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SERIOUSLY, JUST START

I get TONS of tweets and emails asking me how to “start” doing stand-up or “start” doing a podcast and my advice is always the same. You just start. There is no physical starting line, so it honestly doesn’t occur to people that you could literally start something in an instant. THIS SECOND even. I guess it’s a little weird because it feels a like a marathon with no physical starting line and all of a sudden some dude runs up, fires the starting gun, and shouts, “GO! GO! You’re in a race now!!!”

That’s all. No matter what you want to do, the only “thing” you have to do is stop thinking there is some magical barrier you have to cross. Currently YOU are the barrier, so stop being that for crapsake and just realize that you can start! If it’s stand-up, look up open mikes and start going on stage. If it’s podcasting, record on your phone if you have no other alternative. If it’s something more academic, like architecture, that prevents you from doing it tonight, at least research what you need to do WHILE starting your own designs. Whatever it is, you have to STOP convincing yourself that it’s dumb or gonna suck or that there’s some giant thing you need to do first to “start.” JUST FUCKING DO IT. No more excuses. Every minute you’re not pursuing a creative passion in some capacity, be it hobby or career, you are wasting valuable time on this planet.

I do a ton of crowd work in my live shows and once chatted with a dude who said he was a law clerk, a job he loathed. When I asked what he wanted to do, he replied, “Publish web comics.” “Have you published anything yet?” “Naw.” “You know you can just PUT stuff on the Internet, right? There’s no gatekeeper. You can put it there and then people can see it.” “I know, I just . . . haven’t . . . I’m trying to figure out how to start it.” Start it. It’s OK if it sucks at first, you’ll get better. And it may not! It might be nine kinds o’ radtacular right off the bat! It was weird how my podcast didn’t feel real to me because it was a thing I actually liked doing and didn’t materialize as an offer from a large, organized entity. I can tell you after a year and a half of doing it that it IS a real thing, and your passion is, too.

ENJOY THE PROCESS

Some people are annoyed by this phrase and even say it sarcastically when times get tough, but I think it’s the only way to live. Goals are a great target for building our treasure maps, but the goal attainment moment is often brief and weirdly unsatisfying. This is because our biological nature tells us to grow. Once we harvest, the growth is over. That doesn’t mean “never achieve your goals”; it means always look ahead to other growth. Achieve, be grateful, move on. This is why process is more important than goal attainment itself. It’s not about reaching a goal; it’s about what you become in the process. I get shit for saying the “process” on my podcast so much, but I don’t give a care. Process is where the meat is. That’s where you learn, where you grow. Always think “process, process, PROGRESS.” Just don’t say that out loud or someone might strike you.

Will you fall sometimes? OF COURSE you will. It’s a valuable part of the PROCESS. Embrace it. If you’re able to build from your falls you’ll be unstoppable and damn near fearless. You see, every time you fall down and get back up, you add another piece of body armor to yourself. You learn what not to do, how to do better, and how to create comfort through practice. It’s the only way to improve and it is ENTIRELY worth it. Trainer Tom had one of the coolest metaphors for life that I have ever heard. It made me suspicious that he might be an elderly Asian master in a younger white guy suit. It was an idea along these lines: You are a fountain. Your only job is to shoot out water. You cannot control where the water goes. Sometimes it’s into a good place, sometimes not. It doesn’t matter. All you have to do in life is focus on keeping the water flowing.

I mean, C’MOWN!!!! Even as much