Here is something so absolutely true that I can not possibly overemphasize how important it is. For everyone out there who thinks they are going to amount to something. For everyone who has a dream - pay close attention:
http://messageboard.tuckermax.com/showthread.php?t=9810
"This is such a perfect explanation of something that so many people, especially critics, fall victim to: The "coulda, woulda, shoulda" phenomenon. You know people always talk about the things they want to do but never do them? Some people are lazy, some stupid, but the reality is that most are scared. If you don't try something, then you can always sit on the sidelines and talk about what you would have done; but once you cast your hat in the ring, you can't play that game anymore. You shed the ability to talk about what you might do; now, the discussion shifts to what you DID do, and you risk failure. One can always concoct a victory or explain away a failure in the abstract, but once you put yourself out there, once you actually set something at risk, then you open yourself up to the potential of real failure, and you can't talk or wish a real failure away.
Some people can't handle this. They'd rather talk about what they could have won rather than risk losing to actually win it. Personally, I don't get that attitude. I'd rather try my best and fail, then risk nothing, but gain nothing. At least that way I can go to bed knowing where I stand. [Aside from writing, another example of this in my life is basketball. From the time I was 12 until I got to college, I was determined to make myself a college basketball player, and in my dreams, a pro player. I played ball every day all day. I tried my best...and I wasn't good enough. In fact, I wasn't even close. It was comical really, that I thought I could make a 6' tall average athelete into a high level basketball player. I mean, I can play ball, but I am just not in the league with Division I players, much less pros. But that failure is relatively easy for me to deal with, because at least I know I tried, whereas most people never even do that.]
It's funny, so many people who read my stuff say things like, "Duh, I am funnier than this guy," or "My stories are crazier than his, I could do the same site way bettter" but very few of them ever do anything about it. Here I am making well into the six figures living this life, I am my own boss, I have almost anything I could want--if you think can do it, try it. The only thing between me and them is a blank computer screen [and the ones that do try, almost invariably fail because they are either not as talented as they think or are unwilling to put in the work necessary to succeed].
-I want to emphasize one thing I said: Everything counts. This is your life, you only have about 80 years if you are lucky, and everything you do counts. Even practice counts. Why? Because you are practing for something that does matter: A game.
When people say that high school or college don't count, they are right in a way. Most of what you do in either one is going to be forgotten once you get to "real life," like who was the captain of the baseball team or who went to prom with who. But in another sense, high school and college are very important, because they are practice for real life. Almost everything you do in real life is going to have some sort of parallel in school that prepares you for it if you pay attention and practice enough.
Why do you think I am such a good writer, even though I never took a creative writing class? Because I wrote ALL THE TIME; letters, emails, essays, forwards, whatever it was, I wrote and wrote and wrote. And I read a ton fo stuff, most of it by very good writers. I saw what it meant to write well. I essentially I practiced for years at my eventual profession, most of the time without even knowing it, acquiring the skills that would help me in what I do now.
Everything you do, in some way or another, matters. If you spend your entire youth ****ing around and doing nothing, guess what your adult life is going to be like? Nothing. Why? You have no skills because you didn't practice them. ****, why do you think I have this messageboard? In a very real sense, it "doesn't matter," but in another sense, it is very important. It allows me to write every day, and to get feedback from my fans and to keep my bull**** low by creating a place where people can call me out in a relatively easy and low cost fashion. This place is like the ultimate practice ground for what I do. So even though what happens here "doesn't matter" in the big picture, this place keeps me sharp for when it actually does matter.
[This is not to say that you have to be serious all the time. Of course not; practice can and should be fun and entertaining. And ****ing off can sometimes be practice for other things. Video games can teach critical thinking skills, sports can teach strategy and cooperation, etc, etc. It's not that you have to always be doing something specifically designed for a future use, its more that you should always be doing something that adds to your life. Even when I relax, I am adding to my life by recharging myself for when I am doing something that requires energy.]
The essential point: IT ALL MATTERS, whether you realize it or not.
-It's funny, I write that last email telling the kid to shut up and produce, and I am not sure if I even fully understood that myself until about 3-6 months ago.
I used to get so ****ing pissed that the mainstream media tended to ignore me and what not, but then one day, I am not sure what the exact tipping point was, I just said to myself, "What are you ****ing *****ing about? Stop it. You have done some really cool ****, but crying about lack of respect just makes you look weak. Get your thumb out of your ass and instead of wasting time *****ing about lack of attention, do something that will force them to pay attention."
About 3 months ago I completely changed my entire PR strategy. I told Darryl to never mention FesteringAss to a reporter (to give it time to incubate and grow), and I told him to turn everything down that wasn't going to be both 1. big, and 2. sympathetic. No more wasting time with crappy AM radio, no more wasting time with stupid 40 year old washed up ****s who hate me. Time to focus on what I came here to do: A TV show, a movie, and to create a company (FesteringAss). Fretting over some crappy PR is not going to get me what I want; working hard in the pursuit of my goal is the only thing that is going to get me there. Everything flows from achievement--money, power, *****, press, whatever it is you want, it has to be based on some solid achievement, and whining about some crappy magazine not covering my book does nothing to advance my goal.
