Tests are important. But the results can’t run your life. Just keep moving.
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Tag: tests
Categories
Growth Process
If I have learned nothing else in comedy, I have learned that I have to learn how to embrace failure. I didn’t get into the Laughing Devil Devil Cup festival, and for that I was a little upset. It didn’t bug me as much as things used to though. I still have an audition at the club, I still have a chance to prove myself to be on the normal roster.
I am slowly realizing what comedy is, and I think all art is like this as well. You start off with 99 no’s to 1 yes. As you get better, the scale starts to tip the other way. Soon it is 2 yes’ then 4, then 8 and soon it flips over. You gain the confidence along the way, and build the stories of someone who has been through the war.
I have been trying to groom myself to have a growth mindset. It would help a lot with that process, because I need to make the most of my opportunities. Every day I work is another day I get to turning one of those no’s into a yes. Every failure is another step to success.
I was groomed in life to have the opposite mindset, a fixed mindset. I think most people are. Basically, a fixed mindset doesn’t see the yes growing from the no’s, but as a fixed thing. A yes is a yes and a no is a no. This leads to grudges, and it shakes your confidence. 99 no’s becomes a huge wall in front of you. 99 nos makes you thing that doing any of this is impossible, pack your shit and go back home, or stick to your day job.
I feel like in a few years, each of these no’s will turn over, and I will be able to look back to see that there is positive motion in my career. I want to build, so I hope that my state of mind can go positive as well. Growth not fixed.
New roommate coming into my apartment. He is someone I mentored in college, and with him living here, it will be three guys living in a 3 bedroom. I think this will work, because it is temporary, it helps me out in the money department( I need to temper my spending habits a little more) and he is a good guy, who wants to make everything work.
I hope he does. He is arriving today to get a feel of the territory, get used to the train system, and figure out what he needs to survive when he is up here. If he makes it a permanent move, I will look for an apartment for all three of us to have our space.
If that day comes, it will be weird to move out of this place. This is my first apartment in the city, and living here has taught me a lot about being self sufficient. But I think I am thinking too far. Lets just see if the kid makes it first.
Warren Buffet 500 pages a day has stuck in my mind continuously. 500 pages is a ton of information, and when I tell other people this, they automatically dismiss it.
I have heard everything from “He has an assistant reading” to “It must be nice to be able to do nothing”. This makes me want to persue it as a habit more. The commitment to acquiring knowledge is a difficult one because most of us are scared to find the chips in our mental armor.
Getting more information scares us because it puts our sacred cows in danger. We may have to turn our back on things we knew were true. To be honest, it has slowed me down a little bit. It is an odd exercise to pick up, just to read and try to do 500 pages a day. Even so, it is compound interest. You do learn a little bit more. It is work, but if I can figure it out, I think I will be that much better off to work on my own.
Pushups every morning. I am starting small. Just ten. I want to get better form, and do them slowly. I don’t know what it will get me, but I constantly think of Bruce Wayne in Batman Begins, starting his day with 100 push ups.
Fantasy character or not, it has come to light that physical exercise makes you smarter. I want to be able to think faster, write faster, and read faster, so I guess the secret is integrate workouts faster.
Old Mixtapes have interested me lately. I am listening to Detroit by Big Sean. For the most part, since my generation has the ability to generate new material so fast, we give things 2 or 3 listens and move on.
There is a lot of joy in some of these older recordings. It goes along with my process this year of simplifying and taking in art as a whole. There are lessons to be received in them if you just listen.
*They told me no and I reversed it I’m on. *
Should have kept in Roy Hibbert. I think this will be a more interesting series though. Heat in 6, but the Pacers are not going to go out without a fight.
Do: 3 Things | Wrap up | Pushups
Not: Meditation | Vegetable Juice | 16/8(15/9) | CPAP | To do | Water | Thank You
I don’t know where I stand in comedy today.
I think I have realized I am lazy.
When thinking about myself in terms of comedy and hanging out I haven’t put the work in being seen. I am doing the work on one hand, getting the sets in, improving my writing, and getting used to time and being comfortable but I am doing all of it in the dark. Everything else, I basically do it whenever it is convenient. And when I do come out it is doing the same shows.
I have to do better in this regard.
I want to ingrain the habit – the habit of being out and about in the city. I believe I have some material, so I think I have to start auditioning and getting myself out there. To put myself out on a limb. I have been scared regarding this, I wonder where it started. I have found myself getting comfortable, and being comfortable blocks process and progress.
To get myself out of this rut I find myself in, I have to figure out a game plan.
