The Nerdist Way_ How to Reach the Next Level (In Real Life) - Chris Hardwick [92]
Close your eyes and think of something you did that was good. Appreciate something about yourself. “BUT THERE’S NOTHING . . .” Bullshit. There’s something that can fill a minute. Even if you screwed up a thing maybe you screwed up less than yesterday. Remember, the fact that you even read this far because you were curious to find answers to help yourself means that you are on the right path.
I’m not saying I have all the answers. In fact, I’m a narcissistic assjob who clearly has untamably huge balls for even daring to write a book of this nature. (I can say this about myself because this isn’t my minute.) If you are someone who would enjoy receiving one-, two-, or even FIVE-MINUTE HUGS from other creatures in your species, then you need to lead by example. If you can learn to not always rely on outside forces to hug your insecurities away because YOU are able to do it FIRST, you will be virtually invincible (except to things like poison and bullets). If the one thing that you take away from this book is that you cultivate the gift of being kind and respectful to yourself, your money will have been well spent.
It’s very easy to attack ourselves. Even comforting in its familiarity, but you must resist this urge at all costs. Dwelling on the past or your perceived flaws will do nothing but keep you under emotional house arrest and hamper your progress. Commit yourself to growth and reward yourself with kindness for choosing to do so!
YOU. ARE. WORTH. IT.
When I first landed this book deal, I crapped a little bit because I honestly hadn’t thought past the proposal. What hadn’t occurred to me before was that, if the book sold, I would actually have to write it. Everyone told me it would be a miserable process. “You’ll BEG to give the money back just to make it go away,” one comic said. This was never the case. The writing of this book has been one of the most pleasurable and rewarding experiences of my life. Writing a book isn’t that hard, honestly. It just takes an outline and a little discipline. Building off the thirty-four page proposal, I listed sections and chapters I thought would comprise the manuscript. Then I started writing around the middle of December, here and there, whenever I could. And that’s it. If you have an idea and an outline, you could write a book in about three and a half months writing five hundred words a day on weekdays. It won’t feel overwhelming when you break it down into small chunks like that. Five hundred words is just a few paragraphs. And you can always go back and change it later if you don’t love the first pass. The important things are to DECIDE and START. Then stay committed until you’re done.
I’m not special or particularly smarter than you or anyone else. I just figured out who I am and came up with a plan. I love that movie The Edge with Anthony Hopkins and Alec Baldwin. One line always stuck in my head because Sir Anthony’s character, billionaire Charles Morse, spouts this catchphrase throughout the film: “What one man can do, another can do!” YOU are that “another,” so go out and fucking DO IT. (But you don’t have to kill a bear with a stick, like Morse.)
You deserve every wonderful thing you want in this life. There is no merit in toiling in a sadness dungeon. Work hard and play nicely. We have a saying on the Nerdist podcast: ENJOY YOUR BURRITO. It was born on episode 39 with Rainn Wilson. Lovable Nerdist sidekick Jonah Ray explained that when his life was shitty, his only joy was this one burrito from a Mexican food shack near his apartment. Halfway through the burrito, he’d get depressed because he knew it would soon be over. One day he decided to “enjoy the burrito”—in other words, live in the present and appreciate something good while it was happening. At the end of the ep, I think it may have been Rainn who signed off with “Enjoy your burrito, people.