how much a little everyday can do to build your skill. I’ve read stories of someone learning how to improve their violin skills with just 6 minutes a day.

With that said, I have figured that each sentence down means something. After reading Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird, I got a little insight into that way of thinking. As she wrote about, at length, you need shitty first drafts. Getting that out the way allows me to learn.

In short, I am looking at the rest of my twenties as a way to build, taking as many hits as I can along the way. The hope is,by the time I am 30, I would like to be able to be ready to unfurl some stuff to the world as a creative.

I hate that I get so defensive. I sometimes get myself in a mood, where everything touches my skin with the intensity of a sharp stick. When I feel this coming, everything becomes a little more meaningful, for better or for worse. I get hyper perceptive. My mind becomes a net for all communication, from body language down to tone, and I receive it.

Last night I found myself in that mood, hanging around people I work with as comedians. I felt the showbiz thing – that phoniness, that I feel from people. It doesn’t really bother me when I am around other people. Honestly, people are people, I do not expect much from a stranger. He doesn’t know me and I do not know him.

I really hate it though, when it comes from someone I know. There is a look, body language, and a tone shift, if someone finds out I am not on this show or that show. Now, it has become apparent that I don’t work hard enough at this skill, in the sense that I don’t put myself out there enough.

But I have an understanding that people don’t change because of one thing. That is to say, if I know you yesterday, and then tomorrow I end up auditioning at some club you want to be at, I haven’t changed, you haven’t changed, our relationship should be the same.

Sometimes people don’t do that. And it bugs me. Maybe the trick is to level off expectation? I really don’t know.

Done: Wrap-up Water 3Things 16/8
Undone: Todo

Tags comedy, Depression, Habit, reading, ritual