I have some upcoming travel, so last week Harry and I met to record a couple of TH episodes in advance. Unfortunately, I messed up the audio on my end and we had to re-record.
For our second pass, Harry picked a different reading. (Fortunately — these go better if neither of us knows what to expect!) He surprised me with a passage from On Quality, a book by Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance author Robert Pirsig.
I won’t quote it here. The gist is that in the 1950s, Pirsig and his wife moved to Mexico so he could set up the perfect conditions to write his first book. When he was set up and ready to go, he started waffling. Needless to say, the book didn’t happen — at least not under those conditions.
You’ve likely had it happen: you get excited about diving into a new subject, so you sink lots of money on the perfect gear or by going somewhere you can focus. Whatever the case, you end up procrastinating. You try to trick yourself into seeming like the thing you want to become — and get stuck.
I was reminded of Limelight, a song by one of my favorite bands, Rush:
Living in the limelight, the universal dream
For those who wish to seem
Those who wish to be, must put aside the alienation
Get on with the fascination
The real relation, the underlyin’ theme
Imagining yourself as a rock star, an author, a photographer, or a surfer — and investing on accoutrements and such to substantiate that self-image — is NOT the same as doing these things. Often, it’ll hinder your efforts.
Check out our latest conversation for more: