Creating a Masterpiece

You want to know what I’ve been journaling on with my time off Instagram (day 28)?

Writing and re-writing my Instagram bio.

lol.

It’s not a pain in the ass like it normally has been because I am under no pressure to change it right now since I’m not on Instagram.

I’ve just been playing.

One moment, I think I got it. Then I share it with the mastermind I’m in and they have INCREDIBLE feedback.

I adjust it. Feel good about it. Then sit with it.

Mumble it in my head as I walk along the beach.

Play with it.

I think it’s important to do this.

Not because I need to get it right.

Or maybe that’s exactly what I’m trying to do.

It’s like our love for famous quotes.

A great quote is the simplification of a complex idea or feeling.

“My barn having burned down, I can now see the moon.” – Mizuta Masahide

Ughhh! So good. So simple. No clarification needed. Nothing more needs to be said.

This is the same reason we love a good song. Even one with lyrics.

A great song pulls at our heart strings and expresses what we have trouble saying.

Like how Claire de lune makes your heart melt with grief while some how simultaneously giving you hope that it’s all going to be okay.

I’ve been enjoying playing with a quick punchy IG bio because I want to express what I do in a way that makes a new follower say, “yesssss that’s exactly it!”

taps the follow button

“Can I sit down and have coffee with you and discuss this further?”

Come take a seat. Do you like cream in your coffee?

The coffee date would be the invite to binge my content.

That’s what I’m after.

Millions of people quoting Masahide’s poetry.

161 million streams of Claire de lune on Spotify.

Creating work that resonates on a level at which people can’t get enough.

You don’t create resonance without work.

Practice.

Pouring yourself into your obsession.

Did you know Michelangelo dissected hundreds of cadavers in the mortuary of the church of Basilica of Santo Spirito?

It wasn’t enough to look at live models. He sought to understand the internal structure of the human body. He would cut them open, flex an arm and watch the bicep contract. He would lift each finger and watch the forearm bones and muscles rise with it.

He’s not being a mysterious artist when he says, “I created a vision of David in my mind and simply carved away everything that was not David,” because he didn’t just understand the human figure, he became one with it.

Then he creates a masterpiece.

Could becoming one with your work be the way great works of a lifetime get made?

In an interview with Jerry Seinfeld, Howard Stern asks him if it’s true, he’s always looking for material?

Jerry says yes.

Stern calls the 24 hour obsession torture to which Jerry replies, “What else do I have to do? Your blessing in life is when you find the torture you’re comfortable with.”

This is coming from the guy who made one of, if not the most popular television shows of all time. A show about nothing that’s actually about everything. (No surprise, huh?)

I think he’s right about your greatest blessing.

Life is tough no matter what.

Most people go through it unconsciously.

They let their automatic negative thoughts run the show.

They regret the past.

They worry about the future.

They are rarely present and it leads to their emotions running their life.

Jerry said, “Howard, I love telling jokes!”

So why wouldn’t he always be looking for material?

He’s doing what he loves all the time.

What if you let your work be the lens in which you view everything?

Like a photographer who sees beautiful composition in even the dullest scenes of his life.

Like a musician who hears the melody of clanging dishes at a restaurant.

If you truly believe in your work and it’s the thing that could really help people live happier, healthier, more fulfilled lives, then prove it.

If your thing is community and you help people build aligned communities, then what if I simply viewed the past, present and future through the lens that all of life is better with community?

When you think of something that happened in the past you think, “I wonder how I could have navigated that better if I got support from my community?” or “In what ways did I not utilize my community for that?”

You would be writing your newsletter overlooking the beach of Barcelona and notice that every night at 8:25 a run group with about 100 runners comes by with their speakers blasting and ask yourself, “what it is that has made run groups so popular recently?”

You may even tell yourself, “wtf am I doing sitting here alone in my apartment every night. I gotta join that run group!! I am the community person after all!”

As you view the world through the lens of your work, you life gets better. You begin to coach yourself more effectively and take aligned action quicker. As you begin to truly live, you begin to have unique takes on the world in a way nobody else does.

Maybe you even begin to create a masterpiece.

With love,

Matt