I blame the time change.

Notes on timeliness, tardiness, verbosity, ADD, Deep Work, Putting Your Ass Where Your Heart Wants to Be, and Irish Whiskey

Mar 22, 2023

[Disclaimer: I use affiliate links; anything you might buy from any of the links below may earn me a commission]

Ahoy!

I’m late this week, and I ain’t happy about it. Building new habits and practices is simple but executing them is the hard part. So, I’m now rolling up my sleeves and finishing this mofo.

WE’RE GONNA NEED A BIGGER POST

Last time, I hit my goal of 500 words fairly quickly, and those words were spent on one single topic. There were Three Things I wanted to touch on, and I didn’t touch any of them because I ran out of time and space.1

The 500-word mark was arbitrary, and more of a goal than a limit. It turns out2 that I have more to say. So, Ima Gonna Say It. I do promise, for the record, cross my heart and hope to spit3, that any given topic within a post will be limited to 500 words. If I need more time and space, I’ll save it for the next installment. If said topic doesn’t interest you, skip it. Life’s too short to consume uninteresting anything, ever.

And now for something I find Deeply Interesting:

CAL NEWPORT’S “DEEP WORK”, Part 1: 4DX

When I was in Colorado in January and directing our beautiful Brigadoon, I spent more time and miles behind the wheel of a car than I honestly think I had in at least the entire past decade combined. I finally took a page from my younger brother’s playbook and started listening to audiobooks as I tootled up and down I-25 at 80 MPH. “Deep Work” was one of them.

I was diagnosed with ADD at the age of thirty-one. Our phone and social media-driven existence has, I think, scrambled all of our brains, and, as I can only speak for myself in this instance, especially mine. The older I get, the more advice and hacks I search for to help manage my increasing distractibility and to strive to thrive as a working artist every day - not just in fits and starts.

My approach has been two-pronged, fighting the good fight on two fronts: hacks/tactics and Woo-Woo.

“Deep Work” is a tactics book. The main thrust: our work culture and mobile-driven society have painted us into a corner where all we can get done is shallow work: emails, texts, social posts and doomscrolling, and meetings, meetings, meetings. Author Cal Newport investigates myriad avenues to help lead ourselves out of the shallows and back to the depths of our potential.

There are two main takeaways from the book that I want to share with you4. First up: 4DX!

It’s a robot! JK, it’s an acronym. 4DX = The Four Disciplines of Execution, as established by FranklinCovey. The Disciplines are:

Focus on the Wildly Important
Act on the Lead Measures
Keep a compelling scorecard
Create a cadence of accountability

Hooray for business-speak! I actually find all of this awesome and actionable, especially when you pare it down to its core messages5. This week, I think I have enough space to tackle the first Discipline:

Focus on the Wildly Important

I love everything about this ducky little dictum. As a matter of first principles, it’s fantastic. The word “wildly” coupled with “important” conjures all sorts of “get your shit together” scenarios. It calls me on the carpet: what even is Wildly Important anymore? Right now, it’s making rent, and that, my friends, is lame. There are times when I can damn the torpedoes, and times when all I can do is dodge them. It seems to be dodging season.6

On days7 like these, when Resistance8 has me by the balls, even asking myself what is Wildly Important is hard work. Perhaps this is the Work of the moment, breaking through whatever is dragging me down and rediscovering what matters.

This is a constant, on-a-loop process for me: dropping the ball, searching everywhere for it, seeing all the other shiny things around me, chasing those, then getting bummed that I still don’t have my ball back. I suppose it’s fair to say that the ball always returns to what is Wildly Important.

So, dude, where's my ball?

Depends on the day, truth be told. Today, I found the ball while watching a PBS Documentary about the 1918 Influenza, because that’s the sort of cheery fellow I am. It’s also, and essentially, research for “Beyond the Veil,” which is heading towards a workshop this summer.

This work was something, but not The Thing. At moments like this, when my focus is caught in a maelstrom, I have to recall one of my Great Truths: there isn’t a problem that can’t be solved by making a list or taking a walk.

What’s Wildly Important to you? It’s a big-ass question. Take a walk and make a list and let me know if you can zero in on an answer. As for me, stay tuned.

STEVEN PRESSFIELD’S
“PUT YOUR ASS WHERE YOUR HEART WANTS TO BE”

Now we shift to a Woo-Woo book, another beautiful sequel to one of the most important books I have ever read, and continue to read again and again, “The War of Art”. If you haven’t read it yet, stop now, grab a copy, and report back.

This slender volume is largely a transcription of his excellent blog, “Writing Wednesdays,” but with some gratefully expected turns into the metaphysical to accompany his “Do the Work” ethos.9

Main thrust: Put your ass where your heart wants to be, i.e., if you want to write, put your ass at a desk; to dance, put your ass in a studio; etcetera. This is a maxim that has helped drag me to my desk these past few weeks when the winter blahs and post-gig blues have tried to keep me in bed. My heart is in the Work, and the Work happens at the desk.10 My ass is here, typing these words.

Some awesome pull-quotes, suitable for framing:

“Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now. - Goethe”

“Here’s my frame of mind as I sit down to work: This is the day. There is no other day. This is the day. In other words, I release every thought that smacks of, ‘Maybe we can do this some other time.’ There is no other time. Today is the Superbowl. Today is the day I give birth. Today is the day I die.”

“This is the job. There is no other job. This is the job.”

NOTES ON FOOD & BOOZE!

THE SAUCE

Have you ever made The Sauce? If not, put it on your list for next week. It’s magical. We shall discuss.

IRISH WHISKEY

I had the great good fortune to be invited by the inimitable Jena Ellenwood as a guest of the drop-dead-delicious J. J. Corry Irish Whiskey to attend the NY Irish Whiskey Festival two weekends ago at The View in Battery Park.

Some pics:

Non-alcoholic Guiness is a revelation, and the perfect chaser to all of the wee sips of spirits we tasted along the way. It’s also awesome with pies and fries, and Irish cheddar. The third of me that is Irish11 had a blast.