Archives for April 2019

If we believe life to be a gift, invaluable and immeasurable. How can we think that we will ever be paid what we’re worth?

Money is not a quid pro quo for the value of life.

Better to get paid what we need, to do what we need to do, than think of getting paid for our value.

We do the work because the work is necessary. We are provided the resources, because the resources are necessary to do the work.

We don’t do the work to earn the resources, neither do we search for resources before we can do the work. Get to work. The resources will come.

I have a ton of shoes. Not because I’m a tap dancer or a fashion nut, but because shoes affect the body in a really immense way. Our feet adapt to the shoes they are in, for better or worse. If you’re like me and have odd shaped feet, then finding the right shoe can be a challenge.

My solution: keep changing shoes. I’ve noticed two things happen. My shoes last a lot longer, and my body continues to adapt to different ways of standing, never locking into one way on account of one pair of shoes.

The better solution? Go barefoot on soft ground as often as possible.

In this special tap dance clip Harold Nicholas of the Nicholas Brothers tries to convince Sammy Davis, Jr., to dance with him. Sammy’s response:

“I don’t want to do that.”

This feeling might arise in a few different scenarios. Here are two of note:

When it comes to things we know we are supposed to be doing, the feeling pops up as a rejection of responsibility. Here it’s better have the feeling and still do the work, than say we will do the work, and not do it on account of our feeling.

When it comes to things that we know we shouldn’t be doing in the first place, the feeling pops up as a reminder. Here, it’s better speak up and/or just bug out, than to linger just to see what would happen if we hung around.

Trust the feeling is there for a reason. Test it against the values you hold, and keep moving.

Imposter syndrome is defined as the feeling of being somewhere you don’t belong, when in actuality the feeling is a false reading of the situation.

In 2012 I was awarded a TED Fellowship. I had to give a talk following an award winning New York Times photographer, and a lawyer who was building a law school for death row prisoners in Uganda to subvert the corruption in the system their by providing the inmates with the tools to defend themselves.

I felt totally out of place. Until I looked around the room, and chatted with a few other fellows, and realized that everyone felt the same way!

Everyone was nervous, super impressed by everyone else, and doubting their own confidence and worth.

This is an extreme case, but the power dynamics of certain situations and our own imaginations can allow complete lies to enter our minds – your not worthy of this room, you don’t belong here, no one is going to like you, etc.

If we believe that every human being has the gift of life and that that gift, in and of itself, should be honored, that is all we need for our baseline of worth.

Now, if we find ourselves in situations that are new on account of a particular work we have been pursuing let us not judge ourselves worthy or not. That is for others to decide. Let us simply continue the work. We can trust that we are in that situation because we are tasked with at least bearing witness to the gifts we have received (and of course the giver) that have brought us this far.

And that’s enough to belong in the room.

This idea gets batted around a lot, especially in the arts worlds. In general audiences easily recognize artists who have “it” – something completely different happens in the room when that artist with that thing comes out to play or share work.

This becomes a challenging concept if we think that when someone else has “it” that means that no one else can have “it” – or just because someone doesn’t have “it” now, it means that they will never have “it.” Both of these are false.

“It” is not some sort of mythic thing. It is simply a deep familiarity with what it means to be human, and a willingness to share that through whatever gifts ones has been given, and whatever form of expression one has been given an affinity towards.

Anyone can have “it” too, not just artists. “It” will show up in what they put their hands to, and how they relate to people.

Here’s an extra note: If you are in pursuit of “it” trust that you will find “it” although “it” may show up in unexpected ways and definitely in “it’s” own time.

…will never be exactly the same.

…has the potential to instill wonder, joy, pain, sorrow, and the range of human emotion.

…is a special place where people come already prepared to receive what an artist, story, or event, has to offer.

…, if we do it right, it can be beautiful. If not, it can be tragic.

…will never be repetitive or mundane. If we let it live.

Homework, or the study of something during hours not dedicated to work, is an odd ethic.

Those who engage, reap the benefits.

Those who don’t wonder why others are passing them by.

Instead of the division between work-work and home-work I wonder if it would be more beneficial for us to think of work (period).

It’s not so much a matter of us being on or off the clock, but rather doing the necessary work to prepare us for whatever is coming next.

And more often than not we already know what that is. We just need to get to work.