To be honest, this hasn’t just started – I have been starting to hang out a little more, shake some hands, add people on FB a little more, and put some more stuff out there, but I have to wonder, am I doing enough? Is this the pace I should be going at? Should I be going a lot harder – staying out until 2 AM if need be everyday until it becomes habit?
Either way, I will find out this summer, when I start auditioning more. I am going to shake some trees where ever I find them. I have to start leaning on old resources for stage time, and opening up old relationships.
Maybe I have been apprehensive this entire time for nothing? Maybe I should relax more. Maybe get the direction I need either way.
Who knows?
I have saxophone lessons coming. Still have to figure out a date, but once its done, I will be starting to play again.
I want to become better at the T principle that Da Vinci was doing. In short, the T Principle is to master one thing, but dip your hands into a bunch of others.
This creates an environment that trains all parts of your brain, and from there all your work increases.
It is because of that, I want to start hitting the saxophone again. I will do lessons once a week for an hour, and then practice for 30 minutes a day if I can, most likely before bed.
I feel like this is going to bring me a little more self discipline and a little more peace as well. I really miss playing music, just the ability to sort of get into a place and let my skill talk for me.
Comedy is fun, writing is fun, but music is a completely different beast. There is a sharpness to it that I love. There is a different reaction to someone that hears it. Its defined within the listener as well as the artist.
I am feeling a little apprehensive about it though. Frankly, it scares me. I am afraid to see where I am still as a player. I know I am in a bad way, because I don’t even remember how I used to read sheet music.
I guess having the teacher here would make that a lot easier. It is a guiding hand to help me get over some of my fears, and the instruction will round me back into shape.
And…
It would be nice to be able to seranade a chick or two as well, I must as admit. 🙂
Enjoy the spring weather.
16/8 done
water not done
no reminder
no task list
3 things done.
Categories
Habit and Tests
Kind of dreary today.
I realized that a lot of my fatigue has to do with dry eyes, more than lack of sleep. I want to force myself to get up earlier, because the symtoms are much the same, and see where I end up. The weekends I will still sleep in, but on the week days, I hope this revelation will be the reason for me getting to work on time, everyday.
I would like to set it up for a 9:45 start time, and a 6:00 finish. That way, no one can say anything, I have worked my hours, and I can feel like no one is watching me anymore.
I would also like to start working out for an hour like Mike does, but that will come later, once I get the funds together to buy a yearly membership and don’t have any worry about how the rest of this will go.
I think once I do that, I can more or less automate my work schedule, which will let me do more projects, that will be clearly defined. Once things are streamlined at work, I can turn a little more of my non-habit energy to my side projects.
The 15th of the month fast approaches, and I think I will be taking the 15th of every month to decide what habits should exist, and what habits shouldn’t. I ought to put this in my calendar as well as habit day.
Reading that book, The Power of Habit [ Charles Duhigg ], made me realize that habits are the key to me generating the productivity in life. When I don’t know what to choose, I also have 52 Changes [ Leo Baubuta ] that I can peruse from to help me make those decisions.
The key here is to build self discipline. If I am to go out on my own and try to develop my own livelihood, I need the discipline to stay on target, finish things, and chase a moving target that is freelance.
This includes picking up and using my productivity apps (such as any.do and my calendar) and emplying the tricks I learned to make them easier (morning when you get up, right before bed) to help me get the basics down.
Once I become a little more settled, I would even like to add mid-afternoon to the list. I already have one habit that I am trying to build there ( Going over Comedy Sets) but there are more that can get done.
As I said earlier, the habits method is for more than just assured productivity and more willpower. It opens up my mind to go for bigger fish when it is time to attack them.
This method leaves my mind empty for when it is time to do battle with the creative problems that a person can face. Writing a manuscript, going over jokes, planning interviews, sculpting code, all of this is what will drive me to excellence, because a lot of the worlds most interesting people consciously or unconsciously use habit to make them interesting.
My roommate wonders if I am afraid of tests. I wonder if I am too. This is something I have to explore. I want to do as many auditions in the city as possible. Let me test my grit and my jokes as properly as possible.
I don’t know how its going to go, but I need to start taking more leaps of faith. I am going to try to say hello to everyone. No matter how they distant they seem to me. Nothing harmful in hello. I also don’t want to try to seem manipulative when I do it, just a handshake and a wave.
A little conversation. Nothing better than that.
3 things done
reminder list done.
todos done
water done
16/8 not done – 12/12 … not good…
From the desk of Adam Thomas 