Are you putting it off for the right reasons?
Oh, hi friends!
I’ve talked a lot about the “long game,” which isn’t a game so much as a way to keep yourself consistently churning and not disappointed with each new lateral move or rejection or silence.
This idea of the long game is comforting.
You can tell yourself it’s OK that no one read, saw, or experienced that work you made. Or if they did, and they didn’t like it, or made little hmms or sighed, which you took to mean they didn’t like it, well, the long game helps there, too. You are racking up experiences, and besides, this wasn’t going to be the last piece of work you shared with the world, or your single greatest career move. This is, oh, this is another line on your Excel sheet. You’re adding ‘em up.
(This is also a good time to tell you my friend Dorie Clark has an exciting new book coming out in September called The Long Game: How to Be a Long-Term Thinker in a Short-Term World! Pre-order here.)
But as seductive as long game thinking can be, so much can change. Who you were at the beginning is not who you are in the middle and certainly not who you’ll be at the end. (And guess what? There is no end!)
And the idea of the long game, at least in the way I’ve cobbled it together in my head, can create a cozy place to hide. “I’ll just call in that favor later. I’ll get to that project when I’m ready.”
Will you though? And do you?
How long is this game you're playing, anyway?
As Gretchen Rubin says, “The days are long, but the years are short.”
So try not to think about tomorrow or three years from now. Maybe you don’t have to wait.
Today — right now — that can be long, too.
How will you use it?
“The speech that Kevin has about shining shoes? I shined shoes in the plaza in Ponce, I know what that was like as a kid and how it resonates. Even when I do Shakespeare and Shaw and Pinter, there are parts of me culturally that make all of those roles unique, but here there are things that I can really relate to because I can channel my tios, my uncles, and my parents and all their expectations and hopes and dreams on a wonderful level.”
When you create, you’re not just doing it for yourself…
Btw, Jimmy Smits had four vocal coaches for his three lines of singing throughout In the Heights. (Have you seen it yet? Go see it! In theaters!)
Why would he do that? To get it right, of course.
Loved this look at his process, background, and drive. (Thanks to Colin for knowing I’d appreciate this article.)
Photo by Steven Feldman on Unsplash
How Close to the Edge Can You Go?
Thanks to this tweet, I discovered The Most Dangerous Writing App, which is a browser window that you write in and which disappears — and eats your words — if you stop typing for five seconds. Yes, it’s dangerous. Yes, it’s exhilarating. Yes, it will crack open your writer’s block. Give it a shot. Aim high, like the goats.
Do you like these daily emails? Please share with a friend!
You can also support my work by checking out my new motivational journal, Do It For Yourself, designed to guide you through your creative and work projects.
Thanks, as always, for reading.
Love, Kara