Don’t Spend Too Much Time In The Boiler Room
Whenever stress, anxiety, or a down and uninspired mood linger past a day or two, John Mayer says he’s realized it’s typically due to “spending too much time in the boiler room,” as he refers to the inside of his head. “The inside of your head is a very subjective, highly interpretive, world,” Mayer says. “Visit it the way you would visit the spooky basement every once in a while just to grab something out of the second fridge. Go in there, grab what you need to grab, and fix what you need to fix. Then get out of there and back into the more objective work—do things, create something, make stuff happen out in the real world.” The balance between spending time in the boiler room and in the real world—that’s the theme of this SIX at 6…
The Advice That Finally Broke 20 Years of Not Writing
Hugh Howey spent 20 years in the boiler room. A lifelong avid reader, when he began trying to write, Hugh immediately noticed the gap between the quality of writing in his favorite books and in his own initial attempts. “It drove me nuts,” Hugh said. “I wrote a chapter or two before walking away in disgust.” In an attempt to close that disgusting gap, Hugh stopped writing and started spending most of his time doing the more subjective and interpretive work of studying the craft. He began to study books in a way you don’t when reading purely for pleasure. He wrote book reviews, forcing himself to analyze and dissect the writing. He interviewed other writers. He went to conferences and book festivals. “And for 20 years I did that,” Hugh explained. “I spent 20 years not writing.” Then, at the 2009 Virginia Festival of the Book, an audience member asked the mystery novelist Caroline Todd, “How do I write my first novel?” Todd stood up, slapped the table, and shouted the advice “that finally broke 20 years of not writing,” Hugh said. “You stop talking about writing,” Todd yelled. “You stop dreaming about writing. You stop talking about writing. You stop telling people you’re thinking about writing. You just write. You just sit down and you write!” You spend less time in the boiler room and more time just writing. “Returning home from this book festival,” Hugh said, “I sat in front of my computer and knocked out a rough draft for my first novel in two weeks.” He submitted the manuscript to various publishers, and within weeks, one made an offer to publish it. “After twenty years of procrastinating and two weeks of writing,” Hugh said, “I was now a published author.” To date, Hugh has written and published more than a dozen novels that have been translated into more than 40 languages and have sold millions of copies around the world. His Silo trilogy was adapted by Apple TV and became their #1 drama of all time.
Hey…This Is Not That Bad
In 1991, Dave Chappelle moved to NYC to pursue his dream of being a comedian. During a performance at the Apollo, he was booed off stage. “And that was the best thing that ever happened to me,” he said, “because before that time, I had never bombed, let alone got booed off stage.” In the subjective world inside his head, “the idea of bombing was horrifying. Nobody wants to bomb. Nobody.” But in reality, when “I failed so far beyond my wildest nightmares of failing, it was like, ‘Hey…this is not that bad.’ So that night was liberating. After that, I was fearless.”
Nobody Expects One Mega-Hit, Let Alone Two
At one point during the filming of Close Encounters of the Third Kind, director Steven Spielberg stormed off and climbed up an 8-story scaffolding structure. In addition to being behind schedule and over budget, Spielberg was feeling enormous pressure to top the success of his previous blockbuster, Jaws. Close Encounters was filmed mostly in a 400- × 200-foot abandoned dirigible hangar in Mobile, Alabama. When he got to the top of the 8-story scaffolding structure, Spielberg said, “looking down at this 400 × 200-foot concept…I laughed.” He laughed at the absurdity of “expecting myself to have two blockbusters in a row…Nobody expects one mega-hit, let alone two.” In the boiler room, Spielberg tinkered and tweaked the story he was telling himself. Instead of telling himself he should feel the pressure to top the success of his previous hit, he told himself he should feel the confidence of his competence, proven by the success of his previous hit. After he fixed what he needed to fix, he got out of his head, climbed back down the scaffolding structure, and finished filming Close Encounters, which went on to be another critical and commercial success, grossing $306.9 million worldwide.
The Clouds Don’t Part Every Day
Before he was the lead singer, guitarist, and songwriter of the White Stripes, Jack White was a chair upholsterer. “When I was an upholsterer,” he said, “sometimes you’re not inspired to reupholster an old chair. It’s just work and you just do it because you’re supposed to. And eventually, you look at your work and you say, ‘That’s good. That’s pretty good.’” Whether you’re an upholsterer, writer, or musician, White says, don’t spend too much time in the boiler room, waiting for inspiration: “Not every day of your life are you gonna wake up and the clouds are gonna part and the rays from heaven are gonna come down and you’re gonna feel inspired to write a song from it. But if you just force yourself to work, something good usually will come out.”
Don’t Try To Map Out Of The Whole 9 Innings
Before I started writing this newsletter, I told Ryan Holiday I was just waiting to know for certain what I wanted to write about. “Just start,” he said. “You’re trying to map out the whole 9 innings. Just throw the first pitch…You’re better off starting imperfectly than being paralyzed by the delusion of perfection.” Don’t try to map out the whole 9 innings. Don’t be paralyzed by the delusion of perfection. Don’t be stressed by your blockbuster expectations of success or scared by your wildest nightmares of failure. Don’t spend too much time in the boiler room.