9 Ways to Make Your Worst Days Your Best
Lessons from 73,000 hours in the darkroom of the Arts...
PROLOGUE
Dread.
It’s not going to happen for me today.
Dam, what’s that feeling?
Hopelessness.
You try to shove it off.
But beneath it, a knowledge.
Regardless of my efforts, the world is not going to move.
Why bother?
I know have to.
But what’s the point?
INTRO
I have spent 20 years as a creative and a freelancer. In that time, I’ve developed many skills.
But I am an expert in one thing: The dark room.
If you are going to survive in the arts, you must learn to know this room well. And all the corridors which surround it.
Today, I’ll share everything I’ve learned about the days it’s not happening for you.
"The psychotic drowns in the same waters in which the mystic swims with delight."
Joseph Campbell
1/ ACCEPT THAT DARKNESS EXISTS
You are going to have bad days.
If there is any certainty, it is this.
They don’t need to dominate you, though.
The trouble is that when we are in a terrible mood, the mood becomes us.
It’s as if we have been welded to our mood, like a gate to its prison.
If you are going to turn around your day, you need to get beyond your own feelings.
This isn't about repressing them. There's a time to delve in, to uncover its origin. Indeed, we must know our history to determine our future.
It is our challenge to deal with the totality of our lives.
But in waking, we have to deal first with the locality of our day.
Because I know my shadow side so well, I can distinguish between when I am
Waking up in a rut
vs.
When something deeper is rearing up
Rising above my emotions allows me to recognize that it's merely a feeling.
This does not cure the mood but separates my temporary mood and my deeper Self.
Accepting darkness exists allows something new to enter.
Jung wrote, "What we resist, persists."
i.e your glum mood will take over your whole day if you don’t turn and face it.
When you wake in a glum mood:
Recognise it, don’t resist it
Accept without judgment what’s there
Understand the feeling is an aspect of you, not the sum of you
Distinguish between the chosen you and the involuntary you
Empower yourself by recognising you have a choice
Embrace the part of you that wants the best of your day
Direct this choice towards the light
Channel that drive to control your mindset.
“The best way to predict the future is to create it.”
Abraham Maslow
2/ THE NIGHT BEFORE
By understanding our struggle with darkness as part of life, we can adapt our creative process accordingly.
The problem nowadays is that we just don’t want it to be there.
It forces us into a state of rejection.
And this rejection only deepens the black hole when it arrives.
But you cannot unexist what is.
If we can accept that life is difficult, then we must use every tool at our disposal to help us face it.
Knowing that the dark will visit gives us an edge, but only if we are willing to prepare for it.
This is why I have several “levers” in my creative process which I have in place for when the dark angel visits.
When confronting Goliath, do not forget your sling.
I improve marginal things to safeguard my whole.
For example, here are 4 things you can do which work for me:
Put your clothes out: staring into a wardrobe with a million choices pulls the mind here and there. You find yourself disliking yourself for not being able to make the simplest decision. You start thinking of fashion. Is that appropriate for work? Why didn’t I wash a dam teeshirt? Why am I not a capable human being who has matching socks? Decluttering our mind begins in the tiniest decisions.
Hang your keys in the same place: let’s be honest, the number of days in our life we’ve made ourselves late by having no dam idea where we left the keys. Or even locked ourselves out (because we’re in a rush after wondering what clothes we should wear!) Get a hammer. Bash a nail into the wall. Put your keys there every time you come home. Another life absurdity banished.
Make sure your computer is charged, and the case is next to it.
Have a creative bag: I have a bag, and it never empties. It comes with me everywhere. It has all the “on-the-go” tools I need. Know your tools and have them ready.
Some people would scoff at this list.
But life exits in the margins. Find what works for you.
How many days of your life are you willing to lose to bad moods?
Bad moods spiral downwards, not upwards.
But the choices we make can invert this process.
Why not spiral upwards instead?
You are your choices.
Taking ownership of the details gives you a support system in advance.
Yes, sometimes we have people or guardian angels who support us. But we have to live life ourselves.
By working on the details, you take responsibility for your life and develop self-reliance.
Don’t start in the morning: give yourself a gift from the night before.
“He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.” ― Friedrich Nietzsche.
3/ BEYOND MOTIVATION
The problem with motivation is we look for it from the outside.
That thing to get us going.
I used to.
Then Nietzsche’s words hit me like a club.
He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.
What is your “why”?
You can read thousands of pages looking for a reason to be. The existentialists even made it a philosophy.
At the last though, you need to work this out for yourself.
The world is so obsessed with nuance that we have lost the capacity for simplicity.
This is compounded by a determination to be so altruistic that we obfuscate what we want from our lives.
To find your why:
Think of what you WANT and what you want to GIVE.
Write this down as a mission statement: both to live by AND to get to.
Simplify: Keep it brief, unapologetic and one sentence.
Result: a mission mantra
MISSION MANTRA
A mission mantra is something within and without.
It draws you to something on the outside.
