Take a second
Good morning, friends!
As I write this it's Monday morning, Martin Luther King Day, and I'm enjoying a bit of daylight here in the dining room. It's been raining for what feels like forever here at Hill House; this morning, a little break from the wet. I'd like to go for a walk, and maybe a little later in the day I will.
A few days ago, Jason Kottke posted some filmmaking rules from Werner Herzog. He noted that Herzog's rules more appropriately might be called life advice. I kind of loved the list. Here are a few of the items on it:
- Always take the initiative.
- Send out all your dogs and one might return with prey.
- Carry bolt cutters everywhere.
That last one feels particularly Herzog, doesn't it? (If you aren't familiar with Herzog's work, he's a filmmaker who often ventures far from the beaten path, and has evolved into a sort of mythological character, thanks to incidents like this one.)
The advice gets a bit more eccentric as you go on:
- Learn to read the inner essence of a landscape.
- Ignite the fire within and explore unknown territory.
- Take revenge if need be.
And the last one:
- Get used to the bear behind you.
I don't know what the last one means, specifically, but I think we can all imagine the bear behind us. The deadline. The expectation. The client. Or maybe the fear of failure, or of obscurity.
I've gathered a lot of these sorts of things over the years. Interesting people laying out their strategies for success at public speaking, at making art, at existing. I find them useful in the abstract.
Another one I came across recently: Sean Blanda's "new rules for navigating the online world". These are specifically about maintaining your sanity when existing on the internet, where people often have loud, differing opinions from your own:
Reward your “enemies” when they agree with you, exhibit good behavior, or come around on an issue. Otherwise they have no incentive to ever meet you halfway.
Accept it when people apologize. People should be allowed to work through ideas and opinions online. And that can result in some messy outcomes. Be forgiving.
There’s always more to the story. You probably don’t know the full context of whatever you’re reading or watching.
My favorite of the list is the simplest:
Take a second.
I'm guilty of snap judgments; I need to remember to take a minute. To process my feelings, to shape a point of view.
Felicia and I watched The Menu recently. (It's streaming on HBO Max at the moment.) I won't spoil the movie by saying much about it, except that it involves a bunch of people traveling to a remote island to enjoy a dining experience with a famous chef. The movie has quite a lot to say about the relationship between those who make art and those who don't. At one point—after watching a character deliver an exceeding obnoxious monologue about food—I realized that I'm sometimes that person, and I turned to Felicia and apologized. I didn't particularly like seeing some of my own traits there on the screen.
So: Take a second.
A few of the other rules I've collected over the years:
Ways to feel miserable as an artist, by Keri Smith. My favorite: Talk to your family about what you do and expect them to cheer you on.
Rules for effective artists, by Andrew Price. My favorite: Create what you want to.
Rules for public speaking, by Ted Gioia. My favorite: Remember that the audience always wants you to succeed.
And with that, I'm going for a walk.
Have a marvelous week!
✏️Until next time,
Jg
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