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There was a contract on my desk I could not get through.

Every time I sat down, fourth (fifth… sixth…) cup of coffee in hand, armed with a pen and true grit, distractions plagued me from every direction.

I felt like Macaulay Culkin in the movie MY GIRL, who gets attacked by the Avenging Bee Hive, stung a million times, and dies.

Why We Love Distractions - image on https://chrisminglee.com/fbtest

Oh. Spoiler alert.

I’d get through three sentences, then someone would ping me on instant messenger, asking if we were having a staff meeting. Or an assistant would make a scheduling snafu, and would urgently need to reschedule — for a meeting six weeks from tomorrow.

And of course, the daily barrage of someone else’s phones that I answer.

By the end of the day, I’m an overcaffeinated quivering mass of “leave me the fuck alone,” and I’ve made zero headway.

Riding my bike home, I thought about the distractions, and why I couldn’t clear this contract off my list of to-do’s. It wasn’t a long agreement, but I got pulled away every time I encountered a term or some language I didn’t understand.

Somewhere on Palms and Venice, the answer struck me like an oversized Fendi bag swung by an pint-sized socialite coming out of Buchon: I wasn’t pulled away by distractions when I encountered difficult language. I encountered difficult language, then I ran away, towards the distraction.

I was a freaking electron in a parallel circuit, voltage squared off against ohm-age, and I did what physics commanded of me: I chose the path of least resistance.

I didn’t understand the contract. It was a Stage Play Adaptation Agreement. While the deal terms were analogous to book deals (e.g., “option payment non-refundable but fully recoupable” – in the publishing world, this is just called “an advance.” In the book-to-film world, this is an an “applicable option payment” — same principle, wrapped in different kinds of bacon) I still encountered jargon and structure I didn’t understand. Like:

  • What is a standard royalty payment on a stage play?
  • What conditions are an option exercised?
  • What are customary ancillary rights in the live theatre industry?

These aren’t “difficult” questions. It’s not Elon Musk, hyperloop-level of thought, but it required some work. Instead of doing that, though, I let myself off the hook by allowing myself to be distracted.

In Hollywood, an industry of primarily soft skills (e.g., networking, story analysis, “connecting-the-dots” (understanding and leveraging the relationships between various elements)) any deep thought is our opportunity to learn tangible skills, but only if we pause the minutiae long enough to realize it.

To do that:

  • We can pick an environment that’s conducive for that level of work: no phones, no instant messenger, no bullshit distraction.
  • Since that place is all the way in Candyland, between 3rd and Nevergonnahappen, we have to create that environment the best we can. Turning off cell phones, signing out of our email, and picking the time of least calls to tackle this work.
  • We must have a strong enough sense of self to recognize when this is happening, so we can change our environment and/or habits, rather than beat our heads against the wall, wondering why we can’t get anything done.

Photo Credit: debschi

We finished our web series. Three episodes, six producers/directors, 11 actors. It was a fantastic two days:

focus

Here’s a List of Barriers

I personally had to overcome to Get To Done:

  • My distaste for preproduction
  • My dislike for physical production (and physical labor, for that matter)
  • Heated 90-minute arguments over whether to shoot 3 episodes or 1 episode
  • My hang-up over my own failed passion project

Even after smacking around these barriers like they owed me money and reaching a success milestone… doubts linger. It probably stems from my immersion in self-dev (turns out you actually have to apply this stuff — intellectual mitosis it ain’t).

Here’s a List of My Doubts

  • I don’t necessarily want to be a Youtube Creator. I don’t want to compete with kids who’ve been making webcam movies since they were 6 and told they are unique snowflakes since 4
  • I don’t want to work in a medium where a WB executive can condense a 90-page Youtube Creator Playbook onto a single sheet of paper
  • Where will this web series fit into my nebulous “brand?” Does it?
  • If I pursue this, it means sacrificing another pursuit. Tim Ferriss says, “there’s more than enough time for the things that are truly important.” Comforting on one hand, but on the other: you must be absolutely ruthless in eliminating anything that’s not important. Where does this project fall?
  • It’s in the can — now what? Do we post on Youtube or Vimeo? FoD? What’s the end goal?
  • Does this project become the focus of our side projects?

These questions hung me up throughout the process. Taking a hard look at those doubts, though, I realize:

This is My Desire to Find Logic in the Illogical.

Or as Nassim Nicholas Taleb is fond of pointing out, trying to make  connections between disconnected events. Attempting to find casualty where there is none.

Unfortunately, the puzzle pieces of our lives don’t align as we move forward. They only slot neatly into place when  looking back. When we study the past, the chain of events appear transparent:

  • Of course WWII was inevitable! Look at Germany’s unrest in the 1920s, the unfair reparations, coupled with the Great Depression and the ramifications that flowed into Europe.
  • Of course HARRY POTTER was going to sell a more than 450 million copies! And JK Rowling was destined to make more money than God (or £5 every second). (Even Rowling describes her story as one “the press has since represented as a kind of fairy tale resolution.“) The book is so good! The world was ready for the Harry Potter phenomenon!

Never Mind Predicting the Future

I can’t even find casualty in the greatest experiences of my own life. Looking back , the truly amazing came so far from left field I still don’t understand how it all fits:

Doubt Remains

It always will. The trick is not letting it slow us down. Put less priority in aligning puzzle pieces, and more on the fundamentals:

  • Be yourself.
  • Take chances.
  • Work like a mofo.
  • Create something every day.

“Brand” will follow. All will be illuminated.

Photo Credit: cypherone