But is driven from within.
The idea is to find a source in yourself that is beyond motivation.
When the outside is dark, connect to that inner compass.
It will orient you towards what you want. But be motivated by how you can contribute to it.
Even when your energy, spark or hope is absent.
Here’s my mission mantra:
Supporting artists’ dreams while living my own
4/ MAKE ONE THING BETTER
The world has a tendency to disorder.
Ink bleeds. Wires tangle. Fabric frays. Tiles crack. Folders clutter.
Systems evolve toward a state of maximum disorder or randomness.
Thermodynamics.
Your apartment proves it.
No matter how much energy you put in, life finds a way to shuffle itself.
And yet, here is an opportunity: there is always something to fix.
The way we do this is with the simplest, bravest resolution:
Find one thing and make it better.
That is how I start my day, every day. And then I try to repeat it, over and over.
And so, a philosophy for facing the dark?
Make one thing better.
Repeat.
*Beneath the paywall are some thoughts on how this relates to“The Isolation Diaries.”
“You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.”
James Clear
5/ MINIMUM EXPECTATION
You are obliterated by the scale of your ambition.
You see it every New Year in the failure to stay true to our resolutions.
You see it every day in people who carry unfinished projects around like albatrosses.
We want the change.
But we just can’t stick to it.
My whole life, I have had to self-motivate.
As a musician, then as a freelancer, one truth:
No one is going to do it for you.
You either do it yourself, or it does not get done.
And if it does not get done, your life does not happen.
Those are the stakes.
It is why I have a lifelong obsession with a) creative process and b) productivity.
And yet, 99% of books on these topics are absurdly off the mark.
I suspect it’s because they’re written by people who have lived their professional lives in teams. That is, in a collective workspace.
The thing about the artist’s life is that you don’t get your motivation from an exterior place: a coworker, a team or a boss.
You have to self-generate.
What I have learnt:
Consistency is not about hitting the heights. It is about baselines.
If you’re trying to reach the peak on your darkest day, you will never reach it. More likely, the opposite.
But if you have a clear baseline, you will shock yourself how often you convert your worst day into your best.
Why?
Two reasons:
Reaching your baseline is achievable.
In reaching it, you convert darkness into light. This is alchemy. And it unleashes the power of the atom.
Know the minimum criteria for a good day for you.
That’s how I hit my baseline every day.
“Even your worst, Jim?”
Especially my worst.
Why?
Because when I am in a dark mood, nihilistic, or void - I know what I am aiming for.
This aim is not:
a) About the compulsion to do or b) Trying to do too much.
Instead, it is my guarantee.
By keeping life moving, you shift your perspective
By shifting your perspective, you see the same problem from a different angle
By seeing from a different angle, you invite new energy in
The effect?
If I wake up one day on a terrible morning, I guarantee won’t repeat it tomorrow.
Why?
Because I hit my baseline.
It’s how I keep moving forward: minimum expectations.
"Our life is frittered away by detail... Simplify, simplify."
- Henry David Thoreau
6/ A LIST OF FIVE THINGS
We all suffer from:
Lack of focus
Procrastination
Unhealthy self-talk
But there is another villain:
The never-ending TO-DO list.
Nothing destroys the potential of a day, like waking up faced with an impossible list.
So why dam well do it?
Here is a system I developed and which has changed my life:
Step 1: List 5 tasks.
Step 2: Prioritize the most challenging first.
Step 3: Complete each task before moving to the next.
Step 4: Ensure tasks 2 and 4 are quick wins for momentum. On a good day, you can repeat the list.
Step 5: Discover you are in Flow State.
The trick? NEVER overload yourself.
7/ REST MORE TO WORK MORE
Grind Culture is the great lie of the modern world.
The idea is that you have endless energy and that when it’s low, you grind through it.
What a tired legacy of alpha male, ego-driven culture.
But more importantly, it does not work.
A lot of freelancers, creators and artists are stalked by guilt.
“I must work more.”
“If I just spend more hours doing it, it will improve my chances of success.”
Wrong.
Staring at a computer screen with zero energy does not move your life forward.
It makes you depressed.
I am the laziest productive person you will ever meet.
What?
Here’s what I know from 73,000 hours spent in the dark rooms of the arts:
Creativity follows peak energy.
Peak energy happens when you are rested
Therefore:
REST = PEAK ENERGY = CREATIVITY
My creative process is based on two work modes.
Essentially, I imagine myself as a phone battery.
If I am
a) On Set when Directing - In this scenario, I know I’ll have to work up to a 16-hour day with no rest. On these days, I never rush. To maintain my energy, I distribute it over the day. To lead my team, I need to make sure that in the “championship hours”, i.e. the dead of night, I am the person who can make decisions and be relied on.
b) Alone in the Dark Room - in this state, it is all about maximising the intensity of my approach. That means full commitment for 4 hours of hyper-focused work. But I know I will be exhausted afterwards. And so, I don’t just do “Deep Work” - I marry it to Deep Rest. I will rest, conscience clear, at any time - and without guilt. I know my process, and I know how I get results. Once you own your life, you no longer feel guilt.