My point? Even those of us who think they "get it" can sometimes slip up. Even if you are one of those who is taking their life in their own hands and really doing something rewarding, be wary of slipping back into bad habits. It can happen to anyone"
http://messageboard.tuckermax.com/showthread.php?t=9810
"This is such a perfect explanation of something that so many people, especially critics, fall victim to: The "coulda, woulda, shoulda" phenomenon. You know people always talk about the things they want to do but never do them? Some people are lazy, some stupid, but the reality is that most are scared. If you don't try something, then you can always sit on the sidelines and talk about what you would have done; but once you cast your hat in the ring, you can't play that game anymore. You shed the ability to talk about what you might do; now, the discussion shifts to what you DID do, and you risk failure. One can always concoct a victory or explain away a failure in the abstract, but once you put yourself out there, once you actually set something at risk, then you open yourself up to the potential of real failure, and you can't talk or wish a real failure away.
Some people can't handle this. They'd rather talk about what they could have won rather than risk losing to actually win it. Personally, I don't get that attitude. I'd rather try my best and fail, then risk nothing, but gain nothing. At least that way I can go to bed knowing where I stand. [Aside from writing, another example of this in my life is basketball. From the time I was 12 until I got to college, I was determined to make myself a college basketball player, and in my dreams, a pro player. I played ball every day all day. I tried my best...and I wasn't good enough. In fact, I wasn't even close. It was comical really, that I thought I could make a 6' tall average athelete into a high level basketball player. I mean, I can play ball, but I am just not in the league with Division I players, much less pros. But that failure is relatively easy for me to deal with, because at least I know I tried, whereas most people never even do that.]
It's funny, so many people who read my stuff say things like, "Duh, I am funnier than this guy," or "My stories are crazier than his, I could do the same site way bettter" but very few of them ever do anything about it. Here I am making well into the six figures living this life, I am my own boss, I have almost anything I could want--if you think can do it, try it. The only thing between me and them is a blank computer screen [and the ones that do try, almost invariably fail because they are either not as talented as they think or are unwilling to put in the work necessary to succeed].
-I want to emphasize one thing I said: Everything counts. This is your life, you only have about 80 years if you are lucky, and everything you do counts. Even practice counts. Why? Because you are practing for something that does matter: A game.
When people say that high school or college don't count, they are right in a way. Most of what you do in either one is going to be forgotten once you get to "real life," like who was the captain of the baseball team or who went to prom with who. But in another sense, high school and college are very important, because they are practice for real life. Almost everything you do in real life is going to have some sort of parallel in school that prepares you for it if you pay attention and practice enough.
Why do you think I am such a good writer, even though I never took a creative writing class? Because I wrote ALL THE TIME; letters, emails, essays, forwards, whatever it was, I wrote and wrote and wrote. And I read a ton fo stuff, most of it by very good writers. I saw what it meant to write well. I essentially I practiced for years at my eventual profession, most of the time without even knowing it, acquiring the skills that would help me in what I do now.
Everything you do, in some way or another, matters. If you spend your entire youth ****ing around and doing nothing, guess what your adult life is going to be like? Nothing. Why? You have no skills because you didn't practice them. ****, why do you think I have this messageboard? In a very real sense, it "doesn't matter," but in another sense, it is very important. It allows me to write every day, and to get feedback from my fans and to keep my bull**** low by creating a place where people can call me out in a relatively easy and low cost fashion. This place is like the ultimate practice ground for what I do. So even though what happens here "doesn't matter" in the big picture, this place keeps me sharp for when it actually does matter.
[This is not to say that you have to be serious all the time. Of course not; practice can and should be fun and entertaining. And ****ing off can sometimes be practice for other things. Video games can teach critical thinking skills, sports can teach strategy and cooperation, etc, etc. It's not that you have to always be doing something specifically designed for a future use, its more that you should always be doing something that adds to your life. Even when I relax, I am adding to my life by recharging myself for when I am doing something that requires energy.]
The essential point: IT ALL MATTERS, whether you realize it or not.
-It's funny, I write that last email telling the kid to shut up and produce, and I am not sure if I even fully understood that myself until about 3-6 months ago.
I used to get so ****ing pissed that the mainstream media tended to ignore me and what not, but then one day, I am not sure what the exact tipping point was, I just said to myself, "What are you ****ing *****ing about? Stop it. You have done some really cool ****, but crying about lack of respect just makes you look weak. Get your thumb out of your ass and instead of wasting time *****ing about lack of attention, do something that will force them to pay attention."
About 3 months ago I completely changed my entire PR strategy. I told Darryl to never mention FesteringAss to a reporter (to give it time to incubate and grow), and I told him to turn everything down that wasn't going to be both 1. big, and 2. sympathetic. No more wasting time with crappy AM radio, no more wasting time with stupid 40 year old washed up ****s who hate me. Time to focus on what I came here to do: A TV show, a movie, and to create a company (FesteringAss). Fretting over some crappy PR is not going to get me what I want; working hard in the pursuit of my goal is the only thing that is going to get me there. Everything flows from achievement--money, power, *****, press, whatever it is you want, it has to be based on some solid achievement, and whining about some crappy magazine not covering my book does nothing to advance my goal.
My point? Even those of us who think they "get it" can sometimes slip up. Even if you are one of those who is taking their life in their own hands and really doing something rewarding, be wary of slipping back into bad habits. It can happen to anyone"