Artists find it surprisingly hard to own their own life.
So when it comes to making your worst day your best:
Look after your energy, not your time
Rest when you need to
Never rush rest!
Quality of work beats quantity
8/ FIND A BLOCK AND FIX IT
The toughest thing about a bad day is that you avoid what you most need to do.
I practise “non-avoidance” because:
Problems compound when avoided.
Problems lessen when confronted.
However, when in a grotty state of mind, you have no access to your warrior spirit.
This is when you need to coax yourself into doing that which you least want to do.
I use my:
9/ MINDSET, NOT CIRCUMSTANCES
The key to transforming even the worst day? Mindset.
Here’s the reality:
Circumstances are hard to change.
Projects drag on.
Many efforts don't meet our expectations.
Does this mean we're defeated? No. But we must reconcile with life's conditions.
This is why spiritual luminaries like Pema Chödrön and Viktor Frankl stress starting with an acknowledgement of suffering.
But what does this mean in the context of our anaesthetised, dulled, modern version of suffering?
Often, we feel guilty for suffering at all!
But we must anchor ourselves in the acknowledgement of suffering's existence.
Many of us feel a sense of “failure”. Freeing ourselves from this is a long and deep work.
Redefining “success” is a strong starting point. For me, it has shifted how I see myself and life.
Success is not something you get. It is something you live.
Many suffer in the Arts because they are bound to the idea of “success” as a goal that can be reached.
Not reaching this goal becomes a terrible burden. And the weight of this negativity erodes our minds and our potential.
The paradox of creativity is that though we are plumbing the depths, we need to do it with light tools.
Lose the sense of play, the elixir resists revealing itself.
That’s why the Buddha laughs. Not because of the suffering he sees but in the recognition it must be approached with “joyful participation.”
In my life, few projects have worked out quite as I intended. For many years, I was tormented by this.
Until I understood that this is the process.
The process is what teaches you and makes you who you are
And becoming who you are IS success.
"The privilege of a lifetime is to become who you truly are."
Jung
The crazy thing is that the process has brought me to a much deeper success than what I once aspired to.
Here’s what success is to me now:
Aspiring after your deepest potential every day
The adventure of trying to give your gift to the world
Living in a way where you do not regret a day
The reward?
The knowledge, the friendship, the suffering.
But why suffering?
Because suffering relates you to others.
Suffering is the path.
It is a great joy to acknowledge this, not as something desperate and painful, but as the thread which connects us.
Humanity is sentience.
So, on those rough mornings, remember: while you can't reshape externalities instantly, your day's tone is yours to set.
Use your tools:
Breakfast - not because you feel like it but because your body needs energy.
Shower - to rinse off the old and prepare for the new.
Get out - not to cower from the wind but to be revolutionised by it.
Work - not just out of necessity but as a way to signal life your intent.
"It's not about getting rid of uncertainty. It's about getting to know it."
Pema Chödrön
10/ CONVERTING A BAD DAY INTO YOUR BEST
Takeaways:
Embrace and Prepare for Darkness:
Dark moments are a part of life.
Instead of resisting them, acknowledge their presence
Proactively set up simple routines, like organizing your essentials the night before, to mitigate their impact.
Find Your Inner "Why":
External motivations are temporary.
Pinpoint your purpose, and let this inner "why" serve as a guiding light, especially during challenging times.
Commit to Small, Consistent Improvements:
In a world inclined towards disorder, focus on making one thing better at a time.
These incremental changes bring order to your surroundings and instil a sense of achievement.
Prioritise Systems Over Goals:
Establishing resilient systems and habits is key.
While goals provide direction, it's the day-to-day systems you put in place that determine long-term success.
Baseline Over Heights:
Consistency is about knowing and achieving your minimum daily expectation.
On challenging days, aim for the baseline rather than unreachable heights.
By doing so, you transform darkness into light, and often, your worst days can become your best.
Five Task System:
To combat the overwhelming nature of endless to-do lists, streamline your tasks.
Write down five tasks, start with the hardest, and progress one by one.
This approach ensures momentum without overwhelming oneself.
Rest Is Fundamental:
Contrary to the “Grind Culture”, prioritise rest to harness your peak energy.
Recognise that the quality of work is more important number of hours.
By managing your energy effectively, you enhance creativity and productivity.
Confront Challenges Head-On:
Avoidance exacerbates problems, while confrontation diminishes them.
When facing obstacles, especially on challenging days, employ tactics like my "Two-Minute Rule" to address issues promptly.
Mindset Over Circumstances:
While circumstances might be challenging to change, mindset is within our control.
Shift your perspective from quantifiable achievements to valuing the process
Embrace adversity; it’s interwoven with the human experience anyway.
By adjusting our mindset, we can approach every morning with renewed vigour and purpose.
Thank you for reading, and see you next week.
Jim
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